The Lower Eastern Times Opening The Third Eye
Veteran Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye has been admitted to the intensive care unit at Mulago National Referral Hospital after collapsing during a court appearance in Kampala on Wednesday.
His wife, Winnie Byanyima, disclosed the development in a post on X early Thursday, describing the 70-year-old as unconscious and in critical condition. She said he was unresponsive, unable to speak, and showed no reaction even to a pain stimulus. Byanyima also serves as Executive Director of the United Nations AIDS programme (UNAIDS).
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Besigye collapsed while in court facing treason charges and was rushed out of the courtroom by ambulance. Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja had not responded to requests for comment at the time of reporting.
The longtime opposition leader has been held in detention since November 2024, after he and his aide, Obeid Lutale, were arrested in Kenya and subsequently returned to Uganda, where they were charged with treason. His legal team, supporters, and human rights advocates have consistently rejected the charges as politically driven, describing his detention as part of a wider crackdown on critics of President Yoweri Museveni’s government.
Museveni, 81, was declared winner of Uganda’s most recent general election held in January, a result contested by runner-up Bobi Wine, who has since gone into exile in the United States.
Besigye’s continued detention has drawn significant international concern. Though widely recognized as one of the few figures who have consistently challenged Museveni’s decades-long rule, many details of his personal history remain less known.
Born on April 22, 1956, Besigye is the second of six children. A trained physician, politician, and former military officer, he attended Kinyasano Primary School and Mbarara Junior School before completing his O-levels at Kitante High School and A-levels at Kigezi High School. He enrolled at Makerere University in 1975 and graduated five years later with a degree in human medicine.
He briefly practiced at Mulago National Hospital before fleeing to Kenya, where he worked first at Aga Khan Hospital and later at Kenyatta National Hospital.
In 1982, Besigye joined Museveni’s rebel National Resistance Movement and Army (NRM/A), later serving as Museveni’s personal physician. When the NRM/A took power in January 1986, he was appointed Minister for Internal Affairs, and went on to hold roles as Minister of State in the President’s office and National Political Commissar.
He became commanding officer of the mechanised regiment in Masaka in 1991 and was appointed the army’s chief of logistics and engineering in 1993. In 1999, he authored a critical document titled “An Insider’s View of How the NRM Lost the Broad Base,” which led to a court-martial; the charges were later dropped in 2000 following an apology. He retired from the Uganda People’s Defence Forces in 2001 holding the rank of colonel.
Besigye was briefly arrested on treason-related allegations in June 2001. More recently, a military court ruled in January 2025 that he could stand trial for treachery. Although Uganda’s Supreme Court ruled on January 31, 2025 that trying civilians in military courts was unconstitutional, that ruling was reportedly disregarded.
On February 11, Besigye began a hunger strike and was hospitalized shortly after. Bobi Wine, Byanyima, and his legal counsel have all described him as ill, dizzy, and weak in the time since. The Commonwealth, along with several human rights organizations across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, have called for his immediate release.
