‘When You Torture A Writer, He Bleeds Ink’
Exiled Ugandan writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who was allegedly tortured for his writing, has told the BBC that he has no plans to give up writing, even until his “last breath”.
He also wants to return home despite the threats he faces, the 35-year-old said in an interview with Focus on Africa.
Rukirabashaija added he is “only interested in making sure Uganda is a better place” and that writing has helped him cope with his pain.
The writer is best known for The Greedy Barbarian, a satirical novel which describes high-level corruption in a fictional country, and Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous, an account of the torture he says he was subjected to while in detention in 2020.
Rukirabashaija was arrested again in 2021 after the second book infuriated authorities. Both novels were seen as an attack on President Yoweri Museveni, 77, who has been in power in Uganda since 1986.
He was detained a further time after ridiculing President Museveni’s son, Muhoozi, on Twitter.
Once released, his passport was confiscated but he escaped through a secret route and sought refuge in Europe in 2022.
Rukirabashaija was told by several medical practitioners that he needed urgent care abroad, which was the main reason he left. Suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, he fears the ordeal he has been through has already affected his children mentally as well.
However, that has not stopped him dreaming of returning home.
He argues that even though he will never “forgive someone who almost murdered [him]”, exile isn’t for him and he does not want to be labelled a “coward”.
Source: BBC
