Satirical Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was yesterday placed before Buganda Road Court and remanded to Kitalya prison on two counts of offensive communication.
Late last year, he criticized First Son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, calling him 'obese' and a 'an incompetent pig-headed curmudgeon' on Twitter. Soon after, he was arrested after armed men stormed his home in Kisaasi.
Among the charges read to him was concurrently using his Twitter handle ‘@KakwenzaRukira’ to disturb the peace the peace of President Museveni and that of his son Lt. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba without the aim of legitimate communication.
RX Radio Presenter Fatboy in comment to this said, “The charges are very interesting and ambiguous. I am sure half of this country’s people might not be huge fans of the Government and might also say they disturb their peace every day. That they did so with two years of lockdown and not being able to send our kids to school,” he said.
Lesham, in addition, said people then should be wondering who disturbed the peace of others when there weren't enough beds in public hospitals during the Delta strain hospitalizations or during the presidential elections when the internet was shut down.
However, she also did not concede with Kakwenza’s tweets saying that it isn’t a safe route to express one’s disgruntledness towards a Lt. General.
“Like this is the son of one of the most powerful people arguably in the world and you're just going to fat shame him publicly?”
Fatboy also added that commenting on the weight of the General wouldn't have been such a bad thing to do except that the characterisation and words which the novelist used was something he thought was generally rude.
Moreso, he said that the novelist might have used the statements to get himself arrested and tortured in order to boost his popularity as an activist.
“Interestingly it is going to boost his cred because now, he won't be just an author with an opinion but a persecuted author with an opinion which will attract the attention of international human rights groups.”
However, Lesham insisted that even though this was his “grand plan,” it is a huge gamble that she wouldn't recommend anyone to pursue.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.