Besigye in United States for medical attention

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Kizza Besigye helped by a hospital attendant at the Nairobi Hospital, May 1st, 2011. File Photo 

By EMMANUEL GYEZAHO  (email the author)
Posted  Thursday, November 24  2011 at  12:53

Opposition Forum for Democratic Change leader Dr Kizza Besigye is in the United States of America to seek medical attention following days of reported ill health, a senior party official has confirmed.

This is the second time since April Dr Besigye has flown to the United States on medical grounds. The first visit happened after he was sprayed with irritant pepper spray at the climax of the walk to work demonstration by Uganda police officers.

FDC Vice President Salaam Musumba told this newspaper that Dr Besigye has been uncomfortable for the past few days, following his visit to the U.K, and complained of a niggling “allergic reaction” that has flu-like symptoms, a condition that “really puts him down.”

“When I tell people that his biggest problem is flu they don’t take it seriously but he has not been improving,” she said. “Well he said he wanted to go back to America and see whether this problem is related to the poisonous chemicals he was sprayed on in April.”

She dismissed reports that Dr Besigye had been airlifted in critical condition and said he travelled “on his own”. 

Not the first time 
This is the second time since May that Dr Besigye has flown to the US on medical grounds.

He treated injuries sustained from that violent arrest after he was hauled unconscious onto the back of a police pick-up truck, at Nairobi Hospital where he spent at least one week before returning to Uganda and heading out to America for further observation.The first visit was at the time after he was clobbered and sprayed with irritant pepper spray to near blindness by police officers at the height of the walk-to-work demonstrations in April.

Dr Besigye is said to have sent text messages to senior party officials over the weekend informing them about his travel plans.

Ms Musumba admitted that she last spoke to him on Sunday and noticed that he was still not feeling well.

“He said he wanted to go back to America and see whether this problem is related to the poisonous chemicals he was sprayed with in April,” Ms Musumba said.

News of Besigye’s health went viral on social network site Twitter, where followers debated a report claiming he had been airlifted in critical condition but party officials moved to dismiss the claims.

On the contrary, Ms Musumba said, Dr Besigye travelled “on his own”, unaided.

The report also comes weeks after the government refuted claims of an alleged plot to assassinate Dr Besigye who spent close to a dozen days in October under house arrest as security personnel barred him from resuming the walk-to-work campaign.

Dr Besigye is understood to have flown on Sunday night to New York where his wife, Ms Winnie Byanyima and son Anselm live.