Ugandan minister threatens to jail 7-year-old if he continues rapping

A 7-year-old Ugandan rapper risks being sent to a juvenile prison should he not shelve his budding music career, the country’s youth affairs minister, Florence Nakiwala, says.

Ms Nakiwala told the BBC that Uganda’s labour laws do not allow any person under the age of 18 to engage in income-generating activities.

According to the minister, rapper Fresh Kid, whose real name is Patrick Ssenyonjo, has flouted the law, and, as a result, could be sent to juvenile detention center.

Ms Nakiwala said Fresh Kid often missed school as he was busy working whereas his age mates were studying.

Fresh Kid’s manager, Francis Kamoga, refutes the minister’s claim.

Mr Kamoga says the boy attends school Monday to Friday and only performs on Saturdays and Sundays.

According to the manager, Fresh Kid has held only two shows since the beginning of 2019.

“I discovered him in a rural village miming some songs, brought him to the city and started paying his school fees” Mr Kamoga told the BBC.

The star addresses critics in his latest song Banteka where he raps in a mix of Luganda and slang about people gossiping about him not going to school.

“They underrate me because of my age, I hear what you are gossiping about: asking ‘will he study?’ Losers are weeping, calling out to their mothers, If you are afraid of me, get me cash. I’m the judge, I do not discriminate. Even if you are from the stone age, I will floor you,” raps Fresh Kid.

In 2019 alone, Fresh Kid has one music video and three audio songs.

According to news outlets in Uganda, Fresh Kid’s mother is a chapati vendor, who often sells the food item during her son’s music concerts.

The rapper’s father, on the other hand, is a manicure and pedicure dres