Joseph Omaje
6 June 2011
Uganda’s governmental crackdown on alleged ‘errant media’ has forced radio stations in eastern Uganda to go into self-censorship to avoid closure.
The more than twenty radio FM stations that operate in the region have abandoned their watchdog function and substituted it with music programs.
Intimidated
“Radio stations are silent,” remarked Hakim Watenyeri, a member of the opposition Uganda People’s Congress (UPC ). “Stations have been intimidated not to host us. Even we ourselves do no longer go there because we heard that the owners have been told the station will be shut down if we’re heard on air.”
Hakim, who used to be a panelist on Open Gate Radio in Mbale, claims it’s been a year since he last appeared on any radio station for a talk show on topical issues.
“They used to invite us regularly to appear on Radio Open Gate, Step and Faith Radio but for the last year none of them has invited us for a talk show. This makes it far more difficult for us to highlight the government’s weaknesses,” Hakim added.
Free and problematic
“The government has banned bimezzas [round table discussions, ed.] on radio stations, so during a management meeting we agreed to scrap political talk shows,” explains Jonathan Tusubira, operations manager of Step Broadcasting Services in Mbale . “Not only were they causing us problems, they also didn’t bring in any money because these kinds of programmes are usually not sponsored. We decided that from now on, whoever wants to address his political concerns needs to pay money to the station before he can go on air.”
“Unless the government comes up with clear guidelines on what they allow to go on air and what’s deemed inappropriate, we will not be broadcasting talk shows. We need to think about our business interests too,” Tusubira said.
Sacking letter
“When they hear you making any comment which is against the government you will receive your sacking letter as soon as you get out of the studio” states Martha Apio, who works with Joshua FM, a radio owned by the Presidential Private Secretary Grace Akello. Apio says that six of her colleagues lost jobs during the presidential and parliamentary elections.
On voting day, freelance journalist Julius Odeke was shot and critically injured by soldiers for taking photographs of security officials beating up civilians.
“I was traveling in a car belonging to Nandala Mafabi, an opposition Member of Parliament, when we met a group of soldiers traveling in two armored cars and a pickup truck. The commander insisted that I handed over the camera and my laptop which I objected to. Then they shot me.”
Police spokeswoman Diana Nandaula said the police couldn’t carry out any arrests since the case was taken over by the army. Neither does she know about the current state of investigations.
Country enemies
President Yoweri Museveni recently referred to the media as enemies of the country which will be treated as such. He cited a number of media houses, including the BBC, which he said were enemies of the state.
But John Matovu a Ugandan media consultant says the media is sometimes to blame for imposing self censorship. He believes the media has taken the threats too far and are no longer playing their watchdog function. He claims some television stations prefer to broadcast cartoons whilst ‘outside’ there are clashes between the authorities and ‘walk to work’ protesters. “Instead, Ugandan media should join hands and organise a total media blackout to protest against the current government. Only this could make officials reconsider their gagging grip on the media.
How Julius Odeke was shot
“I showed the soldiers my identity card indicating that I’m a journalist, but the commander ordered one of the soldiers to shoot me. I felt myself paralysed and only realised I had been shot when I saw blood oozing from my ribs.” Odeke now says he intends to sue government in order to get compensation.
“I intend to sue the government to receive compensation for what they did to me. It annoys me that I continue to see the man who shot me walking on the streets freely. Today he passed outside our office, whereas I can no longer carry out my job properly because of the pain.”
AllAfrica – All the Time