Artists drawing the line 'Outrageous' first son provides rich inspiration for Uganda's cartoonists

A bulky man wearing a baggy green army uniform urinates on the ground.

- Carlos Mureithi

Another man, wearing sandals, stands in the puddle, looks down and says: "I've never seen such beautiful susu (urine)."

In the scatological cartoon, which appeared on Facebook, the sycophantic man with wet feet is supposed to be Balaam Ateenyi, a Ugandan government minister. The man relieving himself is Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, head of the military, provocative social media poster and the presumptive heir to his father, President Yoweri Museveni.

"Ateenyi has a habit of praising everything Kainerugaba does, even when he tweets all that nonsense," said the cartoon's creator, Jimmy "Spire" Ssentongo. "So I drew a cartoon depicting the infantile nature of his praise."

In a country where freedom of expression is often curtailed, Spire is among a number of political cartoonists who have used satire to critique the authoritarian Museveni administration. Increasingly their target is Kainerugaba.

"He has dominated news and events, both locally and regionally," said the cartoonist Chrisogon Atukwasize, who signs his work as Ogon. "He's controversial and that's always good fodder for cartooning."