Spire Ssentongo Ordered to Pay Fine or Go to Jail
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Ugandan human rights activist, academic and cartoonist Dr. Jimmy Spire Ssentongo has been told he has 14 days to pay a 30 Million Ugandan Shillings fine or face three months in civilian jail. The Ugandan High Court found Spire had violated a contempt order restricting him from publishing content deemed damaging to Kampala International University’s reputation.
The dispute stems from a social media campaign launched by Spire against the university after two nephews paid the school 15,570USh for tuition, but after the nephews opted for other schools, the money was allegedly not returned or not partially returned. His complaints on social media gained traction with others about the university’s admission and tuition policies. The university took Spire to court alleging they suffered damages due to the bad publicity. The High Court, in Dec. 2025, put a restraining order on Spire not to discuss the case publicly.
On Mar. 18, Spire tweeted again describing the issue and adding “Dear KIU, no amount of suing is going to clean up your name in the public’s eyes when you continue to act with impunity and meanness like this. Address stakeholders’ concerns.”
The university filed a complaint resulting in the recent contempt charge and fine.
According to The Observer there was a swell of support for Spire from the public that resulted in the first 24 million shillings being raised within the first 24 hours. The full 30 million shilling was raised with 48 hours.
From a post on Twitter, Spire thanked his supports say, “I sincerely thank you all for the overwhelming gesture of love in contributing towards my court penalties. I know you did this because you relate with my principles, work, and commitments. You never asked if I had the money or not, you simply showed up in solidarity. Even when you learnt that the initial target had been reached, you just continued sending money, and you are still sending!”
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