Tribal tensions: UCC takes Radio Hoima off air

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has defended its decision to take Radio Hoima off air after the local FM station broadcast an alleged sectarian pre-recorded message.

Located in Hoima town, the radio station aired an audio recording in which a man speaking a Rukiga dialect appears to be addressing a meeting attended by his tribemates and mobilizing them to get prepared to fight an impending eviction from Bunyoro by the indigenous Banyoro.

As part of the counter strategy, the man is heard instructing Bakiga to lure Banyoro with ladies (Bakiga) and use them (ladies) to decimate the indigenous families.

A group of Bakiga settlers in Bunyoro denied knowledge of any such lethal schemes against Banyoro and are accusing Bunyoro Kitara Reparations Agency (Bukitarepa), a pressure group, of having fabricated the recording and distributed it to the local radio stations for airing.

Bukitarepa claims the recording was captured by its agent, who infiltrated the Bakiga and attended their meeting at Kings Avenue in Hoima recently.

The recording has sharpened the tribal conflict between the Banyoro and Bakiga and Banyarwanda who reportedly continue to migrate into Bunyoro in droves, occupying chunks of empty land, including forest reserves and buying land from the locals.

In a May 25 letter, UCC invoked section 41 of Uganda Communications Act 2013 and temporarily suspended the broadcast license for Radio Hoima as it continues investigations into complaints against the station and its broadcast content.

UCC stated that it has received numerous complaints about the radio's programs content and that its preliminary investigations indicate that some of the (content) was sectarian, inciteful and promoting ethnic prejudice.

"The complainants have expressed concern that Radio Hoima is hosting on its radio members of a the public calling themselves Bukitarepa who are uttering statements that are sectarian, inciteful and promoting ethnical prejudice," the UCC statements reads in part.

The Bukitarepa statements, UCC indicated, are in breach of the minimum broadcasting standards as stipulated under section 31 and schedule 4 of the Act. The radio station was subsequently taken off air on Saturday.

"The commission hereby directs Radio Hoima to cease operations with immediate effect. You are further directed to provide all recordings of all programs where your radio station has hosted members of Bukitarepa in the last 60 days in accordance with section 29 of Uganda Communications Act 2013," the statement further reads.

But the directive does not ban other local radios from hosting Bukitarepa members who secured a court order restraining security agencies from interfering with their activities.

The commission stated that should it not receive presentations from the station within 60 days from the receipt of the letter, a process of revoking its broadcasting license will begin in accordance with section 41 of the Act.

Anger

But the decision to suspend the license triggered a frenzy of complaints from a segment of its audience, arguing that UCC was heavy-handed in its response and that the switch off should have been enforced after warning.

UCC executive director, Godfrey Mutabazi, said while the previous Bukitarepa radio programs may or may not have been sectarian, the recent recording was very ‘dangerous'.

"That recording was very bad. You do not give a warning when someone is saying we are going to kill so and so. That was genocidal, and there is no need for warning," he stated, "Others can take it up from there and the radio can also challenge, but we have done our part,"

Whether or not the radio was played a role of a messenger by relaying to the Banyoro what the Bakiga were reportedly plotting against them, Mutabazi said, it was improper for the radio to air the content.

The station manager, Jorokamu Bamwenda, refused to discuss the matter with New Vision.

Source of conflict

Bukitarepa has been mobilizing Banyoro to resist the large migrations of Bakiga into the region on radio and during open air meetings. At the heart of the renewed hostility between the two tribes is the government resettlement of Bakiga in Bunyoro in the 1970s and 1990s due to population pressure in Kigezi.

However, more Bakiga and other tribes have been settling in Bunyoro over the years without being resettled by Government.

Before and during the 2016 elections, the conflict between the two ethnic groups erupted into bloody fights, with the Banyoro accusing the Bakiga of taking over their land and political power, especially in the historical counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi.