Posted: June 24, 2005
David Enyaku, The New Vision
IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION
Enyaku, a reporter working for the state-owned New Vision in the eastern town of Soroti, was detained and charged with “criminal trespassing” when he went to interview a town official.
The New Vision reported that Mackay Opolot Odele, the town clerk, ordered Enyaku arrested as the journalist tried to interview him about land allocation in Soroti. Enyaku was detained for two nights in a police cell before being brought to court on June 23. According to William Pike, chief executive officer of The New Vision, Enyaku was found guilty of trespassing and fined 50,000 shillings (about US$29) before being released the same day.
The charge sheet against Enyaku read that the journalist had “entered [Odele’s] office and remained there for long with intent to annoy him,” The New Vision reported.
AUGUST 11, 2005
UPDATED: September 8, 2005
KFM Radio
CENSORED
Ugandan authorities shut the prominent independent radio station a day after it aired a talk show about the July helicopter crash that killed southern Sudanese leader John Garang. The action came a day after President Yoweri Museveni threatened to shut down any news outlet that "plays around with regional security."
The Broadcasting Council suspended KFM by written order, citing the August 10 program hosted by veteran journalist and political commentator Andrew Mwenda. The program featured a discussion on the helicopter crash that killed Garang, and on the president's comments during a commemoration of the Ugandan crew members who died in the crash. The helicopter, which belonged to Museveni, crashed on July 30 as it was transporting Garang back to Sudan from a meeting with the Ugandan president.
In his speech, Museveni accused local media and Mwenda, in particular, of threatening regional security by reporting on Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, the Ugandan army, and other regional issues. Mwenda is also political editor at The Monitor, an independent daily, and his print reports have drawn the president's ire.
According to Mwenda, the Broadcasting Council's order said that his program had violated an article of Ugandan broadcasting law known as the "first schedule of the electronic media act." The section prohibits reports that "violate public morality or promote a culture of violent ethnic prejudice," or are "likely to create public insecurity or violence," said Mwenda, who rejected the accusation.
During the program, Mwenda criticized the president's threats against local media. The guests on the program included a presidential advisor as well as a former military official and an opposition member of parliament, Mwenda said.
Ugandan officials threatened punitive action against news media speculating on the reasons behind the helicopter crash, according to news reports. Museveni himself has repeatedly and publicly raised concerns that the crash may not have been an accident, contradicting statements by the U.N. and other observers.
James Nangwala, a lawyer for Monitor Publications, which owns KFM and The Monitor, told CPJ that there was "nothing justifiable" in the action taken against KFM. He said that the law cited by the council does not give it power to shut down the station. On August 18, KFM was allowed back on-air after paying a fine of 4.95 million Ugandan shillings (US$2,700) for allegedly violating minimum broadcast standards, according to the station's managing director. However, the ban was lifted only after the state pressed charges of sedition against Mwenda.
The fine was officially termed payment of "costs" to the Broadcasting Council for a nine-page ruling, which contained conditions and non-binding advice for the reopening of the station. Binding conditions included the fine and the implementation of new, KFM internal guidelines for the Andrew Mwenda Live show, according to the station's managing director Conrad Nkutu.
"The ruling reflected the best we could get out of difficult negotiations," Nkutu told CPJ today. "We were able to avoid the loss of the Andrew Mwenda Live talk show and the forced issuance of an incriminating apology. We didn't compromise any journalistic principles. We are happy to be back on air, but we feel that the environment is hostile to press freedom."
AUGUST 12-15, 2005
Updated: December 1, 2005
Andrew Mwenda, Monitor Publications
IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION
An independent radio and print journalist was arrested on August 12 in connection with a talk show on KFM radio focusing on the July helicopter crash that killed southern Sudanese leader John Garang. Andrew Mwenda, a journalist with Monitor Publications, was charged with sedition on August 15.
Mwenda, a print and radio journalist for the independent Monitor Publications, pleaded not guilty and was released on bail after three days in detention. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to five years, according to Monitor Publications lawyer James Nangwala. Mwenda was accused of seeking to "bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection" against President Yoweri Museveni, according to The Associated Press.
The charge stemmed from his broadcast remarks on August 10 suggesting that government incompetence led to the July 30 crash of the Ugandan presidential helicopter. Ugandan authorities shut down the Monitor-owned KFM on August 11, citing the talk show.
The show featured a discussion of the helicopter crash and the threats by President Yoweri Museveni to shut any news outlet that "plays around with regional security." The helicopter, which belonged to the Ugandan government, crashed on July 30 as it was transporting Garang back to Sudan from a meeting with Museveni.
Monitor Publications Managing Director Conrad Nkutu described the detention as "an excessive reaction from the government." He also said that the group will "use all legal means to defend our situation."
In a speech on August 10, Museveni accused local media and Mwenda of threatening regional security by reporting on Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, the Ugandan army, and other regional issues. Mwenda is also political editor at The Monitor, an independent daily owned by Monitor Publications, and his print reports have drawn the president's ire. Two weeks before, according to a CPJ source, Mwenda wrote articles on the strained relationship between Uganda and Rwanda.
On November 1, the government brought 13 new charges of sedition and "promoting sectarianism" against Mwenda in connection with the August broadcast. The journalist pleaded not guilty to all charges, according to The Monitor.
NOVEMBER 15, 2005
POSTED: December 2, 2005
The Monitor
HARASSED
The government has threatened to close Uganda's leading independent daily The Monitor over a story about President Yoweri Museveni's first choice for army chief. Conrad Nkutu, managing director of The Monitor, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that the authorities demanded that the paper retract the story and apologize.
Nkutu said that the authorities had also put pressure on the paper through informal channels to fire reporter Andrew Mwenda, who wrote the article which ran on November 13. "We haven't been closed down but there's a threat to close us down," Nkutu said. He said the paper would not comply with the request to fire Mwenda, a political affairs specialist who already faces criminal charges for a talk show program that led to the closure of Monitor group radio station KFM for a week in August.
Mwenda wrote that President Museveni had first offered the job of defense forces chief to his younger brother Salim Saleh, who declined the offer. The president then chose another candidate. In a statement the government said that the story was "false and an attempt to malign the president."
Nkutu said that Information Minister James Nsaba Buturo had written to The Monitor on November 13 demanding a retraction and apology otherwise the government would take "other measures." The Monitor published the government statement in full the next day but the authorities did not appear to be satisfied, Nkutu said. He said the paper stood by its story.
DECEMBER 13, 2005
Posted: Jauary 23, 2006
James Tumusiime, The Weekly Observer
Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, The Weekly Observer
HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION
Editor Tumusiime and reporter Nganda of the privately owned newspaper The Weekly Observer were summoned to a police station in the capital, Kampala, where they were held for about five hours and charged with "promoting sectarianism," according to local sources. The charges stemmed from a December 1 report by Nganda that the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) had accused President Yoweri Museveni and three top military officials of persecuting FDC leader Kizza Besigye on ethnic grounds.
The journalists were released on bail, but were required to report to police every week, according to Tumusiime. No trial date was immediately set. The charges under Uganda's penal code mean the two could face up to five years' imprisonment.
Besigye was arrested on treason, terrorism, and rape charges in mid-November, after returning from exile to challenge Museveni in elections scheduled for February 23. The Ugandan High Court ruled on January 2 that he should be released on bail. Besigye is seen as Museveni's closest challenger in the elections.