Kakwenza moves to take on Buganda Road chief magistrate

Exiled Ugandan writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has asked his lawyers of Kiiza and Mugisha Advocates to take legal action against Buganda Road chief magistrate over the continued handling of offensive communication case against him.

According to Kakwenza, despite an earlier pronouncement by the Constitutional Court annulling the section in which he was charged, the court has refused to stop the case.

“If the Chief Magistrate has continued to feign ignorance of the effect of that ruling on my case, and has stubbornly refused to halt the case and release my passport, then I should not be the platform on which to practice his remote controlled pigheadedness,” Kakwenza said in his March 2, 2024 letter to the lawyers.

Last year, Kakwenza directed his lawyers to stop representing him in the same court after the Constitutional Court had ruled that Section 25 of the Computer Misuse Act, 2011 which criminalized offensive communication was no longer an offence.

“Pursuant to this judgement, it is my understanding that any further proceedings in the aforementioned court would make us appear like acqulescent faineants kowtowing to their incorrigible madness. I understand other courts, as they should, are observing the said orders of the Constitutional Court. I cannot understand why the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court continues to preside over and elongate my persecution and harassment on charges which are not provided for in the law,” Kakwenza told his lawyers last year.

Kakwenza however says he is disturbed that the court has refused to drop the case.

"I may have respect for the institution of the judiciary but my intolerance for errant judicial officers who are towering geniuses of incompetence is conspicuous," the award-winning writer says.

"Nor do I have tolerance for public officials whose work ethics are tethered to the lawlessness of nincompoops in the statehouse who have used their offices to impinge on my imprescriptible rights. Such kind of judicial incompetence has incurred a disproportionate disadvantage on my freedom of movement as a Ugandan citizen and an internationally acclaimed author who travels often for book readings and other academic public lectures/gatherings."

The satirical writer says the only option he has is taking on the chief magistrate.

“As the great legal panjandrum of the 21st Century, please proceed with all necessary legal actions. I eagerly await further updates on the progress of the matter.