The 27-year-old Musana was arraigned before the Court on February 23rd, 2024, presided over by Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi, and charged with promoting hate speech and spreading malicious information.
Prosecution states that between August 2023 and February 2024 in areas of Kampala district, while using a computer via his TikTok account, Pressure 24 Seven shared information likely to degrade, demean, and promote hostility against four leaders, including Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi , President Museveni, Speaker of Parliament Annet Anita Among, and State Minister for Information Communication Technology – ICT Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo.
He denied the charges and was consequently sent to Luzira Prison since he did not have sureties present in Court. However, when the matter came up today for Prosecution to inform Court on the progress of investigations, State Attorneys Richard Birivumbuka and Joan Keko informed the Court that investigations are still ongoing.
The lawyers have told Court that their client has a fixed place of residence at Church Zone in Najjanankumbi in addition to being introduced in a letter to court by the area LC1 Chairperson as a law abiding citizen. He went on to present two sureties namely; Brenda Nambooze his sister who owns a cosmetic shop and resident of Najjanankumbi, and his friend Ibrahim Ssembatya, a resident of Kisenyi as his sureties.
However, Pressure 24 Seven has again been unable to secure bail today because Prosecution’s Richard Birivumbuka asked for a week’s time to verify the authenticity of documents presented by the sureties before he makes a formal response to the bail application. Accordingly, Pressure 24 Seven has been remanded back to Luzira prison until March 15th, 2024 with promises from court that his bail ruling will be delivered on the same day .
On the first day Pressure 24 Seven was arraigned before the Court he did not directly plead to the charges as he kept on informing the Magistrate that he wasn’t aware that by posting such videos, he was committing an offence since he is psychologically unwell having been admitted to Butabiika National Referral Mental Hospital some time back. According to Pressure, he was being disturbed by spirits of Buganda’s fallen Kings that demand him to repair their tombs but he is financially constrained. Pressure 24 Seven added that for now two years he has been writing to Buganda Kingdom informing them that he is a prince and the spirits are making such demands but he has not received any response.
He therefore pleaded to court to forgive him with a promise to desist from attacking leaders and to delete all the hate speech content from tik-tok. The pleading to date has not persuaded Magistrate Kayizzi who has has again remanded Pressure back to Luzira prison. His troubles started when Buganda Kingdom officials reported a case of ridiculing the Kabaka with police. He spent more than a week inside police cells before he could be produced before Court which has sent him back on remand.
