Prime
Parliament has abandoned me, says MP Ssegirinya
Mr Muhammad Ssegirinya sits in the aero plane waiting for take off on July 31, 2023. PHOTO/COURTESY
Ailing opposition lawmaker Muhammad Ssegirinya has accused the Parliament of deliberately abandoning him, by refusing to pay his medical bills abroad, even after promising that they will cater for his medical bills on foreign land.
The Kawempe North legislator was flown to Germany last week, to access specialised treatment after his health deteriorated following a stay in prison- lasting over a year.
This decision followed numerous tests which discovered that the legislator was suffering from lung complications, which could not be adequately handled internally.
In an interview with Monitor, on August 12, Ssegirinya said that Parliament has never footed a single medical bill, since he travelled.
“They have refused to pay the medical bills. They only bought me an air ticket which took me to Nairobi but for medical bills, including the one of Nairobi and Germany, I used my salary to pay,” he said.
From Germany, he said, he was transferred to UMC hospital Amsterdam since his condition was worrying.
“I don’t have any money with me. At the hospital, they need money yet Parliament promised to foot my bills,” Ssegirinya noted.
Asked to comment on the matter, Parliament director of communications Chris Obore said “there is no way Parliament can abandon its sick member.”
“If he [a Member of Parliament] is in the country, there is medical insurance and if it is outside, the Parliament funds their medical bill upon clearance by the Parliament Medical Board and then the Clerk clears because this is public money,” he said.
He added that: “I don’t know whether he went after the clearance or before but if he went before, the medical board will clear and then money will be released.”
In early 2023, Ssegirinya was released from Luzira prison together with his Makindye East counterpart, Allan Ssewanyana, where they had been detained on several charges including murder.
Ssegirinya’s health started deteriorating, prompting him to seek permission and assurance from Parliament to flow out of the country last week for specialised treatment in Germany.
