Exiled Ugandan novelist and activist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has claimed that serving officers in Uganda’s security agencies regularly send him confidential information, saying the material helps him expose people he accuses of persecuting him.
Kakwenza made the claim while responding to a report in The Independent magazine linking him to Stephen Nuwagaba, a figure described in the publication as a State House-connected individual.
“Every day that passes, I receive a steady traffic of unsolicited confidential information from Ugandans, from the SFC, the UPDF and the Police. This information, because of its classified nature, is always useful in exposing my tormentors, who sent me into exile scarred, frozen bank accounts and without a passport.”
The allegation places Kakwenza’s access to information at the centre of his response to the report, which described an alleged attempt by Nuwagaba to convince Crime Intelligence officers that he was communicating directly with the exiled writer.
According to The Independent investigations team, Nuwagaba allegedly approached Crime Intelligence using his claimed State House connections and said he was in direct contact with Kakwenza.
“When The Independent contacted Kakwenza, the author denied ever talking to the young man,” the magazine reported.
The publication said Nuwagaba nevertheless provided Crime Intelligence with a German telephone number that he claimed belonged to Kakwenza and through which he allegedly communicated with the novelist.
“CI agents began talking to Kakwenza on that number and even gave it to their boss, Damulira, to speak to the exiled author.”
The report said the alleged deception was eventually uncovered when Nuwagaba visited the Crime Intelligence chief.
“During the conversation, the CI chief recognised that Nuwagaba’s voice was exactly that of Kakwenza he had been speaking to on the phone.”
According to the report, Nuwagaba was then expelled from the office and the alleged financial support he had been receiving to pass on to Kakwenza was stopped.
Kakwenza did not accept the broader narrative surrounding the controversy. Instead, he accused people in Uganda of invoking his name to gain access to President Yoweri Museveni and First Son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
“It is without doubt that many people in Uganda have got Museveni’s or Muhoozi’s attention by a mere lie that they talk to me, or that they know the people I talk to, the women I sleep with, or my travel programmes. Many have used my name to become rich and accumulate wealth. I know their names.”
Kakwenza challenges Mwenda
Kakwenza also turned his attention to The Independent publisher Andrew Mwenda, saying he had previously confronted the journalist over a story that linked him to Nuwagaba.
“What compelled me to talk to him was a story he had written about the president’s man, linking him to me. I called to ask for the evidence, and to ask why, as a journalist, he had abandoned the ethics of journalism by writing before investigating and before asking the parties involved about what he intended to publish.”
Kakwenza said Mwenda apologised following the conversation and that he subsequently agreed to consult him before using his name in stories involving him.
“He apologised. I told him that in future, if he needed to use my name in his stories, he should first call and ask whether I knew anything about the matter he intended to include my name in.”
He said subsequent reports showed a change in the way his name was presented.
“The next story confirmed that he had listened to me. Later stories also carried distancing verbs.”
Kakwenza nevertheless accused Mwenda of abandoning professional journalism.
“You used to be a great journalist, but ever since your mask fell, you have turned into a stenographer of rumours.”
Sam Mugumya video
Kakwenza further disputed the suggestion that his alleged connection to Nuwagaba was simply a matter of the latter claiming to communicate with him.
He referred to information concerning former FDC activist Sam Mugumya, alleging that attempts had been made to portray Nuwagaba as Kakwenza’s source.
“Write that he was the one who gave Kakwenza Sam Mugumya’s video suffering in illegal detention. Write that he was the one who had been giving Kakwenza all that information.”
“To them, that was the best way to destroy Nuwagaba, by linking him to Kakwenza.”
Kakwenza did not provide further details in the statement about the circumstances in which he allegedly received the video or identify the people he accused of attempting to link him to Nuwagaba.
Claims of persecution
The novelist also revisited his account of the circumstances surrounding his exile, alleging that several efforts to force him back to Uganda or damage his reputation had failed.
“The attempts to persuade me to return failed. Poisoning failed. Bankrolling my former lovers and their rumourmongering mates to character-assassinate me on social media failed. The extraterritorial witch-hunt failed, the stupid arrest warrants failed, and so on.”
He accused Mwenda of having a close relationship with Muhoozi and questioned why the journalist had not called for action against Nuwagaba if he believed the allegations against him were serious.
“Mr Mwenda, you travel with Muhoozi here and there… and you belong to his PLU… Muhoozi is Museveni’s son and has shown us his… power to arrest everyone he wishes. Why do you shy away from asking him to arrest and prosecute Nuwagaba?”
Kakwenza then questioned why his name continued to feature prominently in disputes involving people seeking influence within government and security circles.
“Why is my name so important to you and others that whoever uses it thinks he will get anything he wants from my tormentors?”
He ended his response by inviting Mwenda to meet him in Berlin.
“Come to Berlin and let us have a beer. Maybe you will learn something that… Anita Annet Among failed to learn from me, even though I spent many years admonishing her decisions and warning her of the impending comeuppance.”
The Independent’s account and Kakwenza’s response present sharply different versions of the alleged relationship between Nuwagaba, Kakwenza and Crime Intelligence. Kakwenza’s claim that serving security officers provide him with classified information was not independently verified.
Kakwenza has previously claimed that he chewed Museveni’s transport money and refused to meet him. Recently, he claimed that Museveni offered him a job, which he turned down. (See Details Here and There).
Meanwhile, in the latest saga involving the mysterious Stephen Nuwagaba, Andrew Mwenda’s newspaper has claimed that Nuwagaba had been hired by former speaker Anita Among to sleep with Moses Magogo’s wife and take pictures. (See Details Here and There).
