Novelist Kakwenza collects over 40M in hours to save his sureties from going to jail

Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has collected over Shs40 million in just hours after he made an appeal on his socials to raise the cash to save his four sureties after the court issued arrest warrants for them after their client(Kakwenza) failed to turn up in court for two times as expected.

“My friends who stood surety for me owe court 40m coz I fled the country for my life. It’s upon me now to raise the money and pay court–in respect of summons. I’m looking for 5,000 people who can send UGX8,000 to MTN +25678536**** registered as Kakwenza Rukirabashaija. Thx.” he posted on Twitter yesterday.

Following the appeal, his supporters and followers have not disappointed him considering the positive response after he shortly came back thanking his supporters for the response towards the cause.

“I have got UGX40m. Fundraising has been successful. Now waiting for that bespectacled magistrate with fat cheeks  & head bereft of the law, to send me the account number to which I’ll make a deposit and save my sureties’ bahookies from sitting in filthy cold jail. THANKS, EVERYONE,” he said.

The Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has issued a warrant of arrest against sureties for novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija who fled to Germany after being granted bail.

The sureties include lawyer Julius Galisonga, the Secretary-General of the National Unity Platform David Lewis Rubongoya, Annah Ashaba, a teacher at Kololo Secondary School, and an activist Job Kiija.

Kakwenza was on January 25, granted a cash bail of 500,000 Shillings by the Buganda Road Court, after nearly a month under detention for offensive communication against the first family.

In one of the tweets, Kakwenza referred to the President as an election thief and in another, he calls Muhoozi overweight and intellectually bankrupt. But these were seen as an attack on the first family and he was subsequently charged for disturbing the peace of the President and his son with no purpose of legitimate communication.

As part of his bail conditions, Kakwenza was directed to deposit his passport with the court for a period of six months. But even without the passport, Kakwenza fled the country days after his bail, reportedly through Rwanda, and settled in Germany under the Writers-in-Exile, a program that provides grants to authors facing persecution in their home countries.

But on March 23, 2022, when Kakwenza was expected to appear before the court, State Attorney Joan Keko asked for a warrant of arrest against him and notices to his sureties to explain why they shouldn’t be arrested. Today, when the matter came up again, Keko asked the Court to extend the arrest warrant because Kakwenza is yet to be arrested.

Keko asked the same court presided over by the Chief Magistrate Dr. Douglas Singiza to issue a warrant of arrest against the sureties on grounds that although the notices requiring them to appear before the court were duly served, they still failed to show up. While Rubongoya’s lawyer said his client was not served, Ashaba and Kiija’s lawyers said they were served late, over the weekend, yet they were upcountry.