Yesterday, a familiar, unfortunate incident occurred when Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was whisked away to an unknown destination in a tinted Double Cabin pickup shortly after he was granted bail.
Political Activist and Deputy Lord Mayor Doreen Nyanjura, who was on ground to witness the events, appeared in an interview with RX Radio’s Olive Najjuma. She said that although she wasn't surprised by the events that are now becoming more frequent, she was afraid about how unsafe all Ugandans in the country are.
“We have seen this occur a number of times and it doesn't surprise me because we are dealing with a dictator whom we can only fight if we come together as a country. Because you might be thinking that this has happened to Kakwenza but I’m so sure that Allan Sewanyana and Mohammed Segirinya never expected that it would happen to them. That they would spend 6 months in jail and be charged with treason?” she said.
“So I am here to tell Ugandans that this is not about Kakwenza, Ssewanyana or Segirinya. This is about all Ugandans. They are going to come for us because at the end of the day, we are not going to be silent.”
The activist went on to add, “What I know is that it shouldn't be Kakwenza to be tortured and jailed because we know those who are making the country about themselves. Those are the people supposed to be imprisoned. We need to get up and fight for our rights otherwise they are coming for all of us,” she reiterated.
Nyanjura, who also reported the incidents first on her Twitter account, narrated that four days before the occurrence, the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Douglas Singiza asked them for the shs.500,000 cash and Kakwenza’s passport as bail requirements. These were collected and presented yesterday before the magistrate.
After getting his signature, Nyanjura, together with Kakwenza’s family and other political activists, headed to Kitalya prison hopeful about the release of their colleague. They were then asked for proof of bail which was presented by Kakwenza’s lawyer.
She then narrated, “The prison warden who was attending to the lawyer asked for 10 minutes to bring Kakwenza, but in between there, a strange Double Cabin, tinted and without number plates, appeared from a rear route rather than the usual entrance. The prison warden then asked if the car was part of our convoy and when we declined, he went to find out. When he came back, he just apologized and told us that Kakwenza had been taken in the car.”
“When the lawyer tried to find out what had happened, suddenly no one was willing to attend to him. He asked to talk to the Correctional Officer and his request was declined. There was a lot of tension. Some of the activists also tried to ask questions but another police patrol car was brought in to vacate them from the premises.”
Having mentioned that Kawenza had been tortured, Olive asked the Deputy Lord Mayor whether he had received any medical attention.
She responded, “Of course there was a letter from prison clearly showing that Kakwenza was tortured and they stated that there was improvement and the wounds were healing. So probably he got treatment, we can’t be so sure because I'm speaking on behalf of other activists and relatives who have not been able to see him since he was taken into Kitalya which requires a mandatory Covid-19 test that costs over shs.100,000 that most of them couldn't afford.”
Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was first arrested on 28th December 2021 from his residence in Kisaasi for offensive communication in tweets he directed to President Museveni and the first son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba also the Commander of Land forces on 24th December 2021
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.
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