By Executive Editor
Activist Nana MwaAfrica is one of those who have been arrested a number of times because of what she believes in, to the extent that she does not remember how many times she has been arrested and detained over activism. In this question (Q) and answer (A), Nana discusses the future of activism and why she continues to do what she does.
Q: Some time ago, Dr. Besigye was declared to have been arrested the most in the country. You, too, have been arrested a couple of times. Do you know how many times you have been arrested?
A: Yes, someone just typed on Facebook how they were confused when they saw that clip where police, both traffic and anti-riot, arrested me so violently on Thursday, July 25, 2024. This person says they thought this was an old video and one of the many violent unlawful arrests I have suffered at the hands of those who should serve and protect me. So yes, even members of the public do not get it anymore. Between 2016 and now, I have been arrested many times for trying to exercise my constitutional right to protest the unending illegalities. May be 17 times. I haven’t, and I cannot correctly count.
Q: Despite these arrests, you don’t stop. What keeps you doing what you do and the way you do it?
A: Despite the violent and often humiliating arrests, I haven’t felt the need to stop expressing myself, my dissatisfaction, or my view on how things should go. Why? I believe that things always change, and things always get better with our best efforts towards that change. If the ones messing up a whole nation haven’t stopped, why should I? If police brutality (wanted misuse of force by security agencies, be it police, army, or prisons) hasn’t stopped, why should I? I guess I cannot stop until justice is realized for us all.
Q: Are there moments when you sit back and you are like, What do I lose?
A: Yes, I be like, What should I fear that I haven’t feared before? What should I lose that I haven’t lost before? I lost my womb to police violence in 2019 that happened at no less than the country’s police headquarters! I lost my plot of land to medical bills that would follow..that very attack trying to restore my health, I lost my dignity when they undressed me on April 24, 2019 and attempted to induce child labor. I have been labeled insane by them while in their custody. Look at the recent arrest while I and others marched to Parliament…They undressed me and dragged me around like some unworthy animal. One of my sons was so hurt and embarrassed.What is left to lose?Property owners were approached to evict me unfairly from business rentals…I mean, what haven’t they done?
Q: Not many Ugandans want to go to the streets to protest, yet they, too, are oppressed in their own way… What do you tell these categories of people?
A: I feel sorry for them, and I also try my best to always share with the few I get a chance to engage with to tell them that the “Zilindaba olwange” attitude is what got us here as a country. I dividualism—not caring when an issue is seemingly not affecting us as individuals—it’s dangerous, and I can tell them it may be too late when they realize the issues of injustice affect us all.
People need more civic education, and that’s why I am always sharing books and knowledge with people. The day I was arrested, I carried some books—copies of Dragon, as told by Aelian Okeanos Mandela to Paul H. Sutherland an easy-to-read book that cannot leave its reader the same.
Q: What’s the future of activism, especially when the state doesn’t want to see any form of protest? Is activism as a form of showing displeasure likely to die down?
A: In the past couple of years, I have worried that activism is truly under attack and is dying out.
Looking at what’s happening today—what has happened since July 23rd—I cannot help but smile and thank God for the spirit of the people—the spirit not to fear amidst all the evil and brutality.
If the Ugandans, especially the youth, no matter how seeming few they were, could leave their houses on July 23, 2024, with all that deployment of military by the state,… I have no doubt that Ugandans, at the right time and soon, will collectively rise up against misrule.
As terrible as the stories from our trip and stay in Luzira prison are, I see more Ugandans getting borderland fearless about their situation soon.
