By Nanagyi Guyson- nangayi.guyson@alleastafrica.com
Kampala, Uganda- A Ugandan mental Health activist who has visited the office of the President of Uganda and written several emails requesting government to forgive Dr. Stella Nyanzi and allow her be assessed by foreign Psychiatrists has finally got an answer. The Ugandan government according to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) is ready to allow Dr. Nyanzi be assessed by her own doctors as she requested.
A senior Psychiatrist from Britain known as Dr. Dave Baille who is working in Uganda at the moment is ready to assess Dr. Nyanzi if preparations are made earlier.
Joseph Atukunda , who has won awards in the field of mental Health has been writing emails telephoning government officials and the Ugandan President himself to allow Dr. Stella Nyanzi who is facing Cyber Harassment charges be assessed by specialists from Britain as she request.
Joseph Atukunda, a founder and President of Heartsounds Uganda, a mental health organization that supports people suffering from mental health tendencies and also a Peer support worker of The Butabika Recovery College has been visiting Dr. Stella Nyanzi in Luzira Maximum prison on several occasions to find possible ways for her release.
Mr. Atukunda, who won awards as 2016 Laureate from the Swiss foundation for World Health, 2014 Laureate Special Mention of the Geneva Prize for Human Rights in Psychiatry Foundation and a commonwealth Professional fellowship scholarship for 3 months in the UK for his outstanding contribution in mental health worldwide has said that according to his own experience Dr. Nyanzi may be sick and suffering from Mania – a mental illness tendency that’s marked by periods of great excitement, euphoria, delusions, and over activity.
“She may be manic and having delusions of grandeur and yet suffering in Prison instead of getting treatment. When I visited her two weeks ago, she told me she had resisted being assessed by Psychiatrists from Butabika hospital and preferred those from Britain. We are chanced to have a senior consultant Dr. Dave Baille from Britain at the moment, doing some work with the Butabika Recovery College and is happy to assess Dr. Nyanzi if it can be arranged and its okay with government. This is the best I can do and we can carry on the discussion from here if this is of interest to all,” Atukunda said.
He added that “We may be enjoying very much the courage of Dr. Stella Nyanzi but sometimes such immense courage may be due to problems of inhibition caused by some mental health problems and Dr. Nyanzi our hero maybe suffering in prison and her children missing her when all she needs some medical attention. I say this as someone who has suffered mania and delusions of grandeur. Am an expert by experience and I beg you not to take me lightly and in bad light.”
He went ahead to say that “The Lawyers and relatives of Dr. Stella Nyanzi can get in touch with me and we forge a way forward in this direction if they deem it fit. Dr. Dave Baillie is only in Uganda until the evening of Monday 8th May 2017 when he flies back to the UK. We should move fast if we are to use his kindly offered services to help our hero, an extra ordinary person who could be an iconoclast, shaman, revolutionary, rebel, genius, visionary or mad woman so we should start eliminating the possibilities and zero down to how exactly extra ordinary she is” Atukunda said in an email he sent to the government officials and copied to alleastafrica.
Responding to Joseph’s email that was copied to this media, Uganda’s Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Justice Mike Chibita said “The key to this lies with the good doctor, herself and her lawyers. On our part we have no objection”, Justice Chibita said.
Dr. Stella Nyanzi has referred Mr. Atukunda to her lawyers to make preparations to send foreign Psychiatrists to Luzira Maximum Security Prison to carry on the assessment process if they deem it fit.
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