Besigye ‘Very Weak’, Unable to Speak, Wife Says

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye is conscious but remains “very weak” and unable to speak after collapsing during a court hearing, his wife said on Monday.

Besigye, 70, a longtime rival of President Yoweri Museveni, has been in detention since late 2024 after he was abducted in Kenya and taken back to Uganda.

He was admitted to an intensive care unit at Mulago Hospital in Kampala after collapsing during a court session on July 30.

The collapse came shortly after Besigye objected to a court decision to appoint lawyers to represent him. His lead defence lawyer, Erik Lukwago, had been arrested, while another member of his legal team, former Kenyan Justice Minister Martha Karua, was prevented from entering Uganda.

Winnie Byanyima, Besigye’s wife and executive director of the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said she was shocked by his condition after visiting him at the hospital.

She said Besigye appeared extremely weak, spent long periods asleep and could only open his eyes briefly. He remained unable to speak or write, while his hands were too unsteady for him to communicate through writing.

“My first impression was shock,” Byanyima told reporters outside Mulago Hospital in Kampala, where her husband is admitted.

“He looks very weak. He remained asleep for a long time. When he could open his eyes, he still cannot talk,” she said.

“He is not able to write. I tried to ask him to write a note to me. But his hands are not stable.”

Byanyima said Besigye had been receiving food through intravenous lines until Monday, when the lines were removed and he was able to take some soup, which she described as a sign of progress.

She called on authorities to respect his right to life, proper medical treatment and a fair trial, arguing that his constitutional rights must be upheld without special treatment.

Besigye, a medical doctor, once served as Museveni’s physician during their insurgency in the 1980s. The two later became political rivals, with Besigye running unsuccessfully for president several times while facing repeated arrests and repression.