Humanist

Over four years ago, in April 2020, when he was illegally detained, a concern was will he survive the detention and come out alive? At the time I wrote:

“The author of the book: “The Greedy Barbarian,” Kakwenza Rukirabashaija remains in what officers of the court have described as “illegal detention.” Who will save him from death row? I ask because, as reported by the Daily Monitor, on 11^th June 1975, Denis Cecil Hills, a vocal British lecturer, was sentenced to face a firing squad at Clock Tower in Kampala. The “capital offence” that Hills had committed was: in a leaked pre-publication manuscript of his book, “The White Pumpkin,” he had tactlessly compared Field Marshall, Conqueror of the British Empire and Life President of Uganda, Idi Amin Dada, with Emperor Nero; and had describe him as a “village tyrant.” Hills was rescued from death row by the then United Kingdom Foreign Secretary James Callaghan. Hence, my question: Who will save Kakwenza from death row? Yes, it is not far fetched to draw comparison between Hills’ situation and that which Kakwenza is in at the present, in illegal detention, for authoring and getting published his book: “The Greedy Barbarian.”

Well, Kakwenza’s legal teams did an amazing job and got him released on bail. When he got out, he read the writing on the wall and decided to safely escape into exile, where he now lives in Uganda’s diaspora; and continues his activism.

This week, the High Court of Uganda, agreed with Kakwenza and ruled for him in his civil suit no. 35 of 2021, in which the Attorney General was the respondent. Court declared:

“The actions by the respondent’s officers or agents of detaining the applicant from 13th to 20th April 2020 ( a period of seven days) was illegal and violated the applicant’s rights to personal liberty … The actions by the respondent’s officers or agents of beating, kicking, blindfolding, hanging and dragging him while hand and leg cuffed, and incommunicado detention done against the applicant; amounted to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and constituted breach of applicant’s right to human dignity and freedom from torture, cruel inhuman treatment.”

The basis on which Court awarded Kakwenza a total of 50 million shillings in damages and order the respondent, in addition, to cover the costs of the suit. Via an X post, however, Kakwenza has expressed that for him he did not need the money, what he wants are the president and first son arrested.

Recommended Additional Reading: Click here and read the full Daily Monitor story of the Hills-Amin saga; and, also, be reminded of how President Museveni’s administration did impound Dr. Olive Kobusingye’s book: “The Correct Line?: Uganda Under Museveni.”