ANOTHER journalist has been killed in Mukono district.<br>Dickson Ssentongo, who worked with Prime Radio, was beaten into a coma by iron-bar wielding thugs at 5:00am at Nantabulirwa village on Tuesday.
By Henry Mukasa and Steven Candia
ANOTHER journalist has been killed in Mukono district. Dickson Ssentongo, who worked with Prime Radio, was beaten into a coma by iron-bar wielding thugs at 5:00am at Nantabulirwa village on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old died shortly after he was admitted to hospital. The Uganda Journalist Association said it was planning to hold a funeral service for Ssentongo in Masaka on Friday.
The murder comes just three days after motorcyclists beat to death Paul Kiggundu, a correspondent of the Masaka-based Top Radio.
The cyclists pounced on Kiggundu when he was recording them demolishing the house of Frank Kagayi, a motorcyclist they suspected to be a robber. They accused Kagayi of killing their colleague, Eddie Sengooba.
Kiggundu died of internal bleeding before he could receive treatment.
Kiggundu, who was buried on Sunday, is survived by a wife and two children, aged 3 years and 18 months.
Over 20 boda-boda cyclists at Finca Stage in Kyotera township are on the run as the Police intensify their hunt for the perpetrators of the murder.
“We cannot relate the incidents to journalists being targeted,†said Edward Ochom, the Criminal Investigations Department chief.
In a statement issued on Monday, an international organisation which advocates for the rights of journalists sent condolences to Kiggundu’s family and called for justice.
“We call on the Ugandan Police to do their utmost to bring the perpetrators to justice. No journalist should be killed for simply carrying out their profession,†said Tom Rhodes, the East Africa consultant for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Local journalists’ rights body Human Rights Network for Journalists also condemned the cyclists for killing Kiggundu.
“This is very wrong because you cannot use injustice to get justice†said board chairman Robert Ssempala.
“We demand that the Police act fast to bring all the perpetrators of the mob justice to book,†he added.