Igara West MP Raphael Magyezi has refuted reports that he was poisoned.
Social media platforms were on Saturday awash with reports that the MP who last year moved an amendment to the Constitution to lift the Presidential age limits, had been poisoned and hospitalized.
In a telephone interview with Uganda Radio Network- URN, MP Magyezi confirmed the he was in good health condemning the false reports about his life.
“It is all untrue, they are just lies. I am fine, I have no problem. There is no poison. I have talked to police and Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and they are trying to find out who started this, am sure they will be arrested,” said Magyezi in part.
He described the false messages as acts of criminality and a misuse of social media freedom.
Earlier on in a brief statement Parliament’s Principal Information and Education Officer, Moses Bwalatum, urged the public to ignore what they described as false social media reports indicating that MP Magyezi is unwell.
“Today being visitation day, he spent it at Mary Hill High School in Mbarara where his daughter studies. He’s now back at home to his family,” reads a brief message sent by Bwalatum on Saturday night.
Magyezi cited another Facebook message reportedly on Lands State Minister Persis Namuganza page announcing his death.
Magyezi says that the message indicates that some criminals have hacked into different social media pages with an aim of causing chaos and anxiety in the public.
MP Raphel Magyezi, became famous late last year when he sponsored the Private Member’s Bill that was passed to remove the presidential age limit. The Amendment was later this year upheld by the Constitutional Court ruling that approved Parliament’s passing of the Constitutional (Amendment) No.2 Act of 2017.
Magyezi’s Bill was seconded by Kyaka South MP Jackson Kafuuzi, Jinja West MP Moses Balyeku and Amolatar Woman MP Doreen Amule.
Since his involvement in the ‘Age Bill’, Magyezi has on several occasions spoken out about threats on his life. In an earlier interview with URN after the Constitutional Court ruling, the MP said that he still receives threatening messages on his phone.
He, however, said that the Court’s decision to uphold his Bill had taught him to continue standing firm by what he believes in.
Magyezi says that some of the people who sent him threatening messages had since apologized while Police is still carrying out investigations into different international telephone numbers sending him threats.
