Outgoing PEN-Uganda president and Makerere University Literature lecturer Dr Danson Sylvester Kahyana was on Tuesday night waylaid by goons who knocked out his teeth and took all his possessions.
Kahyana, who is also a government critic, well known for his “Fire on the Mountain” creative works on Kasese (2016) was attacked on his way home from work, according to a close friend’s account.
A close friend to the Makerere University lecturer who spoke to this website on grounds of anonymity said that she met Kahyana a few hours after the incident and he told her that boda rider who took him home seemed to know his home from the way he described his neighbourhood.
“He says that when he asked him if he knew where his home was, he said yes, and described the area and Kahyana was happy that the person who was taking him home almost knew his place,” a friend who preferred anonymity told Nile Post.
According to the colleague, Kahyana told her that he happily hopped on the motorcycle and they started to ride home.
Things would have take a different turn when they were reached Total fuel station in Kira.
“This guy slowed down and Danson asked why they werr slowing down. He said ‘well they are quite a number of humps, I do not want you to get off the boda boda. When he slowed down, other two boda boda’s came and they started to talk. The four later ganged up on Kahyana and asked him to surrender everything, they started searching his pockets and hit him,” the colleague told this website.
This website has been able to establish that a driver who was passing by picked Kahyana from the road side and rushed him to a near by health facility, where he was later picked and transferred to Makerere University for further treatment.
By press time, police was yet to come out with a statement on the incident, and our efforts to get a comment from KMP deputy police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire proved futile.
The attack on the writer and critical voices in the country has left many in fear, saying that it looks strategic.
Cartoonist and critical writer Jim Spire Ssentongo said via his Twitter that it is becoming “a horrific count” as more and more critical voices are being targeted.
“The brutal attack on my friend, Dr Danson Kahyana, is quite unfortunate. Sadly, we can only count victims, as we wait for the next bloody savage images. It’s a horrific count. If this be the axe, it’s getting closer. I smell it, and I’m worn out. Dear silence, take me now,” Ssentongo said.
