At the end of 2017, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija grabs his laptop and starts writing obsessively. As the son of small Ugandan farmers, who was the first in his family to study – journalism, development studies and law – he wants to be ‘different’ and hold up a mirror to his country. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a great source of inspiration.
After eight days, the manuscript is finished from The Greedy Barbara, a satirical novel about a dictator in a fictional African country, which only develops economically after the dictator has been driven out. After a year of rewriting, he approaches a few publishers, but they are afraid of cold feet: it is easy to recognize in the main character Yoweri Museveni, the president since 1986, who rules Uganda increasingly authoritarian.
A brave company is ready to print 10,000 copies of Rukirabashaija’s book in April 2020, which he says are selling out quickly. That is special, given the modest reading culture in Uganda.
Rukirabashaija’s quiet life as a member of the upper middle class – he also owns a thriving farm – is immediately over. He was arrested that month and was blindfolded, humiliated, mistreated and held in solitary confinement for a week. Officially, ‘violation of corona measures’ is the reason, but the interrogation is about his book.
The intimidation does not work: after his release, Rukirabashaija . writes Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous that is about his imprisonment and torture. His books and the oppression against him earn him great fame and the prestigious 2021 Pinter International Writer of Courage Award from the writers’ association PEN.
Whips, clubs and pliers
“The regime wanted me to stop writing. But it does not realize that if you torture a writer, he will bleed ink,” said Rukirabashaija, now 33, with an affable smile in Amstelveen, at the home of a sympathizer of the Ugandan opposition party NUP. He is briefly over from Germany, which will provide him with a home base for the next three years as ‘writer in exile‘ with a grant from the German branch of PEN. Because in February he was forced to flee his country, after a new detention at the end of last year.
This time he was missing for two weeks before it was clear that he had been arrested† During that period he was severely tortured, with whips, a club and tongs “with which they ripped the flesh from my thigh.” In Germany he receives medical treatment and therapy.
After a month and a lot of international pressure, he was released on bail. Photos of his red-streaked back made the rounds on the Internet and international media. That Rukirabashaija’s fate is no exception, appears from a Tuesday published Human Rights Watch reportwhich speaks of “hundreds” of cases of illegal detention and torture since 2018.
‘Incompetent, stubborn sourpuss’
Rukirabashaija’s detention was prompted by a tweet that Rukirabashaija had sent about Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of President Museveni, whom he called an “obese” and “incompetent, stubborn sourpuss”. Men of the infamous Special Forces Command (SFC), led by Muhoozi for many years, forced him to “kneel and apologize to Muhoozi,” he says, which was filmed.
Muhoozi is not there himself, but comes by three times later, according to Rukirabashaija (which Muhoozi denies). “At first he asked me not to show my injured back to anyone. The second time he was friendly and brought clothes. The third time he asked how much money I was making writing, and offered to pay it if I stopped.”
“They think a writer is critical of the regime in order to be bribed and co-opted,” continues Rukirabashija. “But for a writer, his credibility is his wealth. You cannot criticize Evil and then dine with the devil.”
Rukirabashaija hopes to return to Uganda someday, although his wife and three children are preparing to join him. Writing for Ugandan media is no longer possible. Even the independent The Observerthat before are critical pieces about the oppression in his country, he no longer dares. He is now prescribing Black Star Newsan American platform, and tweets a lot†
Both of his books are also no longer available in Uganda. He recently found the equivalent of 12,500 euros in his account, because the last thousand of his self-published books had been sold in one go. The buyer: the Ugandan Ministry of Finance. Rukirabashaija cannot withdraw the money because Ugandan banks want to know where it comes from for any large amount. “And I will never beg the authorities to declare that they have bought my books.”