KAMPALA — International cartoonists’ organisations have raised alarm over legal proceedings against Ugandan cartoonist and academic Dr Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, warning that the case could undermine freedom of expression and the ability of artists and journalists to scrutinise powerful institutions.
Cartooning for Peace, Cartoonists Rights and the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation issued the warning in a joint alert over the ongoing legal dispute between Ssentongo, popularly known as Spire, and Kampala International University (KIU).
The organisations said they were deeply concerned about the legal proceedings against Spire, describing him as an outspoken advocate for good governance and anti-corruption.
The dispute began after Spire used his social media platforms to raise complaints and allegations concerning KIU, including claims relating to university fees, staff social security contributions, taxation, students and the quality of education.
According to Cartooning for Peace, several internet users had shared their experiences with KIU with Spire, who subsequently raised the issues on his X account.
KIU later sued him for defamation.
A High Court Registrar subsequently issued an interim injunction restricting Spire from publishing information about the university deemed “unsubstantiated”, according to the international cartoonists’ organisations.
The organisations said the injunction was issued before Spire was informed of the defamation proceedings and that his appeal against the order had not yet been considered.
Court contempt ruling
The legal dispute escalated in March 2026 after Spire published a post concerning a tuition dispute involving members of his extended family who had attended KIU.
The post questioned the university’s handling of fees paid by his late brother’s sons and criticised the institution’s response.
KIU subsequently pursued contempt proceedings, arguing that Spire had violated the earlier court order restricting his publications about the university.
On June 18, 2026, High Court Registrar Kintu Simon Zirintusa found Spire in contempt of court and ordered him to pay Sh10 million, with an additional Sh20 million in punitive and exemplary damages, alongside legal costs. Failure to pay the fine would have exposed him to three months in civil prison.
The registrar held that appealing against the original injunction did not give Spire the right to disregard it without first obtaining a stay of execution, according to Daily Monitor.
On August 6, Spire’s request for a stay of execution was denied.
The ruling triggered a public fundraising campaign on social media, with Ugandans contributing money towards the fine. The campaign eventually raised enough to prevent him from being taken into custody.
Spire continues to face the underlying defamation proceedings and has appealed the contempt conviction.
Cartoonists warn of wider implications
Cartooning for Peace said the case goes beyond an individual dispute between a university and a cartoonist.
The organisation said the proceedings “shed a harsh light” on the state of freedom of expression in Uganda and pledged to monitor the case.
The Freedom Cartoonists Foundation, which recognises cartoonists whose work contributes to human rights and freedom of expression, named Spire a co-winner of the 2026 Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award earlier this year.
The award is particularly significant because Spire’s work has increasingly moved beyond conventional newspaper cartooning into digital activism, using satire, illustration and social media campaigns to interrogate public institutions.
Cartoonists Rights, meanwhile, describes itself as a global organisation established to protect editorial cartoonists whose work places their freedom at risk.
The organisations’ intervention comes against the backdrop of previous threats against Spire.
Cartooning for Peace has previously reported that the Ugandan cartoonist received death threats after launching online campaigns exposing alleged failures and corruption in public institutions.
Where does criticism end?
The KIU-Spire dispute sits at an uncomfortable intersection between two rights: an institution’s right to protect its reputation and an individual’s right to criticise powerful institutions.
Ugandan law provides protections for reputation, but the Constitution also protects freedom of expression and access to information. The difficult question is where legitimate criticism becomes defamation — and, equally, when legal protection of reputation becomes a mechanism for silencing scrutiny.
For Spire’s international supporters, that distinction matters.
Cartooning is satire by design. It exaggerates, mocks and compresses complicated political and social questions into a single image. To demand that a cartoon behave like a legal affidavit would be to misunderstand the medium.
But the controversy also raises a harder question for journalists, activists and public institutions: what happens when criticism is published on social media, reaches millions of people and can no longer be separated neatly into journalism, activism, art and personal speech?
For now, Spire remains outside prison after the public fundraising campaign paid the court-imposed penalties. But his appeal and the underlying defamation case remain unresolved.
And the international cartooning community is watching.