Battered journalist wears diapers, abandoned by wife

By Betty Amamukirori and Carol Kasujja

He painfully grimaces as he sits on the red weather beaten sofa in his mother's living room. It is apparent that the once vibrant local broadcast Television Journalist, Andrew Lwanga, will need more than prayers to overcome his predicament.

From what has been recorded, the now crippled Lwanga was battered by the Old Kampala District Police Commander, Joram Mwesigye on January 12, last year while covering the Unemployed Youths of Uganda's procession to Naguru police headquarters to petition to the Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura, to allow them hold rallies.

The incident took place around City Oil in Bakuli Kampala. On that day he was filming a scuffle that had ensued between police and the youths, when suddenly, Mwesigye appeared in a white Toyota Mark II car and started hitting the rowdy youths with a black rod.

However, when he tried to chase after one boy, he stumbled and fell. On getting up, he realized Lwanga had filmed him. He lashed out at the camera but missed. The group dispersed and he too drove off at a breakneck speed.

After a while the youths converged again and continued with their procession but before they could go far, Mwesigye emerged again and started chasing after the youths who scattered to different directions.

Lwanga and other youths run and entered a certain guest house. Unluckily they were surrounded by Mwesigye and other police officers who arrested the youths. After the arrests, Mwesigye walked directly to the cameraman and hit him with the rod, four times, before he fell flat on his face.

From his own recollections, Mwesigye then ordered his officers to pick him up and throw him in the car.

"I was picked and pushed inside the car. One officer sat on me and they drove off to Old Kampala Police Station where they detained us. I started feeling dizzy and as luck may have it, another officer noticed my situation and took me to Mulago hospital for treatment," he says.

At Mulago, he was given painkillers and told to go home. However, his situation worsened in the wee hours of the morning, prompting his brother to take him to the hospital, but first they had to acquire a police form, allowing them to seek medical attention.

So they drove first to CPS to obtain the form. According to Lwanga the process took about ten minutes. As they were descending the staircases, he fainted and was rushed to Nsambya hospital where he gained his consciousness after two days. Though he woke up, the revelation that awaited him was heart wrecking.

"When I woke up, I asked those around me, where I was, and I was told hospital and that I was admitted two days ago. I then tried to stand up but I could not feel my lower limbs. They were numb," he narrates.

"I also realized that I had lost control over my body. Urine and feaces started flowing freely and I started using diapers to avoid soiling and embarrassing myself," the now crippled journalist who can neither walk nor stand, painfully reveals.

"One thing I regret in all this, is that I have been reduced to a toddler, I now have to wear pampers like a baby. I cannot be among friends lest I embarrass myself," Lwanga says with his faces turned up as if speaking to a heavenly being.

At Nsambya hospital, they carried out full body scan and it was discovered that his spinal cord was damaged and needed a surgery. However, since Lwanga could not raise the sh8.5m, the doctors decided to put him on therapy and accordingly discharged him after the Uganda police cleared the medical bills.

"When I came back from the hospital, I was received by an empty house, everything had been taken and my live-in fiancé and our two children were nowhere to be found. Later I found kids at my mother's place, I was told she had left. She later told me over the phone that she feared I was dead. Since then she has never returned," he recalls.

"It became tough for me to take care of myself and children; most of the time I was reduced to tears seeing them suffer. Tried buying them toys but it was of no use, they wanted someone to play and swim with. It was really tough," he further narrates.

Seeing the hardship Lwanga was facing while taking care of the children, his elder brother who stays around Salama road in Makindye Division took them.

Now unable to sit for a longtime, Lwanga says due to failure to raise the monthly rent, he went back to his late father's house in Kabalagala, Kampala.

His condition started improving drastically and within a few months he could move about doing some light work. He could support himself using the clutches and no longer needed someone to help him.

"My hopes were high, I knew I would enter the New Year fine and back on my feet, unfortunately, my condition relapsed. I could not even support myself on the clutches. I was totally paralyzed," his eyes turn teary as he narrates.

He was rushed to Mulago hospital where a doctor prescribed drugs for him. When the condition failed to change, he was taken to CoRSU (Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services in Uganda) hospital at Entebbe.

At CoRSU he would spend sh150, 000 daily as an outpatient. He also did a second full body scan and he was advised to go for a surgery.

Currently he receives treatment from Norvik Hospital twice a week and he says an injection costs sh110, 000 per day.

Lwanga was diagnosed with a medical condition called Posterior disc protrusions with disc degeneration at L4-L5 and L5 -S1 discs and Lumbar muscle spasms.

The doctors advised him to undergo a spinal defect called Diskectomy of lumbosacral with spinal fusion or (L4 - L5) and (L5 - S1) and Interbody fusions (e.g Axial LIF ).

Last week, his mother, a retired nurse, Jennifer Lwanga told journalists that they need about USD 55,000 to carry out the surgery in either John Hopkin's University Hospital, George Washington Hospital or Washington Hospital Center, all in the United States.

According to him, the money is devoid of transport fare and accommodation. It is also expected that after the surgery he will under rehabilitation at a rehab facility or outpatient.

Though fellow journalists have come up with a campaign to raise the money for the surgery which is slated for March, Lwanga is still unsure whether he will be able to get the money.

To help save his life, send money to Shamim Bataliwo on 0786202674 and Ben Kerry Mawejje on 0752438452.