MP Ssegirinya’s life in grave danger - Lukwago

Embattled Kawempe South MP Muhammad Ssegirinya has been admitted to Mulago Hospital with his lawyers fearing for his life.

“I am here in the hospital checking on my client and I can confirm to you that he is profusely shivering, talking uncoordinated things and at times convulsing,“ Mr Erias Lukwago, who is also the Lord Mayor of Kampala, said yesterday.

Mr Lukwago added that Mr Ssegirinya’s relatives have been denied access to him. The lawmaker is reportedly being guarded by prison warders under intense army deployment.

Earlier, the National Unity Platform (NUP) had told the media that Mr Ssegirinya had been kept out of lawful custody for days.

“We have been told that he is in bad health condition but we would like to inform the government and Mr Museveni that if our MP dies, his blood is on your heads and you will solely take accountability of what happens to him,” Mr Joel Ssenyonyi said yesterday. 

Like NUP, Ssegirinya’s lawyer does not know what is ailing his client.

“They are just telling me that they are doing everything possible to make sure his life is out of danger, but they are not telling us what exactly he is suffering from. He was brought here [Mulago Hospital] on Sunday morning, but there is no change in his health up to now,” Mr Lukwago said. 

Images and reports emerged at the weekend indicating that Mr Ssegirinya was rushed to Mulago Hospital for specialised treatment after he reportedly collapsed in a Luzira Prison sickbay last Wednesday. 

The legislator was reportedly returned and managed from Murchison Bay Hospital, but his condition worsened at the weekend. During the hearing of his bail application a fortnight ago, Mr Ssegirinya displayed what looked like an ailing left foot. 

He and his counterpart Allan Ssewanyana of Makindye West were both rearrested by security agencies after being separately released on bail. The duo is battling charges of murder, attempted murder, aiding and abetting terrorism as well as treason, among other charges. 

The charges, which were read to them at Masaka High Court, are in relation to the machete-wielding gangs that left at least 28 people dead in the Greater Masaka Sub-region.

President Museveni early last month resurrected his suggestion to scrap bail for suspected capital offenders, saying it was unfair for the victims. 

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, told Parliament on Thursday last week that they are in dialogue with different stakeholders to see that Mr Ssegirinya receives appropriate treatment.

“We shall continue to fight on the floor of Parliament to make sure that the government does not remove the right to bail from the Constitution because it is targeting Opposition leaders. It is the very reason MPs Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana are still kept in prison,” Mr Ssenyonyi said yesterday.