Vocal academic and politician Dr Stella Nyanzi has dismissed claims that President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni paid her to attack Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine and divide the opposition.
Recently, Nyanzi criticised Bobi Wine, calling him a dictator worse than Museveni.
Supporters of Bobi Wine and National Unity Platform (NUP) fired back at Nyanzi, accusing her of running away from the struggle.
She is currently in ‘exile’ in Kenya.
Nyanzi is aware of how running to exile has changed the way some opposition supporters view her contribution to the ‘struggle.’
“Exile means different (negative) things to different people. Some people claim I betrayed comrades in the struggle when I fled from political persecution,” says the former Makerere researcher.
“Some people accuse me of abandoning the ongoing struggle for freedom in Uganda. Some people insult me as a coward who run away from the frontline.”
She reads disdain for her decision to run away from Uganda in the way people describe her exile.
“Some people even try to denigrate my exile experience by referring to it as ‘self-imposed exile,’ ‘self-styled exile,’ ‘self-exile’ or even ‘selfish exile.”
Nyanzi has also had to live with accusations that Museveni ‘bribed’ her to divide the opposition.
But she maintains her exile was the only way she would keep alive for the struggle.
“Some claim that I was compromised and paid huge sums of money by dictator Museveni so that I could flee in order to start confusing or dividing comrades, foot-soldiers and freedom fighters back home,” she notes.
“To me, exile was an opportunity to stay alive , keep out of dictator Museveni’s prisons or unofficial detention facilities, and avoid any further political persecution.”
Nyanzi has previously used her writing talent and skill to criticize the Museveni administration, winning herself terms in jail.
