Margaret Ssentamu the Executive Director of Uganda Media Women's Association says that there is a lack of political will to promote and protect the freedoms of the press.
Media and
Communication experts have said that a lack of political will is hindering press
freedom in the country.
Speaking at
the World Press Day Dialogue session at the ICT hub on Tuesday in Nakawa, Moses
Mulondo, from Uganda Parliamentary Press Association says that numerous meetings
between media practitioners and the government have yielded no results. He notes
that the Ministry of ICT under which media falls doesn't seem interested in
promoting and protecting press and media freedoms.
According to the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, Uganda is ranked 132 out of
180 countries in the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media.
The country has deteriorated in ranking by seven levels having been named in the
125th position last year.
Margaret Ssentamu the Executive Director of Uganda Media Women's Association
says that there is a lack of political will to promote and protect the freedoms
of the press.
She says
that if media practitioners and the government had a meaningful conversation guided
by mutual respect, the two parties would come to an agreement and resolutions
respected.
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Dr. Adolf Mbaine, a lecturer at Makerere University Kampala says that talks regarding
respect for press freedoms depend on power relations where one party feels that
they are in a more powerful position and see no urgency to respond to the
grievances of the other party or parties.
He says this
could explain why despite the different engagements, the cries about violation
of press freedom by state agencies are persisting.
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Dr. George
William Lugalambi, a media trainer says that the core law governing the press in Uganda,
the Press, and Journalist Act 1995 is outdated.
Dr.
Lugalambi says that the law doesn’t guide online press freedoms which exposes
the press to more violations when they seek to reach an online audience.
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The State
Minister for National Guidance, Godfrey Baluku Kabbyanga however reiterated the government's commitment to protecting the rights of the media. On the brutality of
journalists, he said that some journalists cross the red line.
He asked
journalists to respect guidance from security personnel during operations to
avoid collisions.
During the
previous electoral period brutality against journalists was rampant. The prominent
of the incidents was that of Ghetto TVs Ashraf Kasirye who was allegedly shot
with a rubber bullet while on the campaign trail of former presidential
candidate Robert Kyagulanyi.
More than 10
journalists were also assaulted from the offices of the United Nations Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Kampala, where Kyagulanyi had gone
to present a petition on human rights violations during elections.
Carol Beyanga, an editor at the Daily Monitor newspaper and the Head of
Mentorship, Partnerships, and Monetization at Nation Media Group says the government
should find ways of resolving conflict with media rather than resort to
oppressive measures like closure and violence.
Robert
Kotchani, the Country Representative for International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights OHCHR, and the UN Resident Coordinator Susan Ngongi Namondon
reiterated their commitment to support the fight for press freedom and
facilitate dialogue between different stakeholders.
Hafitha Issa
Shiphrah Kwagala
Freelancer