Kampala- UGANDA: Former Namisindwa County MP contestant and the head of National Unity Platform (NUP) legal team, Anthony Wameli is dead, the party principal Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine announced Wednesday.
Wameli died from the US where he has been undergoing treatment since mid-2021.
By the time of publishing this story, it was not yet clear what the human rights lawyer died of.
However, the former Nakasongola grade one magistrate was first hospitalized at St. Anthony medical center in Kasangati, Wakiso District in May 2021 due to stomach-related complications.
At the time, his wife, Olive Wameli said her husband was rushed to hospital in bad shape.
“We had feared because he was badly off……He was doing badly. His condition isn’t good. That’s why I have picked his mobile phone,” said Olive in an interview with a journalist.
Wameli’s closest friend, Geoffrey Turyamusiima then told journalists that he had been battling severe peptic ulcers for weeks, which he said could have worsened his condition.
Weeks later, he was transferred to Kampala then Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts in the United States of America where he was reportedly diagnosed with stage four cancer.
Wameli was one of Mr Kyagulanyi’s lawyers when the former presidential candidate filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking nullification of President Museveni’s victory following the January 14, 2021 polls.
He’s the founder and managing partner of Wameli & Co. Advocates which employs eight advocates but has nurtured more than 300 advocates.
He practiced law for over 10 years with a wide range of experience, including representing suspects on terrorism charges.
He also served as a Magistrate Grade one in the Chief Magistrate’s Court of Nakasongola for about three years before he quit.
Known for being a human rights lawyer, Mr Wameli who was a pastor at Ebenezer Christian Fellowship in Kanyanya shot to limelight around 2017 when he represented suspects accused of killing former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi. He has also been representing the alleged rebel leader of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) Jamil Mukulu. He also represented former presidential candidate Gen Henry Tumukunde and jailed former principal accountant in the Office of the Prime Minister Geoffrey Kazinda.
On September 10, 2021, the Uganda Law Society (ULS) named Wameli as the criminal defense lawyer of the year. The ULS Annual General Meeting also voted Wameli and Company Advocates as the law firm of the year.
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