On Thursday, 09 January 2025, the Kawempe Division North Member of Parliament (MP), Muhammad Ssegirinya, died at Lubaga hospital after battling a long illness.
His body was on Friday, 10 January 2025, taken to Parliament to allow fellow lawmakers to pay tribute to the fallen lawmaker, and during the plenary sitting, the leader of the opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi (NUP), suggested that continued detention of the deceased could have worsen his condition and caused his death.
The late MP Ssegirinya, together with MP Allan Ssewanyana (NUP, Makindye Division West), were first arrested and imprisoned in September 2021 after being accused of terrorism, murder, and attempted murder in 2021.
It all started way back in September 2021, when MPs Ssegirinya and his colleague Allan Ssewanyana were arrested and subsequently remanded to Kigo Prison in Wakiso district.
A source from the Kigo Prison revealed that MP Ssegirinya, who had been highly active on the Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), reportedly abandoned treatment after he was visited by a top leader from the National Unity Platform Party who had been sent by its leader, Robert Kyagulanyi.
“It was Joel Ssenyonyi who delivered Bobi Wine’s mischief to the deceased, advising him to abandon treatment temporarily so that he could fall sickly to quicken his bail application. Despite counselling from the prison medical experts, the late MP remained stuck to Bobi Wine’s guidance,” said a source at Kigo Prison.
According to the source, when late Ssegirinya was first remanded to Kigo Prison, the medical experts assessed his health; he willingly told them that he was on the antiretroviral treatment (ARV) and that he had only carried drugs for a short period of time, but he was provided with the same drug regimen of ARV.
At the time the late MP was sent to Kigo Prison, he had already been highly active on antiretroviral treatment, and he was specifically on the TLD, a three-in-one antiretroviral (ARV) regimen that combines Dolutegravir, Lamivudine, and Tenofovir Disoproxil fumarate.
Experts described TLD regiment as a fixed-dose combination that’s designed to help prevent antimicrobial resistance, be easier to take than other formulations, have fewer side effects, and have less negative interaction with other medicines taken once a day.
The source said that despite various counseling from various medical doctors and people close to him, including his mother, Mama Justin Nakajumba, the deceased remained adamant and obeyed Bobi Wine’s instruction until he was released for further treatment.
“When they granted him bail, the deceased’s medical condition had terribly worsened and could not be contained within the prison medical facility after he had abandoned drugs, and as a result, some of his organs had started deteriorating,” revealed Nurse IP Margret Birungi, a prison wardress at Kigo.
While at Aga Khan Hospital in Kenya, medical experts reportedly struggled to treat ART-related hepatotoxicity of his liver that had already been largely damaged as a result of the long stay on the ARV drugs, which have toxicities.
“The liver organ of the late had greatly been damaged as a result of hepatotoxicity caused by the exposure to xenobiotics such as drugs, fungal toxins, and even some medicinal plants. His long stay on potent (powerful) drugs like ARV, coupled with inconsistent treatment, also worsened his condition,” said a senior Kenyan ART specialist, Dr. Odhiambo Gathuya, who also attended to him while at Aga Khan.
Before discharging MP Ssegirinya, Dr. Gathuya said his family had been lengthily counseled and guided that their son was terminally ill, but they were advised to closely monitor his condition.
It was from Rubaga Hospital that the medical doctors became clearer to his mother about the fate of late MP Ssegirinya.
A senior pharmacist at Rubuga Hospital whose name is withheld for safety reasons told us that the specialists had to discard him from taking potent drugs, including ARV, since his liver had terribly been damaged.
“The deceased died as a result of organ failure arising from the Severe Immuno Suppression Syndrome in stage IV HIV/AIDS characterized by multiple opportunistic infections caused by interruption in antiretroviral therapy (ART) due to poor adherence, self-stigma, and complacence. As a patient who had been highly active on the antiretroviral treatment (HAART), Ssegirinya’s organs, specifically the liver, had suffered from hepatotoxicity, and he could not be saved,” said a medical expert and a family doctor who had been attending to him.
STAY TUNED FOR PART II
