KAMPALA, UGANDA: Anthony Wameli, the head of the Legal Department of the National Unity Platform-NUP has been diagnosed with stage four cancer.
Wameli, who has been battling on and off abdominal complications in the past few months, was diagnosed with colon cancer alias bowel cancer by the doctors at Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts in the United States of America where he has been hospitalized since September 2021.
This is the second time since this year started that the human rights Advocate is being admitted to Boston. He was first admitted between June and July 2021. Speaking from his sickbed in Boston, Wameli told URN that after the June admission thorough biopsies were done but it is only recently when they confirmed that he had stage four cancer.
Stage four colon cancer occurs when cancer spreads to other tissue and organs such as the liver. It may also reach the lungs, the lymph nodes, or the lining of the abdominal cavity. Wameli says that he has since commenced treatment and is responding well.
Asked how he is coping with the bills overseas, Wameli noted that it was a little bit bearable when he was doing tests to identify the problem. “As for the bills, I am meeting them with the help of family, relatives and well-wishers. It’s difficult to estimate how much has so far been spent and what is expected to be spent but one thing is for sure, skyrocketing of the bill is expected,” he said.
He also revealed that he applied for an emergency visa for his wife Olive Wameli about a month ago from the American Embassy but the process has dragged on. URN couldn’t establish from the embassy why the process has taken long as efforts to reach the Embassy via a phone call were futile.
On September 10 2021, the Uganda Law Society-ULS named Wameli as the criminal defence lawyer of the year. The ULS Annual General Meeting also voted Wameli and Company Advocates, which employs eight Advocates as the law firm of the year.
Wameli, a Pastor at Ebenezer Christian Fellowship in Kanyanya rose to the limelight in 2017 when he represented the suspects accused of murdering former Police Spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi, his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and driver, Godfrey Mambewa.
He is also the legal representative of Jamilu Mukulu, the alleged head of the rebel Allied Democratic Forces-ADF and former presidential candidates retired Lt. General Henry Tumukunde and Robert Kyagulanyi.
He also has instructions to represent hundreds of NUP currently supporters facing trial in the Makindye based General Court-Martial and suspects implicated in the murder of General Katumba Wamala’s daughter Brendah Nantongo and driver Harunah Kayondo.
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