Critical book against President Museveni wins author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija International Writer of Courage award

London. Uganda’s fictions writer, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has been named this year’s best PEN International writer after his controversial publications perceived by Uganda’s regime as hitting President Museveni one of which, The greedy Barbarian was selected the best.

The award is part of the PEN Pinter prize, which goes to an author deemed to have fulfilled Harold Pinter’s aspiration to “define the real truth of our lives and our societies”. This year’s PEN Pinter winner, the Zimbabwean writer and activist Dangarembga, chose Rukirabashaija as the International Writer of Courage, an award for an author who has been persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs, with whom she will share her prize.

The award goes to writers who cast an ‘unflinching, unswerving’ gaze upon the world and shows ‘a fierce, intellectual determination. Courage Award both comprise an annual literary award launched in 2009 by English PEN in honour of the late Nobel Literature Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter.

Kakwenziza was twice arrested last year On 13 April 2020 and 21 September 2020 and unlawfully detained by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) at Mbuya barracks before he was transferred for questioning at Kireka Special Investigations Unit. He said he was blind folded and tortured.

He was accused of continuously writing critically of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni but was formally charged with the offense of ‘inciting violence and promoting sectarianism.

He wrote two books “The greedy Barbarian and The Banana Republic.”

On 13 April 2020, Uganda writer and novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was arrested at his home by officers from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI). He was detained for seven days before arraignment in court and informed his lawyers that he had been subjected to torture. Although he was charged with a covid19 related offence following a post he had made on his Facebook account, his interrogation centred on his novel, The Greedy Barbarians that explores themes of high-level corruption in a fictional country.

PEN International issued a statement on 4 May 2020 highlighting his situation and calling on the Ugandan authorities to drop what seem to be false charges when in real sense Rukirabashaija was being targeted because of his writing.

Officers questioned him about his The Banana Republic although in official documents s the police strangely claim that Rukirabashaija was being investigated on a charge of ‘inciting violence and promoting sectarianism.’

Previous winners

2009

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Tony Harrison, poet and playwright

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Zarganar (Maung Thura), Burmese artist 

2010

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Hanif Kureishi

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Lydia Cacho, Mexican journalist and human rights activist[7]

2011

·         PEN Pinter Prize: David Hare, playwright

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Roberto Saviano, Italian writer and journalist

2012

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Carol Ann Duffy, poet

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Samar Yazbek, Syrian writer

2013

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Tom Stoppard, playwright

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Iryna Khalip, Belarusian journalist

2014

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Salman Rushdie, novelist

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Mazen Darwish, Syrian lawyer and journalist

2015

·         PEN Pinter Prize: James Fenton

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Raif Badawi, Saudi activist

2016

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Margaret Atwood

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury, Bangladeshi publisher[17]

2017

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Michael Longley

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Mahvash Sabet, Iranian poet and teacher

2018

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

·         International Writer of Courage: Waleed Abulkhair, Saudi lawyer and human rights activist 

2019

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Lemn Sissay

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Befeqadu Hailu, Ethiopian writer and blogger

2020

·         PEN Pinter Prize: Linton Kwesi Johnson

·         International Writer of Courage Award: Amanuel Asrat, Eritrean poet