By Black Star News
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
The People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), Uganda’s incarcerated opposition leader, Dr. Kizza Besigye’s political vehicle, has continued to ask hard questions surrounding the unexpected removal of the sick Besigye from the National Referral Hospital bed in Mulago, back to Luzira Prisons in the outskirts of the capital, Kampala. Besigye collapsed in court on July 29 while protesting being represented by State-appointed lawyers against his wishes. He was then immediately evacuated in an ambulance into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Mulago where he remained unconscious for days on.
But in a ‘commando operation-style’ twist that never waited for a medical report from doctors in Mulago clearing Besigye as accordingly discharged, the military stormed the ICU and bundled Besigye back to prison on August 7. Together with his two other co-accused, Besigye is slapped with treason charges which has ensured them jailed since November 2024.
“I am shocked and deeply distressed. After 7pm tonight, my partner @kizzabesigye1 was bundled up and taken back to Luzira Prison. When I left KB at 4:30 pm, he still could not walk or talk. At lunch, I fed him soft food with a spoon because his arms and hands remain very weak. He cannot yet care for himself,” Besigye’s wife, Winnie Byanyima’s, the head of UNAIDS, August 7 appealing statement, reads.
Besigye’s political party now follows through with unanswered questions and condemnation; “The People’s Front for Freedom strongly condemns the continued inhumane treatment of and political persecution of our leader, Dr. Kizza Besigye. According to Uganda Prisons Service, Dr. Besigye who lost consciousness in court and has not fully recovered was transferred from the National Referral Hospital back to a prison facility. We demand that Prisons Spokesperson Mr. Frank Baine immediately explain[s] to the public. How does an unconscious patient in need of specialized referral care get transferred into a prison facility?” PFF asks in an August 11 statement. “This is not an isolated incident but a well-known, sinister pattern used by the [Gen. Yoweri] Museveni regime to weaponize state institutions and courts into slow-killing ventures…It is the height of cruelty that the very medical doctor who saved the lives of NRA [Museveni’s armed group, National Resistance Army] combatants during the bush war is now being systematically destroyed purely for political reasons. We remind the state and all its actors that human dignity is inherent. It MUST supersede any law, any court process and any executive order. We call on all Ugandans, human rights defenders and the international community to raise their voices against this systemic cruelty,” the PFF alleges in its statement. Dr Besigye was Museveni’s personal physician in the five-year guerrilla bush war that brought them to power in January 1986.
According to PFF, “Joseph Musasizi Kifefe, Dr. Besigye’s brother was detained until his health was irreparably ruined, granted bail only at the brink of death and passed away months later. The late Hon Muhammad Ssegirinya was deprived of adequate state-mandated medical care until his condition became terminal.” Opposition lawmaker Ssegirinya died shortly after his release from prison at the dusk of 2024. He had been on remand since 2021 when he won a parliamentary seat in January that time.
The PFF reaction and condemnation comes in the footsteps of a press release from the Uganda Prisons Service claiming Besigye’s “condition is steadily improving”.
In the press release of August 11, the Senior Commissioner of Prisons, in-charge of Cooperation and Corporate Affairs as well as Spokesperson, Frank Baine Mayanja says: “After 10-days’ admission at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Col (Rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye was discharged back to Luzira Prisons Hospital on 7th August 2026. The Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) medical team is fully in charge as he continues with treatment and his health condition is steadily improving. His immediate family members and personal doctors are having due access to him,” Baine stated. And continued to explain: “UPS [Uganda Prisons Service] urges the public to disregard misinformation and disinformation regarding his whereabouts and apparent worrying health condition.”
But the PFF is not satisfied with the UPS statement either because they still believe their leader Besigye deserves medical attention which is deemed adequate outside prison walls. “I have seen this communication from the head of the @Uganda Prisons claiming that…Dr. Kizza Besigye was referred from Mulago National Referral Hospital to a subordinate hospital called Uganda Prisons Service Hospital in Luzira. He claims Dr. Besigye’s health is improving!!” doubts the PFF’s vice-chairman for the country’s central region, Dr. Bayiga Lulume. A physician himself, Dr. Bayiga proceeds to ask, thus; “Two issues: Is Mr. Baine competent in Medicine to give a believable appraisal of Dr. Besigye’s health condition? Is the Prison Service Hospital a super specialized facility where the National Referral Hospital could refer patients on High Dependency status?” And Dr. Bayiga goes on counsel the correctional authorities that “Uganda Prisons Service should be careful not to be drawn into government politics of Dr. Besigye’s health. @FrankBaine2 should refrain from making sweeping statements”.
Moreover, all seemed well when that morning preceding the evening removal of Besigye, the health minister, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, had visited patient Besigye in the ICU. “I paid a visit to Dr. Kiiza Besigye today morning at Mulago Hospital,” the always-jolly Dr. Baryomunsi beamed hope and happiness, “where he is hospitalized. He is steadily recuperating and I wished him quick recovery. I thank the team of medical workers that are attending to him.”
When Besigye was bundled away from his ICU-hospital bed in Mulago, fears rapidly spread about his whereabouts as no public statement was issued in regard to where he was being taken. One such fear was to come hours after Besigye’s removal on August 7 from none other than Dr. Bayiga. “Dr. Kizza Besigye has been moved away from the National Referral Hospital in Mulago, probably back to Luzira Prison or to any other Destination. Please @KagutaMuseveni, Commander in Chief of [the] Armed Forces, please let us know where the critically ill patient is being taken,” Dr. Bayiga had appealed on August 7.
