Security has rearrested satirical novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija hours after he was granted bail by court.
Kakwenza who was arrested on December 28th 2021 was held incommunicado until January 11, 2022, when he was produced in court on two cases of offensive communication.
He was charged with one count of disturbing the peace of President Museveni and another count of disturbing the peace of the commander of UPDF land forces Gen Muhoozi Keinerugaba.
Prosecution contends that Kakwenza used his Twitter handle @KakwenzaRukira to post a series of tweets about President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his son Lt General Muhoozi Kainerugaba with no purpose of legitimate communication.
In one of the tweets, Kakwenza refers to the President as an election thief and in another, he calls Muhoozi overweight and intellectually bankrupt.
The prosecutors argue that the communication was willfully and repeatedly used to disturb the peace of the president. He denied the charges.
Kakwenza’s lawyers asked the court to release him on grounds that he was sick having been tortured while in state custody. They further argued that he needs to get a medical facility of his choice because he suffered injuries on all the parts of his body except his head.
In a court hearing on Tuesday morning, he was granted a cash bail of 500,000 Shillings while his four sureties have each been ordered to execute a non-cash bond of 10 million Shillings. The sureties were lawyer Julius Galisonga, National Unity Platform Secretary-General David Lewis Rubongoya, Kololo Secondary School Teacher Annah Ashaba and activist Job Kiija.
He was directed to deposit his original passport with the court for six months saying however that this order is most likely to be reviewed from time to time.
However, the novelist was rearrested before he could leave Kitalya prison where he had been remanded.
Security is yet to disclose the reasons for his rearrest.
