Kampala, Uganda: Ugandan Herbal medicine researcher David Ssenfuka has tabled an alarming $300 million (about Shs1.08 trillion) defamation claim against veteran journalist Andrew Mwenda and The Independent magazine over remarks in which he was described as a “conman,” arguing that the publication severely damaged his reputation and undermined his years of medical research.
Addressing journalists during a press briefing at the Leonia-NNN Medical Research and Diagnostic Centre in Makerere on Friday, Ssenfuka said he had instructed his lawyers, Onyx Advocates, to commence legal proceedings against Mwenda and the publication.
“It is therefore my decision that I have instructed my lawyers, Onyx Advocates, to take legal action against Mr Andrew Mwenda and Independent magazine and to compensate me with 300 million dollars for damaging my billion-dollar project and the reputation I have built over the years,” Ssenfuka said.
The legal action stems from an opinion article published in The Independent on April 20, 2026, in which Mwenda referred to Ssenfuka as a “conman” while questioning President Yoweri Museveni’s support for several locally developed scientific and pharmaceutical innovations.
Ssenfuka, while displaying pictures of patients who have been cured with his cancer herbal medicine, argued that the remarks from Mwenda were defamatory and unsupported by any scientific or factual assessment of his work.
“Andrew’s words are entirely false and without any factual or scientific basis. Andrew was not an innocent reporter of other people’s views; he chose his own words, which had never been used about me in the public domain before, and published them to a wide audience.”
The Herbal researcher said the publication had subjected him to public ridicule, injured his professional standing, and discouraged potential investors from supporting his research.
“Instead of being known as the man who discovered a cure that might save millions, I have become, in many people’s eyes, a punchline and a joke, both in Uganda and abroad.”
According to him, the publication also caused international partners, philanthropists, and prospective investors to question the credibility of his work, thereby affecting opportunities to commercialise his research.
Ssenfuka is the founder and Managing Director of Leonia-NNN Medical Research and Diagnostic Centre Ltd and Leonbiotec Foundation Ltd, where he has spent years developing herbal formulations he says can treat diabetes and cancer.
He maintains that his diabetes formulation, SD2018, demonstrated curative properties during pre-clinical animal studies conducted at the Uganda Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Institute, while his cancer formulation, known as CT, has attracted interest from government scientists and medical researchers.
His research has been at the centre of a long-running debate over scientific validation and clinical trials.
In 2025, President Museveni intervened after reviewing the project, directing government agencies to support further scientific validation, clinical trials, patent protection and eventual large-scale production if the treatments meet the required standards.
Ssenfuka told journalists that he later presented his research before Cabinet alongside Prof. Charles Ibingira, Chairperson of the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) Board, and Dr. Matthias Magoola, Managing Director of Dei Biopharma, after which government agreed in principle to support the initiative.
The dispute between Ssenfuka and Mwenda attracted national attention after President Museveni this year publicly criticised the veteran journalist for dismissing local innovators without first examining their work or consulting relevant experts.
In a lengthy public response, the President defended Uganda’s efforts to develop indigenous medicines and questioned Mwenda’s basis for branding researchers as fraudsters.
Mwenda subsequently apologised to both Ssenfuka and Dr. Magoola, acknowledging that he had been wrong to describe them as “conmen” without first giving them an opportunity to respond.
Despite the apology, Ssenfuka maintains that the reputational damage has already been done and says the publication caused emotional distress, diminished public confidence in his research and affected a project he values at billions of dollars.
By press time, neither Mwenda nor The Independent had publicly responded to Ssenfuka’s latest legal action, but the herbalist maintains that despite dodging the legal suit against him, Mwenda risks being apprehended once the unspecified ultimatum expires.
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