In less economically developed countries, such as Uganda, many children are forced to miss a week of school every month because of a lack of basic hygiene products, most notably, sanitary towels or tampons. Stella Nyanzi, an unapologetically bold activist and academic in Uganda, spoke up about this through social media and speeches. While campaigning for a wider access to hygiene products, Nyanzi criticized Janet Museveni (the wife of Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni) and was then arrested and jailed.
Stella Nyanzi, who is somewhat of a controversial figure in Uganda, has always spoken up about LGBT+ rights and is a prominent figure in the intersectional feminism movement. Nyanzi is known for some more ambitious and creative methods of drawing attention to her campaigns, such as undressing herself on live television, and she also uses swear words during speeches and on social media, which does seem to be getting her attention from different demographics. Her latest campaign was about an unkept promise from Uganda’s re-elected president.
During Yoweri Museveni’s campaign to be re-elected as president, he and his wife, who is also the Ugandan education minister, promised to fund free sanitary products for Ugandan girls. However, Janet Museveni said at a later date that they wouldn’t be able to fund the new sanitary products because there wasn’t enough money in their budget. The fact that something so important and life changing for the children of Uganda didn’t rank high enough on the president’s list of priorities angered Nyanzi, which was when she started to criticize Janet and Yoweri Museveni on social media.
On Jan. 27, Nyanzi said that Mr. Museveni was a “pair of buttocks” and said that Ugandans should be “shocked that we allowed these buttocks to continue leading our country.” On Feb. 15, she declared she would not call the president’s wife “Mama Janet” as others do, asking: “What sort of mother allows her daughters to keep away from school because they are too poor to afford padding materials that would adequately protect them from the shame and ridicule that comes by staining their uniforms with menstrual blood?”
Mr. Museveni was quick to take action against Ms. Nyanzi. First, her home was raided and threats were issued; then Ms. Nyanzi was arrested. Her crime was apparently “cyber harassment” for the posts she put on Facebook, where she “willfully and repeatedly used electronic communication to […] disturb the peace, quiet, or right of privacy of his excellency the president of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni with no purpose of legitimate communication.” She is now being held in a maximum-security prison in Kampala.
Mr. Museveni not only deprived Stella Nyanzi of her right to free speech but is also discouraging Ugandan children that there will ever be a way that they can get a full education without the disruption that periods were causing them.
