Uganda

Two radio stations – Busoga One FM and Baba FM – were shut down over alleged incitement to violence following their announcement of provisional results for Uganda’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

Along with ramping up the volume on violence and repression in recent weeks, President Museveni has, over the years, relied heavily on putting restrictive laws and policies in place.

Human Rights Network or Journalists Uganda is concerned with newly introduced piecemeal registration requirements imposed by the Media Council of Uganda ahead of the scheduled January election.

The High Court of Uganda has awarded journalist Twaha Mukiibi US$11,000 in a suit filed against the Attorney General and the police officers who had assaulted him in 2018.

Police in Lira assaulted six journalists who were covering a standoff between the National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate, Kyagulanyi Ssentamu Robert, and police that lasted for close to eight hours.

In the run up to elections, Ugandan authorities are honing in on regulations meant to curb COVID-19 and using them to restrict online digital rights.

Journalists covering opposition politicians are prone to constant and brutal attacks by Ugandan authorities who are clamping down hard on President Museveni’s political rivals.

The Ugandan government persists in introducing regulations that directly impact on sharing of information through online platforms.

The government’s dissemination of critical information on COVID-19 via social media is inaccessible to the majority of Ugandan citizens unable to afford the country’s social media tax imposed in 2018.

Ugandan journalists temporarily detained for wanting to report on the conditions faced by university students in lockdown, were asked to inform police prior to working on stories of “such a nature”.

Journalist Tom Gwebayanga of Uganda’s New Vision group was assaulted and charged with spreading harmful propaganda for a story on the theft of money assigned to funding COVID-19 activities.

The Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda commends media for timely news on the Coronavirus while urging journalists to provide accurate information.

The arrest of freelance journalist Moses Bwayo by authorities, while filming opposition MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, is indicative of how threatened the Ugandan government feels.

Over 15 journalists who were covering a press conference convened by the Guild Council leaders of Makerere University were teargassed and beaten by the police as they forced them out of the University campus.

Ugandan journalists from a diverse array of associations persisted in their mission to deliver a petition protesting police brutality despite the heavy handed tactics to prevent them from doing so.

Journalists are getting caught up in the fray as Ugandan authorities clamp down on gatherings by opposition politiicians.