During the Head of State’s 74th birthday, Nyanzi published an explicit poem on Facebook in which she loathed Museveni’s 33-year-long rule. A reign characterized by underdevelopment and corruption that she so wished he had died in childbirth.
Two charges, cyber-harassment and disturbing the peace of the President were slapped against her.
Nyanzi was arrested on 2nd November 2018 and charged with cyber harassment and offensive communication.
It was now up to the judge to assess her as “obscene, coarse, lewd, or lascivious”. Many lashed out at her on social media calling her an immoral person who was suffering from poor grooming.
Her first appearance at the court was marked with controversy, Nyanzi flashed her breasts and yelled vulgarities in protest to the magistrate’s 18 months sentence.
She was sent to prison for 18 months to cool and grow sane.
Nyanzi raised eyebrows in the next court session when she assumed the seat of the Magistrate who had absconded duty by showing everyone her middle finger.
"I intend to disorganize Museveni because he has offended us for over 30 years and we are tired of a dictatorship." She roared as prison wardens led her to the waiting bus.
Nyanzi defended herself during the next court appearance by referring to a saying used in the speech of Mr Museveni at the heat of Presidential campaigns in 2016.
“If you put your hands in the anus of a leopard, you are in trouble,” this was to prove to the court that she learnt these ‘bad manners’ from the Head of State.
“He was the first to use obscene words, President Museveni was left to walk freely and no case was charged against him for the use of vulgar language.”Nyanzi retorted.
Dr Stella Nyanzi is not fresh from controversies, she was sent away parking from her job at Makerere University by the Vice-Chancellor of Makerere University, Barnabas Nawangwe.
Before all this, Nyanzi staged a protest at Makerere University over another office eviction dispute. Dr Nyanzi was appalled by the amount of workload she was being assigned to work on by her boss Professor Mahmood Mamdani.
She was required to lecture PHD classes as well as do research an alteration that went against her contract.
Professor Mamdani had her office locked. To express her disgust, she stripped naked in front of TV cameras and mooned the old professor.
During the trials, Nyanzi maintained she was innocent and had no case to answer. In the following court session, her lawyers had a QA session with State’s witness, and this was their dialogue:
Q: Is vagina a dirty word?
Opwonya: Most of the time it is.
Q: Is the Vagina a clean thing?
Opwonya: Yes.
Q: Can a vagina be dirty?
Opwonya: Yes, if you don’t wash it.
However, Nyanzi’s defence team were unsuccessful to convince the court. Nyanzi was sent back into the coolers at Luzira prison.
Through the trials, Dr Stella Nyanzi claims she is fighting injustice; she accentuates an African tradition where old women protest through nudity, though it is uncommon it is thought to bring rotten luck to those who torment and tragedy to their families.
When an old woman of her age uses such obscenities, it is useless to ask if she is mad. Those who feel ashamed should turn to the old man and ask “See what you have done? Mr Museveni, have you no shame that now women have to strip naked?” Pointing to the wrong policies by President Museveni.
She affirms this is a true image of the country, decency is pointless when the fountain of honour is dishonourable. She asks the regime to leave her to fight for the rights of oppressed Ugandans.
Dr Stella Nyanzi Considers Museveni a warmonger who operates outside limits of decency. She is disappointed that the government ignored women and yet in the 1990s, they used the feminist idea as a firewall to weaken political opposition.
Nyanzi wrote numerous poems while in incarceration, she smuggled dozens out of prison, though many were confiscated by prison warders.
Her protests advocate for equal rights for the minorities especially rights for Ugandan’s LGBTQ community.
"I'm a queer by specialization. I do things queer, I study queer communities in Uganda, that is the language we speak’’, she explains.
In one demonstration, she vehemently criticizes President Museveni for failing to fulfil his campaign promise of providing free sanitary pads to girls in schools so that they don’t drop out.
In Uganda, menstrual hygiene management is crucial at keeping young adolescent girls in school when they experience menstruation.
Dr Nyanzi has also accused the first lady of being out of touch with reality as a mother of the nation.
Despite all the controversy, Dr Nyanza is striding forth to represent the Women in Kampala City. She is vying to unseat Nabila Naggayi, the current Woman MP.
With massive local support garnered over the years, a growing social media fan base, Dr Stella Nyanzi is coming in a full package to give a voice to thousands of voiceless women in Kampala.
She also revealed her distaste towards the ruling NRM party, her main reason for joining active politics is to shelter Kampala and Ugandans from oppressors of the dubious NRM party.
"Unity is strength. All we need is a united stand against this party in power. We need to do away with factions and divisionism if we are to make any progress," Nyanzi told the Press.
She says the electorate is disappointed in opposition MPs for doing nothing in terms of contributing towards the legislative processes of Uganda.
They have gone ahead to make laws that oppress the common man and yet they are representatives of their communities’ needs.
She questioned the importance of decent language when nothing has been achieved to improve the plight of the ordinary person.
‘‘Decent language! Of what use is it? I would rather be vulgar and transform things than being silent or be polite in ways that do not change situations," Nyanzi said.
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