Ugandan journalists protest gagging
Oct 07, 2017
The journalists penned a missive asking UCC to desist from what they referred to as ‘misreading and misapplication of the law’ and suppressing press freedom
Journalists help their colleague Andrew Lwanga after he collapsed at Central Police Station in Kampala where he had gone to pick a Police form. Lwanga had been assaulted by the Old Kampala DPC Joram Mwesigye while on duty
A Group of Ugandan journalists have protested what they call the high-handed move by the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) to gag them, saying the commission is over-stepping its mandate.
The journalists, under their umbrella body Uganda Press Freedom Forum, penned a missive earlier in the week, asking the commission to desist from what they referred to as ‘misreading and misapplication of the law' and suppressing press freedom.
"As a group of 230 practising journalists, we are dismayed by the conduct of the Commission. We roundly condemn its attempts to suppress press freedom that it has now made a habit of," the statement read.
This came in the wake of a September 26, 2017, UCC order to broadcasters, especially television stations, "to immediately stop and refrain from broadcasting live feeds" of ongoing debates in Parliament over the age limits that wound up in fistfights.
The commission claimed such broadcasts were in contravention of Section 31 of the Uganda Communications Act, 2013.
The journalists accused the commission of neglecting its mandate of protecting and promoting the rights of journalists and media houses in Uganda and instead being the accuser, prosecutor, judge and executioner of media.
"We, therefore, call upon the Commission to immediately review its conduct and desist from any actions that undercut the media sector that it is set up to promote. To do otherwise is self-defeating at all levels," the statement added.
In the same statement, they appealed to news executives and media owners to stand firm in defence of a free press. They referred to incidents earlier in the week in which some journalists were arrested while they went about their work, and three of them spent a night in a police cell in Lira.
Others still had their equipment confiscated and only returned later in the evening, while others were caught up in scuffles with security operatives who wanted to confiscate their equipment, particularly cameras.
"We insist that practising journalism in Uganda is not a crime," the missive read.
UCC has since lifted the ban on live broadcasts conditionally, after an appeal from the National Association of Broadcasters.