3 foreign journalists removed from Uganda

FOREIGN|JOURNALISTS 

KAMPALA - The Government has explained how three journalists working with CBC News, Canada's publicly owned news and information service, left the country on Friday (November 27, 2020).

Government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said CBC Europe correspondent Margaret Evans, producer Lily Martin and videographer JeanFrancois Bisson were asked to leave for breaking visa terms.

"They applied for a tourist visa to go to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Kanungu district and then they were found in Sheraton Kampala Hotel doing stories about politics and COVID-19.

To do so, you must declare you are coming to work as a journalist," he said.

"So we withdrew this pass and asked them to reapply for a journalist visa if they want to work as journalists in Uganda. If they do that, we shall grant them accreditation," Opondo stated.

He refuted their claim that they had been deported. "Deportation and removal are legal terms in the laws of Uganda. With deportation, the court is the one which orders your deportation. In the same law, the minister or his authorised officer can order your removal, which is quicker and cheaper for both sides," he explained.

When New Vision asked Opondo to react to Evans' comments that they were deported despite having media credentials, he said: "They can say what they want, they broke their own terms of stay in Uganda. You do not apply for a tourist visa only to be found working as a journalist."

On Monday, Opondo tweeted in response to Evans: "Do we really need you to scrutinise our electoral process to qualify as credible? Uganda reserves the right to admit foreign persons, including journalists. Good stay where you are."

Journalists speak out

On Sunday, Evans, in a post on her twitter handle, said: "We were deported Friday even though we had official media credentials."

She argued that the Government was already avoiding outside scrutiny of the January 14 elections.

In the same tweet, Evans posted a photo of Martin and Bisson "10 hours into detention before being put on a plane".

"Violence by strongman Yoweri Museveni against opposition already in play," she said in an earlier tweet after returning to London.