By Umar Kashaka
The Police are set to charge novelist and government critic Kakwenza Rukirabashaija with offensive communication today, Tuesday.
The spokesperson of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), Charles Mansio Twiine, said detectives completed their investigations yesterday, January 3.
He revealed this during a press conference at the Police headquarters in Naguru yesterday.
Twiine explained that on December 24, the 33-year-old Kakwenza, using his Twitter handle, repeatedly abused President Yoweri Museveni using words that were derogatory, abusive and belittling, without any purpose of legitimate communication.
He also said on December 26, Kankweza through Twitter attacked Lt Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the First Son and Commander of Land forces, using the same derogatory, abusive and belittling words.
Twiine said Kankweza, who was taken into custody on December 28, abused Muhoozi still without any legitimate purpose of communication.
“A civilised person cannot mention those words here. It is so hurting; it is very bad. Abusing has no legitimate platform even socially in our different cultures and even legally. Even the most known opposition politicians here have not used some of these words,” he told journalists.
“You can challenge the system, you can challenge the method of work, but you can’t go personal. When you go personal it becomes an offence. So this level of elusiveness and impunity is condemned,” Twiine noted.
He said they had already preferred charges of offensive communication as provided for under the Computer Misuse Act against Kakwenza.
“And I think tomorrow (Tuesday) morning he will be produced in court because the investigation will be done today by 2:00pm. So this cannot be somebody expressing his opinion, no! This is a direct attack on an individual which we condemn as a law enforcement agency, but also which we condemn as Africans,” Twiine said.
Kakwenza was in October 2021 named the International Writer of Courage at the PEN Pinter Prize ceremony.
