Renowned Kenyan lawyer, Martha Karua has celebrated Ugandan political activist and poet Sam Mugumya for adding a voice to challenging injustice.
Speaking during the launch of Mugumya’s poetry collection “ We Refuse to Be Victims” held in Nairobi, Karua hailed Mugumya’s work, which was written whilst in captivity, as a continuation of Africa’s liberation heritage, comparing his verses to “the oral traditions and freedom songs that have shaped our continent’s history.”
She emphasized the universal power of art to challenge injustice.
“This is not just a book launch—it is a celebration of a Legacy. Mugumya’s words will resonate globally, wherever people fight for dignity and freedom,” she said.
Mugumyajoined the event virtually from an undisclosed location and narrated his story of resilience and artistic defiance against oppression by the Ugandan and DRC governments.
The launch of the poetry collection, supported by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, is Mugumya’s second manuscript.
His first was confiscated and destroyed during his eight-year imprisonment in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Karua praised his resolve saying, “In the face of despair, Mugumya chose hope. His poetry kept him alive, focused, and unbroken—a testament to the indomitable human spirit.”
The Kenyan lawyer also condemned systemic oppression in Kenya and Uganda, citing abductions of activists like Dr. Kizza Besigye and his aide, Hajj Obeid Lutale, the disappearance of 36 Ugandans from Kisumu, and Kenya’s flawed policies such as the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and education capitation and student loan revisions.
“These are some of the injustices we face today, and the fear in us, sometimes stops us from raising a finger, but from Sam Mugumya’s inspirational work, Fear is not an option,” she said.
“Mugumya’s journey—eight years imprisoned, shuffled between governments— proves that surrender is not an option. Let us not allow anyone to define the limits of your expressions, or the heights of the dreams for our country, continent. You have to deliberately keep yourself afloat, just like Sam Mugumya. Do not let yourself to drown in the oppression that is all around.”
Karua urged national and cross-border unity.
“The movement to liberate ourselves from oppression is now not confined to any one country. It is within our neighbourhood - the Jumuiya, within our region of Africa and all countries of the world experiencing the kind of repression that is now growing in Kenya.”
“Oppression in one nation fuels suffering in another”, she said in reference to the abductions of Besigye, Lutale and 36 Ugandans, and the abductions of Turkish and Ethiopians refugees, all which took place in Nairobi.
“What we do here in Kenya can encourage others elsewhere, and the GenZ protests here encouraged people the world over. Let us not lose that moment... of upholding transparency and accountability.” “In the task of liberating our country, can we really afford silos, where those realising today, that their actions of yesterday hurt, cannot join the liberators?”
She called for national solidarity, stressing that the liberation movement needs to be led by shared values—enshrined in Article 10 of Kenya’s Constitution, which is also the foundation of global faith traditions.