Ssegirinya regrets becoming MP

Kawempe North Member of Parliament Muhammad Ssegirinya has said he sometimes regrets why he joined Parliament.

The Opposition legislator yesterday shared his tribulations upon his return from Amsterdam Universitair Medische Centra Hospital in The Netherlands where he has been receiving treatment since August 10.  

“I have never found inner peace ever since I was elected MP and sometimes I regret and say I wish I had remained in the position of councillor,” he said.

Mr Ssegirinya said when he was arrested and imprisoned in Kigo prison in 2021, his health started deteriorating.
“I have been beaten by police, I have been in and out of prison which has affected my health. I got skin cancer, then my lungs got affected so did my spinal cord. My enemies didn’t like it when I won the MP seat, they are not settled, and they want to see me dead. So I am alive because of God’s mercy,” he said.

Mr Ssegirinya, who spent 524 days in jail (an equivalent of 17 months) shortly after he was elected MP, was reportedly diagnosed with lung complications.
He was charged together with Makindye West legislator Allan Ssewanyana, regaining freedom in February this year.

The duo was accused of being behind a wave of machete killings of about 26 people in greater Masaka in 2021.

Health complications
Addressing journalists at Entebbe airport, Mr Ssegirinya said in August, he was admitted to Rubaga Hospital in Kampala, which referred him to Nairobi Hospital in Kenya after tests revealed that he had lung tumours, which he said could not be treated in Uganda. He was then flown to Germany and later to the Netherlands.

Mr Ssegirinya initially accused Parliament of abandoning him by not paying his medical bill.

“But when the matter came up in Parliament, they later paid my medical bills up to today when I was discharged,” he said, adding that the total bill was Shs75 million.

The National Unity  Platform Spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi yesterday said: “We welcome our colleague back to the country, and we pray that he recovers soonest so he can execute his duties.”

Mr Chris Obore, the director of the Communication and public affairs department at Parliament, said: “We thank God for his life and we wish him good health. Doctors treat but only God heals.”