Winnie Byanyima, wife of detained Ugandan opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye, has raised urgent concerns after he was transferred from Mulago National Referral Hospital back to Luzira Prison on the night of Friday, August 7, despite being unable to walk, speak, or care for himself.

“I am shocked and deeply distressed. After 7pm tonight, my partner Kizza Besigye was bundled up and taken back to Luzira Prison. When I left KB at 4:30pm, 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,” Byanyima wrote on X.

She said the transfer happened abruptly, with Besigye not even allowed to finish his dinner before being taken away.

“When they came for him tonight, he was about to have his dinner. They did not even allow him to eat it. His family has been helping to feed and care for him at Mulago because he remains weak and dependent on assistance. Why the rush to return a seriously ill man to prison before he can walk, talk or feed himself?” she wrote.

Byanyima said a senior prisons official had attended a meeting with Besigye’s doctors and family, during which it was acknowledged that Luzira could not adequately support his rehabilitation, and that the recommendation had been for him to remain at Mulago.

She claimed everything changed after Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi visited Besigye on Friday morning.

“Today, after Minister Chris Baryomunsi visited, everything changed. An order came to remove Kizza Besigye from Mulago and return him to Luzira, against the recommendation we had heard from the prisons official and while he remains unable to care for himself,” she said.

The Minister told a different story, saying Besigye was “steadily recuperating” following his visit.

His account directly contradicted that of Byanyima and the People’s Front for Freedom, which maintained that Besigye remained in serious condition requiring continued specialised care.

Besigye collapsed during his treason trial proceedings at the High Court in Kampala on July 29, 2026, and was rushed to Mulago.

He has been in detention since November 2024 alongside his aide Obed Lutale, facing treason-related charges which both deny.

His case was moved from a military court to the civilian High Court in February 2025 following a Supreme Court ruling that trying civilians in military courts was unconstitutional.