A Ugandan court has charged a controversial university lecturer for abusing President Yoweri Museveni and his late mother. Dr Stella Nyanzi, a Makerere University researcher and an activist, appeared in court in Kampala on Wednesday on charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication.
She is accused of insulting President Yoweri Museveni and his deceased mother, Ms Esteri Kokundeka, in a Facebook post on September 16. In the post, Dr Nyanzi argued that she could not let Ms Kokundeka rest in peace while her son continued to suffocate Uganda with corruption, lawlessness and dictatorship.
Good people
Ms Kokundeka died in November 2001.
In a hand written letter to a friend, widely shared on social media, the controversial don vowed to continue fighting for her freedom. “This is the fourth day I am sleeping in a detention at Kira Division Police Station. The police officers are good people. They are not only protecting me, but they also taking care of my needs. Thank you for bringing me breakfast every morning, I share it with the other female cell mates locked up with me,” the letter reads. Her indictment follows the detention of another woman, Ms Susan Namata, who is also accused of abusing President Museveni.
Another charge
In September, Ms Namata had in a video threatened to hit President Museveni’s teeth with her genitals over the arrest of Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine. This is not Dr Nyanzi’s first attack on the president as she is facing another charge for allegedly describing President Museveni as “a pair of buttocks” and his wife, Janet, “empty-brained” in posts on her Facebook page in April last year.
The case is still ongoing. Dr Nyanzi was arrested on November 2 and remanded. She will appear in court Friday.