“Ugandan media has faced a perpetual litany of threats, murders, kidnap and politically-motivated or police brutality of journalists, as well as detention, censorship, criminal defamation, assault and destruction of media equipment that has persisted for decades,” said Lord Black, which exactly compatible with the current characteristics of the security officials in a country that continues to harass the media and make it very difficult for journalists to do their work and compel the government to account to the citizens.
Lord Black is not an isolated observer of the situation of journalists in Uganda US representative to the UN Samantha Power, criticised the Kampala regime for shutting down the social media and the 2016 poll verdict after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that Gen. Museveni was ‘validly’ declared winner. “It was into this atmosphere of constant menace that the Human Rights Network for Journalists – Uganda was born in 2006, the ‘new kid on the block ‘in the ceaseless battle for freedom of expression.”
“Ten years on, the threats [against Uganda journalists] remain and could worsen, following this year’s disputed presidential election, ” said Lord Black in reference to the recent presidential election, which many in the opposition ranks contend that Gen Yoweeri Museveni using state tools stole their victory. Several voices from western capitals, particularly the powers that have been supplementing the Kampala regime’s annual budget, have come out openly to criticise the elections. European Union (EU) Elections observers mission in their preliminary report said that the ‘2016 Uganda polls were not free and fair.’
Both the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA) are part of Uganda’s development partners, with huge financial and military assistance but very concerned about Gen Museveni’s continued grip on power which is viewed as a “threat” to Uganda’s future. The names of Ugandan journalists Bahati Remmy and Elijah Turyagumanawe of NBS Television were on the mouths of many journalists who attended the CJA conference at Open University in Camden Town -London. Several praised NBS’ Turyagumanawe coverage of the situation at the home of Dr Kizza Besigye, particularly when he was shoved onto a police track and driven to Kasangati Police Station, 12.2 kilometres north of the capital Kampala. During the whole journey, Turyagumanawe continued reporting live on camera. “It was the most exciting piece of news item for a journalist to report his own arrest until pushed into the police cell,” said Shannon Vanraes, a reporter from Canada in reference to Turyagumanawe’s incident (Watch: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=biG2w1ZRnb4).
Lord Black, a member of the British House of Lords said: “But the landscape has now changed. Journalists still face oppression but they do not stand alone. HRNJ -Uganda, under the leadership of their national co-ordinator Robert Sempala and legal officer Diana Nandudu, are forever by their side – often literally and at personal risk, monitoring journalistic human rights and protecting them from abuse.” In a tone that suggest Lord Black has the current situation in Uganda at his fingertips, he intoned: “When police beat up a broadcaster, Sempala led the protest march – and was himself arrested. When journalists are detained without cause, HRNJ-Uganda is on the spot with legal advice.”
“One grateful reporter fresh from the cells advised colleagues never to be without the phone numbers of ‘the good men and women of HRNJ-Uganda,” he narrated to the audience, adding that: ” When HRNJ-Uganda activists are not on the frontline, they are educating the media on human rights and conducting seminars to raise journalistic standards, reduce risk and promote good governance. “I have spent most of my career fighting for press and media freedom,” said Lord Black. “But sometimes I think we ought more often to stop and remind ourselves why press freedom matters. I get used to politicians talking about how they support a free press – usually they prefer another country’s press freedom to their own – but very few of them really understand what it is we fight for, and it’s important we articulate that.”
