KAMPALA – The battle between truth and lie following revelation by pop star Sheebah Karungi that she was sexually assaulted by a “VIP who presents himself as a role model” intensified Friday with former journalist turned political businessman Andrew Mwenda opening a file case on behalf of the accused and asking for First Son Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s intervention in the same.
Mwenda was forced to run faster than himself after getting stranded in the crosshairs of a massive wave of accusations from various corners of social media following Sheebah’s claim of being sexually assaulted as she waited in her car at the venue of an event in which she was to perform.
In a video posted on her YouTube channel last week, Sheebah said: “This old pervert was trying to be funny with me in my car. He and his security just came and opened my car door as I was sleeping waiting to be called on stage by my manager. He was trying to be inappropriate in front of my team members; no shame, no remorse.”
I have talked to @mkainerugaba who has promised to call Sheeba and offer her all the protection she needs in case she is afraid that revealing the person who raped her would be risky. The singer now has no excuse to fear to collaborate with police to arrest this rapist!
— Andrew M. Mwenda (@AndrewMwenda) May 13, 2022
The singer warned men off her body regardless of how she presents herself on stage or in other public places, saying her body is hers alone.
“I don’t care what you think about when you see me on stage or in my videos dressed the way I dress up. You better respect my body. It is mine. I get to do whatever I want to do with it, you don’t. You can watch but you certainly can’t touch [my body],” she said.
With a slew of social media jury reaching a verdict as to the identity of the man, Mwenda attempted to distance himself, but not before rubbishing Sheebah’s claims and revealing he had reached out to her using various channels and had been successfully ignored.
“Sheebah claims with characteristic ambiguity that this man violated her body to her disgust but she does not specify whether it was rape or indecent assault,” Mwenda said.
“I find it strange that a woman of her stature can be violated in such a humiliating and painful experience and instead of reporting the offender to the police, she takes the matter onto social media. To gain what? Sympathy? Why not seek justice through the police and the courts?”
Opening case on Sheebah’s behalf
After revealing that Sheebah had ignored his calls and blue-ticked his messages pleading with the singer to tell the public that he was not the unnamed man in the sickening allegations, Mwenda revealed that he had contacted the Police Criminal Investigations Department to get to compel Sheebah to name the pervert.
“I have talked to the director of CID who has agreed to open a case to find out the person who allegedly raped singer Sheebah. Police are going to call her and ask her to reveal the offender,” he tweeted on Friday.
Mwenda, who also accused Sheebah of being “disingenuous in hiding the true rapist as social media lynch me,” then ran to the one man who can settle it all in a jiffy. He dully got his wish as Gen Muhoozi, the commander oft he UPDF Land Forces, swiftly investigated the case and determined that it was just another fake news.
“I have read all your comments about Sheebah. I have seriously interrogated my brother Mwenda and he says he has never met the lady. So, this is definitely another fake story!” Gen Muhoozi tweeted.
In sane times, the swift judgement after a woman comes out with such allegations would have left rights activities and pro-women groups in nude protests. While Muhoozi is not the first man to turn a victim of sexual harassment or rape into an object of scorn, many would have pointed out that he would have used his position instead to let the law take its course.
I have read all your comments about @Ksheebah1. I have seriously interrogated my brother @AndrewMwenda and he says he has never met the lady. So, this is definitely another fake story!!
— Muhoozi Kainerugaba (@mkainerugaba) May 13, 2022
Interestingly, Gen Muhoozi has been tweeting regularly in praise of “my uncle” Paul Kagame, the Rwandan leader, but while Kagame was decisive in his government’s handling of sexual assault claims by Miss Rwanda pageants, Sheebah would probably wish she lived in Rwanda instead.
Even before Muhoozi had pronounced himself on Sheebah, Mwenda had described the singer as a “fraudulent woman who is abusing both her role in society as an entertainer and her access to social media to create a media stunt purely for her selfish aims.”
She is abusing all those women who suffer that the hands of mean men who rape them, by turning a grievous offense into publicity stunt for herself. Uganda police should pick interest in why Sheeba, a self proclaimed victim of rape, is protecting a rapist.
On her Instagram page, Sheebah said she was a warrior who had spoken for many and had been heard, adding that she will be brave for all.
“The rest is just background noise,” the singer said. “One day, Uganda will be grateful for women like me.”
