MANIPAL – Doctors at Manipal Hospital in India have identified foreign ingredients in the blood of Mityana Municipality Member of Parliament Francis Zaake, a likelihood that he could have been poisoned.
Mr Zaake travelled to India last week for specialized treatment after spending nearly two weeks at Lubaga Hospital undergoing treatment following alleged torture at the hands of security agents after he was arrested alongside other MPs and civilians in the Arua Municipality by-election campaign on August 13.
On arrival at the hospital, the MP was admitted into the Intensive care Unit. And on Wednesday morning, his wife Bridget Namirembe told this website in an exclusive interview that whereas the doctors are treating physical injuries he sustained during the brutal arrest, the doctors revealed that foreign substances were found in his blood.
“Apart from the known bodily injuries doctors are also talking about foreign ingredients in his blood,” Ms Namirembe said. Asked to explain what the substances are, she said the doctors are carrying out further investigations to ascertain what they could be.
Pressed further on whether she thinks her husband could have been poisoned back in Kampala, she said she is not sure but added that “anything is possible”.
Ms Namirembe, who is a medical doctor by profession, said her husband’s medical condition is not getting any better and that more specialists are now attending to him.
“Since we arrived here, the MP has been under intensive care unit with his life supported by machines. He is removed from life support temporarily but after a few moments, his life deteriorates and he is taken back. “He complains of a very painful spine and headache,” she said.
Mr Zaake and Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi are among over 30 people brutally arrested during the Arua chaos. They were charged with treason and granted bail. However, those arrested, especially Zaake and Kyagulanyi, claimed they were gravely tortured by security agencies, an allegation denied by the State.
Earlier, Kyagulanyi had claimed that during army detention he was injected several times with things he did not understand to ostensibly heal his wounds.
