Ugandan writer and senior lecturer at Makerere University, Dr. Danson Sylvester Kahyana is fighting for his life after he was on Tuesday night violently attacked by panga-wielding assailants riding on boda-bodas.
According to a close friend, the attack happened at around 10:30pm. The attackers beat Kahyana to pulp, stole his phones, bank cards, National ID and Money. They also removed some of his teeth during the attack process and broke his jaws.
Kahyana, who is the outgoing President of Uganda P.E.N, is a renown poet and editor of many popular poems including “Fire On The Mountain”. He is a senior lecturer at Makerere College of Humanities Department of Literature.
“Fire on the Mountain” focused on the Kasese Massacres of November 2016. He also led the Writers-in-Prison program that yielded an edited volume of prison-writing called “As I stood before the world.” He is a strong advocate for the safety and security of persecuted writers in Uganda.
Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija condemned the attack on Kahyana.
“Solidarity with my former PEN president Uganda chapter, Dr. Sylvester Kahyana , who was severely attacked and left bleeding with several teeth missing. From 28th December 2021-11th January 2022 when cannibal Muhoozi and his barbarically controlled and blood thirsty chamchas were mutilating me, they interrogated me about him, his work as a professor of literature at Makerere University and also his critical pen,” Kakwenza posted on facebook.
