Sick SFC soldier stuck in Germany for 10 years, cries out to Museveni

Medical reports and other documents seen by this publication show that the accident damaged his spinal cord, resulting in dysfunction of the urinary bladder, legs, and reproductive system. Sgt Bende was facilitated by the government and flown three times to Werner-Wicker-Klinik in Germany in 1997, 2010, and 2013 for specialised surgeries.

But he has been stuck in Germany since 2013 due to unpaid hospital bills. Sgt Bende now needs another urgent surgery but the hospital has since refused to treat him because of the outstanding Shs1b accumulated debts.

“I have been with a catheter since August 17. Imagine it's almost three months now without an operation yet it was supposed to be removed in two weeks. I’m suffering … President Museveni; help me I am dying,” he said.

Maj Jimmy Omara, the SFC spokesperson, acknowledged that Sgt Bende suffered the said accident in 1996. But said: “He was given time to go to the hospital but when he stabilised and was to return and resume his duties, he decided to remain in Germany ... In 2017, he was struck off the SFC list and declared absent without official leave,” Maj Omara told this publication last Tuesday.

Mr Faruk Kirunda, the deputy presidential press secretary, advised Sgt Bende to officially write to the President through the principal private secretary to explain the issue so that it can be handled.

How it all started

On January 27, 1996, a day after marking the National Resistance Army (NRA) Day in Kololo, Sgt Bende and five other colleagues retreated to Rwakitura and were assigned to go and ready a venue in Kazo, where First Lady Janet Museveni was to officiate at an event.

Sgt Bende says he travelled alongside Sgt Nyombi, Tumuhimbise, Twongyirwe, Kamushoko, Jagenda, and driver Semuyaba, who had just joined the Presidential Protection Unit (PPU), which at that time was being transformed into SFC.

“Our Jeep got involved in an accident, with my colleagues sustaining minor injuries but I broke my spinal cord and damaged my gallbladder,” he says.

Sgt Bende says he was taken to Mulago Hospital where he received medical treatment until July 1996 when he was transferred to Rubaga Hospital.

“In Rubaga, the doctors discharged me after two months with a recommendation that I needed specialised treatment abroad,” he says.

In April 1997, the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs facilitated Sgt Bende's flight to Germany where he successfully underwent a spinal surgery. “The doctors, however, recommended that I go back for a review in six months, which I did in 1998. The doctors, however, informed me that I needed another surgery for the gall bladder because it was affecting my urinary system,” Sgt Bende says.

A few years after returning, Sgt Bende started experiencing challenges with his urinary system. In 2007, the Defence ministry sent him to South Africa for a review. It was then discovered that he needed surgery and catheters, which were unavailable there.

When he returned and realised that the ministry was going slow on the issue, Sgt Bende says he contacted Prof Stanley Tumwine, who was the senior presidential adviser on medical affairs, about the matter.

He says Prof Tumwine then wrote to Ms Amelia Kyambadde, then the principal private secretary to the President, who in turn notified her boss, prompting President Museveni to direct the Defence ministry to act.

“This time round, I passed through the Medical Board. My bladder was removed and the doctors opted to replace my bladder with a duplicate one but it had a problem as it produced mucus, which had to be removed periodically,” he says. 

Documents seen by this publication show that Sgt Bende underwent surgery to increase the capacity of his bladder and creation of an artificial urinary sphincter. The operation exceeded the earlier planned funds and when the doctors together with Sgt Bende contacted the ministry, the then acting Defence Permanent Secretary, Ms Rosette K Byengoma, authorised the additional treatment that cost €64,400 (about Shs255m) and Sgt Bende returned home.

Third trip

After the second surgery, the doctors in Germany recommended that Sgt Bende undergo another surgery to improve urine flow and better position of knee and ankle joints.

This is because they had removed the damaged original bladder and replaced it with an artificial bladder emptying using catheters and special boots for footwear.

But his situation worsened in 2010, prompting him to seek help in vain.

A May 23, 2011, brief by Prof Tumwine to the President says Sgt Bende was to undergo surgeries on the genito-urinary system and orthopaedic. The entire bill, including purchasing the catheters, air ticket, and upkeep for 18 days, would total Euros 72,698 (about Shs288m).

But Sgt Bende was not facilitated and his situation worsened, prompting him in 2012 to contact Ms Idah Nantaba, the then Lands State minister, asking her to help him sell his land and house in Bweyogerere, a Kampala suburb, so that he could facilitate his own surgery.

He says he and the minister on February 24, 2012, met the President. Ms Nantaba said she had indeed taken the soldier to the President.

“… the President immediately directed then State House Comptroller, Ms Lucy Nakyobe, to facilitate his medical travel. I don’t know what happened but I later heard that he is suffering in Germany, ” Ms Nantaba said.

Sgt Bende was later flown to Germany and the surgeries were conducted as planned.

“The operation in the urology department, however, cost another extra €30,000, and when we contacted Ms Nakyobe, she did not send the money and instead told me to call the President,” Sgt Bende says.

This publication has also seen a February 27, 2014, letter, addressed to Ms Nakyobe and Prof Tumwine by Mr Morneweg, the WWK Hospital administrator, about the issue.

But Ms Nakyobe said she did what the President had directed her to do.

“When the President helps someone and issues a directive to the State House comptroller, the State House comptroller makes payment on exactly the money written in a directive and it is what I did. If he needed more money, he would have written to the President,” she said.

“What he is doing now is looking for public sympathy and tarnishing people’s names. Which hospital in this world can keep treating someone for 10 years, moreover in a country like Germany? What I know is that that man was treated and reportedly refused to come back home,” Ms Nakyobe added.

Museveni’s Berlin visit

In 2016 when President Museveni visited Germany at the German-African Business Day Forum, he reportedly directed his personal physician, Dr Agnes Nekesa, to visit Sgt Bende in hospital.

Sgt Bende says Dr Nekesa did not inform him when going to the hospital and when she came, she just visited the orthopaedic department and did not visit the urology department.

“This is the day I was buried because if she had arranged a total medical check-up and a medical examination with me, she would have realised that I was still on medical treatment by the doctors of WWK because of these urological problems and that I still needed an operation in the abdomen. The prolonged urological treatment was necessary,” he says.

“Germany has never facilitated me with any other funds, apart from the money that they give to me so that I can pay the rent for my little flat and I can buy the needed food,” Sgt Bende adds.

The SFC soldier on September 2, 2022, petitioned President Museveni, informing him he required €241,778 (about Shs958m) to be released from hospital. Sgt Bende says: “Due to miscommunication, I have not been able to access support from the State and live on meagre German government handouts and loans from the local authority and fellow countrymen here.”

He says he receives €460 (Shs1.8m) for food monthly, another €300 (Shs1.1m) for rent, and about €8,000 (Shs31.7m) for other materials, including those used for the catheter.

The December 22, 2020, medical report by Dr Med M Nehiba, a urologist at the Department for Neuro-Urology, indicated that Sgt Bende was supposed to undergo surgery in 2020, following the earlier ones that were conducted in 1997, 1998, and 2007, 2013, 2014 and 2017. This surgery has, however, never been conducted.

What stakeholders said 

Faruk Kirunda, presidential press secretary: I advised him to write officially to the president through the current principal private secretary to explain the issue so that it can be handled. 

Idah Nantaba, former minister: He was really in bad shape, and this prompted me to take him direct to the president who directed then State House comptroller Lucy Nakyobe to facilitate his travel. 

Former State House comptroller Lucy Nakyobe: When the president issues a directive to the state house comptroller, he or she makes payment and that's what  I did. If he needed more money, he would have written to the president.