According to Byanyima, Besigye is being held in solitary confinement—cut off from other inmates, barred from communal prayers, church services, and even simple recreational activities.
The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the quiet compound in Kasangati as journalists gathered outside the home of Winnie Byanyima.
The mood was heavy, the air thick with worry and restrained urgency. Inside, the Executive Director of UNAIDS spoke not as a global health leader, but as a wife fearing for her husband’s life.
Byanyima’s voice, steady but laced with emotion, carried a stark warning: the life of veteran opposition politician Kizza Besigye is in danger.
Besigye, a long-time critic of the Ugandan government, has been on remand since November 2024. He and his political ally, Hajj Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya, were arrested in Nairobi, Kenya, before being returned to Uganda to face treason charges. Since then, their detention has stirred unease among supporters and human rights advocates alike.
But on Saturday, the concerns took on a more intimate and alarming tone.
“The state of Dr Kizza Besigye is worrying,” Byanyima told reporters. She described visiting him twice in the previous week, each time finding him increasingly frail. At moments, she said, he struggled to speak. At others, he could neither walk nor properly communicate.
“That is why sometimes visitors do not see him,” she explained quietly. “He is unable to walk or speak.”
According to Byanyima, Besigye is being held in solitary confinement—cut off from other inmates, barred from communal prayers, church services, and even simple recreational activities. The prolonged isolation, she argued, has taken a devastating toll, eroding both his physical strength and psychological resilience.
The image she painted was one of a once-defiant political figure reduced by illness and isolation, confined not only by prison walls but by silence.
Outside the prison gates, calls for his release have intensified. Political leaders, religious figures, and human rights organisations have urged the government to grant him bail on medical grounds. Special prayers, organised in collaboration with clerics, have been launched across the country, appealing for what Byanyima called “divine intervention.”
Besigye’s legal team—led by former Kenyan Justice Minister Martha Karua and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago—has repeatedly applied for bail. Each application, however, has been dismissed by the courts, leaving the opposition stalwart behind bars as legal proceedings grind on.
Despite her anguish, Byanyima struck a note of cautious openness. She expressed readiness to engage the government in dialogue, hoping that conversation might achieve what courtrooms have not: her husband’s freedom, or at least access to proper medical care outside prison walls.
Government authorities have maintained that Besigye is receiving appropriate medical attention and that due legal process must take its course. But in Kasangati, legal assurances offered little comfort.
As dusk settled, Byanyima’s final words lingered in the quiet compound—a plea not only as a public figure, but as a partner watching time slip away.
“He needs help,” she said. “And he needs it now.”
Father Accused of Killing 18yr-Student Found Having Love With His 14yr-Daughter Arrested