The Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has issued a warrant of arrest against satirical Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija.
On Wednesday, the court presided over by Chief Magistrate Dr. Douglas Singiza issued the warrant of arrest after Kakwenza failed to show up for a hearing of his case of offensive communication.
The Buganda Road Magistrates Court Resident State Attorney Joan Keko asked the court to issue the warrant because neither Kakwenza nor his sureties were in court.
His sureties are David Lewis Rubongoya, Julius Galisonga Kololo Secondary School Teacher Annah Ashaba, and activist Job Kiija.
Kakwenza’s lawyer Samuel Wanda noted that Galisonga has a case in the High Court while Rubongoya being the Secretary-General of National Unity Platform-NUP, was in a meeting to discuss the party’s participation in the Parliament Speakership race.
Wanda also noted that Kakwenza is in a private facility receiving treatment.
The court also informed both parties in the case that one of the sureties Ashaba had written to them asking to step down as a surety.
Singiza later issued a warrant of arrest against Kakwenza and criminal summons to the sureties.
He said that the sureties will be given an opportunity to explain Kakwenza’s whereabouts and also whether to decide if they are to pay the bail money to the government.
Kakwenza fled to Germany allegedly through Rwanda, Malawi, and South Africa. This is after he had been released on bail for charges of offensive communication.
He was accused of using his Twitter handle @KakwenzaRukira to post a series of tweets about President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his son Lt General Muhoozi Kainerugaba. In one of the tweets, Kakwenza refers to the President as an election thief and in another, he calls Muhoozi overweight and intellectually bankrupt.
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