We refuse to be victims: Book by Ugandan poet launched in Kenya

Even the strongest of men, writes the poet, fire their last shot and sleep.

Erotic but apt, the statement by Sam Mugumya, a Ugandan poet, captures the vanity of power in its ephemeral element; excitement, fleeting, deceiving.

Mugumya is not just a poet. He is a political activist who has braved eight-year imprisonment in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s prison, Militaire de Ndolo, courtesy of his political activism in Uganda.

A former personal assistant to opposition leader Kizza Besigye, he used his time in prison to put down 82 poems which traverse the themes of injustice, endurance, and the relentless pursuit of freedom, and happiness.

His former boss Besigye is now wasting away in prison, facing treason charges. Mugumya too had his fair share of brush with treason charges in 2011 for taking part in the “walk-to-work” protests of that year over rising prices of essential commodities.

“Hearken Marley’s revolutionary voice bellowing, pity those with thinning chances,” he writes in the poem which carries the book’s title, We refuse to be victims.

In the book, he mourns the “dispossessed sovereigns”, mocks the “heir apparent”, condemns “inexcusable transgressions”, but also celebrates “my mother, my hero”, longs for the day “when love shall reign” and desires to go “where I long to be.”

“Behold ye wretched souls of my father’s realm, in the footsteps of my father, I tread. When I wag my finger, human spines shiver. My random tweets seal the fate of many,” he writes.

In Return my Rukomyo, Mugumya bemoans reduction of Africa’s cultural items of daily use into artefacts for museum display in a European capital. Rukomyo is a three-holed earthenware used to burn fragrant herbs to perfume a woman’s body.

Lucifer reigns in paradise, No one borrows a neighbour’s tongue, and A lethargic hand from the past rules the present, are some of the sayings scattered all over the book, each capturing a Mugumya’s experience or thought.

The 127 page book was launched last weekend in Nairobi at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), with Mugumya gracing the event virtually.  Over 100 writers, poets, artists, journalists, and activists gathered to listen to the readings, but also to explore art’s role in promoting democracy.

“These poems were conceived in the bowels of hell. Writing in prison is illegal, but I refused to be silenced,” Mugumya recounted.

Mugumya stressed that ordinary people must take the responsibility for their own fate:

“At the end of the day, it is us, the downtrodden, the masses, who must build the future we want to see.”

The event highlighted art’s historical role as a tool for resistance and political expression. 

FNF Project Director Stefan Scott highlighted the unique ability of artists to shape public discourse.

“Artists are the true liberal minds of society. They sense social shifts and violations of human values long before others do,” Scott said, praiseing Mugumya’s work as a powerful catalyst for dialogue on freedom and justice. 

Keynote speaker and People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua, who is also one of Dr Besigye’s lawyers in the treason trial, drew parallels between Mugumya’s poetry and Africa’s rich tradition of using art to resist oppression.

“This is more than a book launch. It is a celebration of a legacy. Mugumya’s words will echo wherever people fight for dignity and freedom,” Karua said.

Karua also highlighted the destruction of Mugumya’s first manuscript during his imprisonment, making the final book a demonstration of his unbroken spirit.

“In the face of despair, Mugumya chose hope. His poetry kept him alive, focused, and unbroken, a testament to the indomitable human spirit,” Karua noted.

The event took place against the backdrop of shrinking democratic space, state-sponsored abductions, and targeted crackdowns on activists in East Africa.