Ugandan activist refuses bail, opts to teach Facebook in jail

Stella Nyanzi, a controversial academic and activist in Uganda on Friday refused to accept bail stating that she preferred to remain on remand till her case was heard.

The current case against her is for insulting the dead mother of President Yoweri Museveni in a Facebook post.

Incidentally, her reason for refusing bail was to allow her teach inmates of the prisons how to use Facebook, local media portals quoted her as saying.

What are they investigating - that Yoweri Museveni is still offended? I will go and be with those ladies in Luzira [Prison] teaching them how to write on Facebook.

“What are they investigating – that Yoweri Museveni is still offended? I will go and be with those ladies in Luzira [Prison] teaching them how to write on Facebook.

“When they are released they can write as much as I do. As a writer… A poetess… writing to a broad group of people, I write criticising the regime.”

Nyanzi is no stranger to controversy, she was arrested last year and charged with offences relating to cyber harassment. She had described the president as a ‘pair of buttocks.’

The case was eventually dropped at some point and she was freed. Trial for the current case is due to start on November 22.