When the executive director of UNAIDS, Winnie Byanyima, walked into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Mulago National Referral Hospital on Monday, she says she found a man she barely recognized.
Dr Kizza Besigye, Uganda’s four-time presidential candidate and one of the country’s longest-serving opposition figures, lay unconscious in a hospital bed under heavy security.
For Byanyima, the visit marked the culmination of months of mounting anxiety over her husband’s health while in state custody.
“This is not the man I left,” she later said, struggling to hold back tears after seeing him.
Besigye’s admission to the ICU followed his dramatic collapse in the High court on July 29, 2026, during proceedings in his treason trial.
The 70-year-old furiously objected to being represented by lawyers assigned by the court after members of his preferred legal team were unavailable. He became increasingly distressed as he protested what he described as an unlawful trial.
Moments before collapsing, Besigye cried out that he was being hurt before losing consciousness. He was rushed to Mbuya Military Hospital before being transferred under tight security to Mulago National Referral Hospital, where he was admitted to the ICU.
The gravity of his condition first became public through a statement issued by Byanyima, who said Besigye was unconscious, unable to speak and unresponsive even to painful stimuli. She also questioned his treatment, saying the family wanted him transferred to a medical facility where doctors they trusted could oversee his care.
The family’s efforts to gain access to Besigye also drew attention. According to Byanyima, his sister, trauma surgeon Dr Olive Kobusingye, was initially denied access before eventually being allowed into the ICU, which remained under heavy security.
For Byanyima, the issue extends beyond her husband’s medical condition. She argued that every Ugandan deserves timely medical care and the protection of constitutional rights, regardless of political affiliation, warning that if Besigye’s rights could be disregarded, those of ordinary citizens were equally at risk.
Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, echoed those concerns, saying Besigye and his co-accused were seeking nothing more than a fair hearing before an impartial court.
Besigye has been in custody since November 2024 after he and his co-accused, Hajj Obeid Lutale, were arrested in Nairobi and returned to Uganda to face treason charges.
His detention has repeatedly been accompanied by concerns about his health. In January, Byanyima accused prison authorities of failing to provide him with adequate medical care, describing him as extremely weak. In February, he was hospitalized after undertaking a hunger strike in protest against his detention, and in April she again raised concerns over what she described as his deteriorating condition.
His latest hospitalization has renewed scrutiny of his treatment while in custody. Supporters have questioned the circumstances surrounding his collapse, although claims circulating on social media about its cause remain unverified.
What is on record is that shortly before collapsing, Besigye urged the court to first determine an application challenging the appointment of state-funded lawyers, arguing that the matter concerned his constitutional right to legal representation.
The case has since taken another turn. On Tuesday, High court judge Emmanuel Baguma directed the Commissioner General of Prisons, Dr Johnson Byabashaija, to work with Mulago National Referral Hospital to obtain a comprehensive medical report indicating whether Besigye is medically fit to stand trial.
Justice Baguma adjourned the case to August 18, saying the court would rely on the medical assessment before deciding whether the proceedings could continue.
Besigye, Lutale and Captain Denis Oola deny treason charges arising from allegations that they conspired to overthrow the government through meetings held in Uganda and abroad. Prosecutors allege the accused sought funding, weapons and military training to advance the alleged plot, claims the trio has consistently denied.
For Byanyima and Besigye’s supporters, however, the courtroom has, for now, given way to the hospital ward.
As one of Uganda’s most prominent opposition figures remains in intensive care under guard, the questions dominating public debate are no longer confined to the treason charges before the court. They now also encompass his health, his constitutional rights and the broader treatment of detainees awaiting trial.
In other words Hon Winnie Byanyima, the diabolic HATRED by which our 86-years-old PROBLEM OF AFRICA, Gen Tibuhaburwa, his bloody son; Gen MK view you husband is that: even if Dr. Besigye dies (God forbids) before his prosecution; Gen Tibuhaburwa, his son and Justice Baguma, are HELL BENT to even Posthumously prosecute, rule and sentence Dr. Besigye to 1,000 years imprisonment!
Destroying the life of a man who saved your life in the bush! Cruel irony.
Kabinda, it is not only cruel; it is completely heartless. Even ordinary citizens are caught in this terror—like the heartbreaking story of a son whose father was arrested at Mulago Hospital simply because he was in the ward visiting someone opposite Besigye. To this regime, even being in the wrong hospital bed is treated as treason.
Because Museveni took power through violence, he is hypersensitive and assumes everyone will use force to overthrow him. He relies on militarism to terrorize us into submission. He cannot envision a Uganda without himself at the helm, believing he is ordained to rule for life alongside his family, relatives, and close inner circle. Museveni recognizes that Besigye is the one leader who understands that ‘People Power’—not weapons—is the only way to remove this dictatorship.
Museveni has openly threatened that if he falls, Uganda will become like Mogadishu, which explains why his son commands heavily armed militants deployed across every corner of the country. Fellow Ugandans, our liberation will only begin the moment we realize that Kyagulanyi is leading us right into Museveni’s trap of compromised, fraudulent elections just to enrich himself.