Prime
Was Stella Nyanzi right about Bobi?
Author: Phillip Matogo. PHOTO/FILE
He shared a photo of his new bulletproof car,
Like a poor boy with a new gift on Christmas.
How many other Ugandans need bullet-proof cars
To shield us from stray bullets let loose by brutes?”
Read a stanza to a poem the spit-fire Dr Stella Nyanzi posted on her Facebook wall during the week.
Its sentiments were raw, raising questions about Bobi Wine’s showboating on the tide of his good fortune to have a bulletproof car in a potential war zone.
Dr Nyanzi wasn’t done with her Bobi-baiting poetry, however. Her subsequent poem had the hit-or-miss charm of a kikomando breakfast.
For she then posted an erotic poem entitled “withdrawal,” which attempted to sexualise Bobi’s withdrawal of his election petition. Instead, it deposited the kind of profanity that would ensure an adult entrainment star laughs all the way to the bank.
Bobi’s red brigade quickly swung into action, and their righteous indignation didn’t miss its target. After all, they were taking aim at a large target with an even larger mouth.
However somebody should’ve warned them that trying to “civilise” Dr Nyanzi is like pulling chestnuts out of the fire; a thankless task.
Her mental real estate was long ago cultivated into a zone inhabited by fearlessness as foolhardiness claimed squatter’s rights thereof.
Always shooting word-guns at the testicular vacuum which defines a patriarchy, Dr Nyanzi cut her teeth speaking truth to power.
“I will speak to dictators in any language possible,” she said from the dock while being tried for cyber harassment and offensive communication. Evidently, her definition of “dictators” was not limited to heads of state.
We saw her strip down to her valentine-red underwear on national television when she was taking on Prof Mahmood Mamdani over office space.
Thereupon, she suddenly became the elephant in every living room, so to speak.
Her roly-poly nakedness was a metaphor for those who wish to tilt against the high and the mighty.
By turns, she was described as brave, ill bred, brilliant if mentally unglued.
I would say she’s Uganda’s top equal opportunity activist: as she takes off her clothes, everybody else puts their gloves back on.
And that’s what Prof Mamdani did as he decided that discretion was the better part of valour. He thus let Dr Nyanzi continue flapping her tongue at the void which replaced his interest in taking her on.
Being one of the best writers in Uganda, Dr Nyanzi easily gets her point across with humour, a caustic wit and invective.
So I see why she has more than 242,522 followers on Facebook alone.
I’ve always appreciated how she sparks debate about the difference between liberty and licence.
The only thing that bothers me about her is that people are bothered that her victims are bothered by her. So anyone who disagrees with her is mocked for their presumed cowardice. Even though we can’t all possibly have the recklessness outlining the method to her madness.
Similarly, the not-so-good Dr Nyanzi’s supporters must learn to be tolerant when accusing government of intolerance. The same goes to Bobi’s supporters, too.
I mean, you can’t fight for freedom while bound by rage. That’s like eating your cake then putting the cherry on top.
Again, Dr Nyanzi should realise that using choice words to ridicule her opponents might make for good theatre. But if we are to build a truly great nation out of Uganda, we need to confine such abusive language to the theatre of the absurd.
As Dr Nyanzi said in her poem attacking Bobi: Ugandans have real problems.
It’s time she addresses those, instead of undressing her mouth of its would-be progressive language.
Mr Matogo is the managing editor Fasihi Magazine.
[email protected]
