By Frank Kamuntu
The former Member of Parliament for Makindye West in Kampala Hussein Kyanjo has died.
According to reports, Kyanjo passed on on Saturday, July 22, 2023, at Kibuli Hospital in Kampala.
Reports further state that his health complications began in 2011 during a parliament trip to South Africa. He said that two days into the trip, he realized he was having difficulty speaking.
“I started feeling something in my tongue and I was failing in my speech. I thought it was something small. I had gone to South Africa with Amuriat Oboi of the FDC who represented Kumi County [then]. I couldn’t speak well and I thought it was something small that could be fixed easily by a doctor on return home,” said Kyanjo some time back.
He said that on checking with the doctors, he was diagnosed with dystonia, a disease caused by either effects of accidents or poison. It can also be hereditary.
Wikipedia defines dystonia as a movement disorder in which a person’s muscles contract uncontrollably. The contraction causes the affected body part to twist involuntarily, resulting in repetitive movements or abnormal postures. Dystonia can affect one muscle, a group of muscles, or the entire body. The disease can be hereditary or caused by other factors such as physical trauma or poisoning.
Kyanjo has in the past ruled out the disease being hereditary or having had an accident, leaving poisoning as the only possibility.
“I checked and found I could not have inherited it because no one has suffered from such a disease in our family. It also cannot have been caused by an accident because I have never been involved in any. So, I was left with one possibility—poisoning,” Kyanjo believed.
Kyanjo was the only MP representing the Justice Forum Party (JEEMA) in the August House and was one of the most vicious opposition figures, the position enhanced by his sobriety in approach to legislative issues and yet very uncompromising.
