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What other players say
Human rights defenders described the ongoing stifling of the media freedom by the police as being acts of “impunity” and that the masterminds should be sanctioned.
Quoting the amended 1995 Constitution, Makererere law don Prof Ben Twinomugisha said both Articles 29 and 40, respectively, guarantee freedom of speech, including of the media and every Ugandan’s right to practice their profession, in this case journalism.
Prof Twinomugisha implored journalists to stand firm and discharge their duties as the Fourth Estate of informing citizens and put the other arms of government – the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary – to account for their actions or omissions.
Journalist and blogger Angelo Izama, an Open Society Fellow, said in such heated political situation such as that obtaining in Uganda today, it is common for journalists to be targeted or suffer as they are caught in the axis of power contestation between the government and the Opposition.
Sanity, he said, is likely to return when the volatile political situation calms and challenged media houses to stand for independence in spite of stifling police action.
The open violation of journalists’ rights, including arbitrary arrests, detention and release without charge, is a roll back of one of the NRM government’s main feats. President Museveni’s government has been credited for initially protecting media freedoms and liberalising the airwaves, enabling broadcast, Online and print media to flourish.
After failing to discreetly control the media content, the government has periodically targeted critical journalists and closed media houses, the latest being in 2013 of Monitor Publications and Red Pepper Publication. These followed the more than year-long closure, in 2009, of the Central Broadcasting Station radio in the wake of that year’s pro-Kabaka riots.
In the election week, the government extended its infringement on the media space by disabling social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Wataspp although thousands of Ugandans quickly circumvented the blockade and navigated the sites through secure personal networks (VPN).
Internationally, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) organisation has in two separate statements within weeks condemned the State’s highhandedness. Uganda ranked 97th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2015 World Press Freedom Index.
And the Committee to Protect Journalists, a media freedom organisation headquartered in New York, US too criticised the bruatlisation of journalists for simply doing their work.
Uganda continues to receive widespread negative international publicity for the overbearing police actions.
In the run up to the February 18 vote, the Human Rights Watch released a report critical of the government and warned of the “chilling effect” on media of police excesses.
The Constitutional Court in a ruling last October, held that errant police officers can and should be sued in their individual capacities even when on official duty unlike before when they were legally cushioned by the Attorney General’s representation.
Police and the media
May, 20 2013: Police besiege Daily Monitor premises in Namuwongo, Kampala and also the premises of Red Pepper in Namanve in their bid to retrieve a letter that was written by former spy chief David Sejusa about President Museveni’s alleged succession plan by his son dubbed the “Muhoozi project”.
