Kakwenza Rukirabashaija Author giving Museveni White Nights
What’s going on in Uganda and among Ugandans is no secret – newcomers only need to listen to local music, talk on the streets and have a quick chat with Ugandans to understand this country.
In all Ugandan local music there are messages about concerns of rampant corruption, excesses of security guards, thugs, brutality and limited freedoms, especially when not singing with the regime.
For example, you may be arrested for simply declaring that you do not support the first son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, presidential candidate of Uganda, even though he has officially declared no interest.
For a doctor who protests in the street to demand a salary increase, he is arrested and detained, or even dismissed.
But there is a Ugandan creative novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija – this man is the author of a simple book telling about the daily life of Ugandans. The book titled “The Greedy Barbarian” prompted military intelligence agents to tear him from his home and throw him into a dirty, unventilated detention cell.
Rukirabashaija endured horrific torture including burns, nail removal and hunger for days, in addition to all the beatings because his accounts expose the horrific life under President Yoweri Museveni.
The novel The Greedy Barbarian, which addresses themes of high-level corruption in a fictional country. He was arrested on April 13, 2020 in Uganda and detained for seven days, during which he was questioned about his fiction and subjected to torture.
Later, Rukirabashaija published another book called Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous. He was arrested and charged with “inciting violence and promoting sectarianism”.
According to Rukirabashaija, “In Africa, when you write fiction, especially political fiction, like the political allegory Animal Farm by George Orwell, leaders will always think that you are writing about them. Of course, every dictator will suspect that the writer wanted to embarrass him, ”Rukirabashaija wrote.
“Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda, felt that it was about him that I had written and so he sent his thugs to arrest me and torture me in order to hamper my creativity. The idea was to completely prevent myself from being creative.
Towards the end of December, Rukirabashaija was again arrested without charge for alleged offensive communication.
Rukirabashaija’s lawyer, Eron Kiiza, said the author was being held in a hidden interrogation center in Kampala.
“They claim he made an offensive communication. They don’t give us any details about it. Thus, they accuse him of offensive communication. Of course, we know him and the first son has had conversations on Twitter, ”Kiiza said.
Rukirabashaija on Twitter called Museveni’s son Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba obese, drunk and in a bad mood for a future president.
“Armed men are breaking down my door,” he wrote. “They say they are police officers but are not in uniform. I locked myself inside.
Kainerugaba seemed to take credit for the arrest. He posted on Twitter: “I want the arrest of Kakwenza Rukira (Rukirabashaija) to be a lesson for anyone who thinks they can cheat me on social media and get away with it without any problem.”
Last year Rukirabashaija was named International Writer of Courage by Tsitsi Dangarembga, a Zimbabwean writer and activist. She chose Rukirabashaija as (2021 PEN Pinter Laureate) International Writer of Courage, an award for an author who has been persecuted for speaking out about her beliefs, with whom she will share her award.
