In defence of the right to offend

With the arrest and torture of satirical novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, a conversation on how far freedom of speech goes in Uganda has been awash on the internet. Can we bank on our freedom of expression and speech without the looming fear of being gagged, kidnapped and tortured or at worst killed? Is dissent tantamount to a death warrant in Uganda today?

Those questions continue to linger because more than anything the narrative of Kakwenza has been the status quo pre and post 2021 General Election, the debate continues to change, the dissidents seemingly evolving, but the oppressor nonetheless, remains the same.

Let me categorically say that freedom of expression applies online and offline. In a country where we live in fear of tweeting, typing, speaking, retweeting, commenting, it becomes critical for us to be able to protect the rights of expression and speech even more, especially in a society that is constantly struggling with the availability of civic space.

Curtailing dissent has been over vulgarised that even a small comment in regard to the powers that be, could be the death sentence that deals you out of this land. Previously, dissent laboured with policy and legal issues, and while the ruling government did not necessarily labour to make better legislations, it went to war with its dissidents in as far as smear campaigning, now they kidnap and torture. All of a sudden it feels like the “Dungeons of Nakasero” in Idi Amin times, or the endemic of “Nalufenya” in the Kale Kayihura reign.

It goes without saying, if freedom of expression and speech are not protected, we are going to find ourselves in a predicament of no freedoms at all. Everyone has the right to express themselves and part of that is the right to offend. More than the right to express, the right to offend should be protected. In a society of many touch-me-nots, freedom of expression continues to be curtailed to no end.

Citizens have the right to offend the state and those that serve in it and this has been curtailed in many ways.  Any criticism has been construed as being offensive and then the state resorts to state sponsored violence as in the Kakwenza scenario.

Unless we allow ourselves to challenge the existing power and the people in power, we will never grow and we will never evolve.

We have come this far because we have always challenged the people in power. We have constantly challenged, criticised and many times offended the sensibilities of people in power and that has kept our democracy from sinking. We will go far, if we continue to protect this right otherwise, we will create a society of touch-me-nots, unaccountable leaders and that is bound to throw us into a full-fledged autocracy.

Criticism of those in power is not a crime, if we lose our ability and right to be critical of those leading, we are akin to blind men being led by blind men. As we continue to push for the unconditional release of Mr. Kakwenza, we will continue to push for reclaiming civic space and the ability to be critical of our leaders. We will also continue to push for the protection of the inherent rights of speech and expression for every Ugandan.

Ms Tricia Gloria Nabaye is a resident research associate: Great lakes institute for strategic studies.