Novelist Kakwenza case file sent to DPP as activists demand his release
The activists address a press conference in Mengo, Kampala on December 31, 2021 where they asked the State to release novelist Rukirabashaija Kakwenza (inset). PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- Police declined to disclose where novelist Mr Kakwenza is detained.
Police Friday said they have forwarded the case file of detained human rights activist and author Rukirabashaija Kakwenza to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) “for interpretation of why he is repeating acts of offensive communication to the same people who get offended by his communication.”
“The file has been sent to the DPP. Let us wait for the outcome,” Police spokesperson Fred Enanga confirmed.
He noted that the DPP shall look into allegations lined against Mr Kakwenza’s to guide proceedings.
"We informed his colleagues that the Cyber-crimes unit is handling the matter and we have given his lawyers access to him.,"he said in a telephone interview.
On Friday morning, about four youths calling themselves human rights defenders addressed journalists at the opposition JEEMA party headquarters in Kampala demanding for the unconditional release of their colleague arrested by security operatives Wednesday from his home in Kisaasi, a city suburb.
One of the activists identified as Alex Makanga said they “highly suspect that Mr Kakwenza’s arrest followed some remarks the writer made about First son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.”
Another city activist John Solomon Nabuyanda expressed ‘real concern’ over Mr Kakwenza’s continued arrests.
“This is the third time he is being arrested and detained in a brutal manner,’’ he said as he observed 2020 when “Mr Kakwenza was held after he published the book, ‘Greedy Babarian’.”
“This was because of Kayibanda the protagonist whom people interpreted as the person of President Museveni. He published the Banana Republic in April 2020 and he was arrested again," he added.
According to him, their efforts to access their colleague since Wednesday have been futile but police declined to disclose where Mr Kakwenza is detained.
Police on Wednesday told this publication that they are holding the novelist on allegations of offensive communication after a series of tweets about popular individuals that detectives are yet to name.
