Exiled Ugandan author and lawyer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has criticised Presidential Advisor Odrek Rwabwogo over his recent remarks on freedom of expression and the need for Ugandans to reclaim their voices.
Rwabwogo, who heads the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), recently argued that Uganda’s ambition of building a $500 billion economy requires an environment where citizens can freely express themselves.
"Can Uganda build a $500 billion economy if people are afraid to speak? Fear disables citizens. Silence weakens institutions. Suppressed opinion kills national confidence. We grow by listening, talking to each other, and exercising restraint. Uganda must keep communicating freely," Rwabwogo said.
In response, Kakwenza accused Rwabwogo of raising concerns that government critics have highlighted for years but without facing the consequences experienced by those who have challenged the administration.
Writing in a public letter addressed to Rwabwogo, Kakwenza said the Presidential Advisor’s comments were not new, arguing that opposition politicians, journalists, academics and activists had previously raised similar concerns.
"I remember meeting you shortly after I came out of prison in January 2022. You asked to see me. With my consent, you inspected the wounds from mutilation on my back, buttocks, thighs and right arm," Kakwenza wrote.
"You even told me that you had been sent by your boss, who, through one of Uganda's more successful procurement exercises, also became your father-in-law--Museveni."
He said recently Timothy Kalyegira, a journalist and data researcher who was recently seized and detained before being released on bail on charges of publishing from illegal sites, revealed that Rwabwogo had visited him in prison too.
"That made me wonder whether you have appointed yourself Inspector General of Political Prisoners. Every time your brother-in-law's government manufactures another inmate, there you are, conducting prison tourism like lice or bedbugs," he said.
Kakwenza also cited former presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye and other critics who, he said, had spoken about governance challenges long before Rwabwogo’s intervention.
Kakwenza recalled meeting Rwabwogo after his release from prison in January 2022, saying the presidential adviser visited him and examined injuries he allegedly sustained during his detention.
He also referred to reports that Rwabwogo had visited journalist Timothy Kalyegira while he was detained, questioning whether the adviser had taken on the role of monitoring political prisoners.
Kakwenza accused Rwabwogo of directing his concerns to the wrong audience, arguing that as a presidential adviser and relative of President Yoweri Museveni, he had direct access to the country’s leadership.
"Why are you addressing us? We are the wrong audience. Take your complaints to family dinner," Kakwenza wrote.
He argued that government critics had exhausted formal channels for raising concerns, including writing books, filing court cases, organising protests, engaging diplomats and reporting alleged abuses, but had instead faced arrests, detention and exile.
Kakwenza said Rwabwogo’s comments would have carried more weight if they had been directed at those in positions of authority.
Rwabwogo, who is married to President Museveni’s daughter Patience, has in recent months spoken about national development, economic transformation and the importance of open dialogue.
Kakwenza, who has lived in exile since leaving Uganda after his detention in 2021, has continued to criticise the government through his writings and social media platforms.
