Dr Kizza Besigye was earning well as a doctor at Aga Khan Hospital Nairobi and Kenyatta National Hospital when he decided to go to the bush to become the personal doctor to the then guerrilla leader Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Kizza had fled to Nairobi in 1981 via Malaba border to escape political persecution as activists of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s Uganda Patriotic Movement became a target of the new Obote regime.
In Nairobi, he was accommodated by his sister, who worked at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for Uganda Airlines. Nairobi wasn’t really new to the 25 year old Kizza because he had already been to the city on a number of occasions to visit the sister.
The first thing he did was to apply to the Kenya Medical Board for registration so that he could practise medicine in Kenya. The process wasn’t really difficult because Kenya was in need of doctors, and furthermore, Makerere trained doctors like him were greatly valued.
After registration, he applied for a job at Aga Khan, which he got. And also worked at Kenyatta. The only thing he complained about was that the work in the two hospitals was hectic, especially for junior doctors like him at that time.
“We were I think used and possibly abused in terms of the amount of work we were supposed to do. Sometimes, we would work for almost 24 hours without rest,” he recalled.
Nevertheless, he appreciated that the pay was really good and that they were offered free accommodation.
During those days, Kenya had a large number of Ugandan exiles, most of whom struggled to get work permits. Kizza recalled one man who had held a very senior government position in Uganda but fled to Nairobi, where he lived as a refugee. The man used to walk from one corner of Nairobi to Aga Khan Hospital daily to beg Kizza for some little money for food. Kizza also recalled how Kenya police used to harass Ugandan refugees.
In 1982, despite the good pay and free food and accommodation, Kizza resigned from his job in Nairobi and headed to the bush where he became a personal doctor to the then guerilla leader Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for free . His job was also to treat injured fighters.
. The same Museveni is now determined to see Kizza languish to death in prison.
