Cabinet to delete 'press freedom' from constitution

By Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda WEEKLY OBSERVER

A Cabinet committee tasked to advise the government on taming critical media is considering a constitutional amendment that deletes the provision on freedom of the press.

The sub-committee headed by Public Service Minister, Henry Muganwa Kajura, was formed after three separate Cabinet papers on the management of the media failed to find consensus in Cabinet.

The majority of ministers want tough restrictions against the media.
The third and latest paper titled, ‘Cabinet Retreat on Media Management’, was presented to Cabinet on May 21 during a retreat at Statistics House in Kampala.

Information and National Guidance Minister, Hajji Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, 72, presented the paper to a Cabinet session uncharacteristically chaired by President Museveni.

That Statistics House session was the latest in a series of attempts by Museveni’s Cabinet to end what government calls “irresponsible reporting and negative coverage”.

The Weekly Observer has learnt that the latest manoeuvres are a culmination of longstanding complaints by the President about the media.

In November 2006, Museveni wrote to the Attorney General, Dr. Khiddu Makubuya, instructing him to consider amending the Penal Code Act and other media-related laws to provide for more stringent provisions that would stop what he called “irresponsible reporting”.

According to Cabinet minutes The Weekly Observer has seen, the President actually instructed his ministers to do something about critical media on more than two occasions in 2006.

As a result, the Cabinet formed a committee on Information and Communication. Members included Maj. James Kinobe (minister of state for Youth), Kabakumba Masiko (Chief Whip) and Khiddu Makubuya (Attorney General).

Among other things, a policy on the flow of government information was formulated and passed by Cabinet.

It explains how government can share information with the public, providing for routine press conferences, etc.

But this was deemed unsatisfactory.Kivejinja paper

In trying to do something as the President had instructed, Kirunda Kivejinja in a paper titled, ‘Government Media Management’ explained to Cabinet what he thought was the problem.

His paper was presented to Cabinet early this year.

Kivejinja noted in his paper that liberalisation of the airwaves was done ahead of policy formulation.

Some radio stations, he explained, were licensed and began operating before Cabinet came up with the policy on airwaves.

He noted that as a result, it has been very difficult to enforce the policy on radio stations that started work before the policy formulation.

Kivejinja also informed Cabinet that when the Media and Journalists Statute was enacted in 1995, there were few qualified journalists, yet the law provided for a university degree or post-graduate qualification for one to be considered a journalist.

The journalists of the day, most of whom lacked the stated qualifications, fought the new law and succeeded in rendering it ineffective.

Kivejinja further explained that the new Constitution promulgated in 1995 guaranteed freedom of expression which includes freedom of the press under Article 29(1).Quoting Article 41, the minister informed Cabinet that every citizen has a right to information in the hands of the state, except if that information is prejudicial to security.

He, however, says that such prejudices are not well defined.
The Weekly Observer has reliably learnt that Kivejinja’s colleagues were not amused by his presentation.

After describing the paper as “technical” and in need of “surgery”, the majority of ministers who are radically opposed to free press chose the Minister of State for International Relations, Isaac Musumba, to write a counter-paper to Kivejinja’s.

The reason Musumba was chosen was his eloquent submission in favour of harsher restrictions on the media.

The radical ministers also proposed a retreat to dissect Kivenjinja’s paper as well as debate Musumba’s reply.

That led to the May 21 Statistics House sitting.Musumba’s paper, the second on media from Cabinet, used a recent report on electronic media done by journalists Karuna Kanaabi and Peter Kibazo to bolster his anti-press arguments.

His paper was particularly critical of radio stations, which he argued lack professionalism.

Second paper
Isaac Musumba was not present to read his paper during the Statistics House sitting.

The majority of ministers who subscribe to his view proposed that a committee be formed to study the matter and advise Cabinet.

Kivejinja, according to various sources, pleaded that he be allowed to present his second paper, a third document on the issue in a few months.

He was eventually allowed to present his revised paper titled, ‘Cabinet Retreat on Media Management’.

Kivejinja spiritedly explained why it is difficult to muzzle the media. In fact, he concluded that there is no law that can allow anybody to “tame” the media.

The minister maintained that the Constitution guarantees freedom of the press.
He said the 2004 Supreme Court judgment in favour of Andrew Mwenda and Charles Onyango Obbo that nullified the offence of ‘publication of false news’ had made it even more difficult to control the media.

Kivejinja proposed that to deal with the media, government must be pro-active.
He advised President Museveni who was in the chair to improve the government’s public relations instead of seeking to fight the media.

He proposed two Cabinet press briefings a month, district press briefings, and regular presidential briefings.
Quoting a January 2007 Cabinet decision instructing him to re-enforce the government’s public relations machinery, Kivejinja proposed that government begins buying airtime on private radio stations to disseminate its views.
He added that activists should be facilitated with airtime, transport and allowances to call radio stations and present views that are government friendly.
He also proposed that the country be divided into media zones and politicians instructed to become active in their localities.

Kivejinja further noted that the transfer of the management of electronic media to the ICT ministry had created a vacuum. For instance, the tenure of the Broadcasting Council expired in March 2008, but is yet to be renewed.
Kivejinja progressively proposed that the media should be allowed to regulate itself just like architects do.

He argued that requiring one to be a graduate in order to practise journalism as it is under the Media and Journalists Statute is no solution as a tabloid managed by graduates was the most notorious newspaper on the market, while a daily with almost its entire staff graduates was biting government very hard.

Harsh restrictions

For the second time, the majority of ministers were unhappy with Kivejinja for suggesting that there was no means of dealing with the media.
The President was also understood to be unimpressed, having complained that a daily newspaper, an FM radio station and one vocal journalist were attacking his family unimpeded.


With the President’s support, the radicals carried the day.

A reliable source told us that Security Minister, Amama Mbabazi, described the situation as a multi-sectoral matter that touches on both the politics and security of the country.

Those bent on imposing restrictions on media included; Mwesigwa Rukutana, Isaac Musumba, Amama Mbabazi and Nyombi Thembo, among others.
According to our sources, it was observed that ministers who have been exposed by media for involvement in scandals sought tight control of the media, while those with clean records in the media felt the current laws were enough.

A senior minister quoted Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi as telling his colleagues that they should not seek institutional protection for their personal problems.
Nsibambi reportedly reminded the ministers that they are public officials who should conduct themselves responsibly, as the media would inevitably be interested in every bit of their public and private lives.


At the end of this meeting, which went on till late at night, the majority of ministers favoured the formation of a sub-committee to study both the Kivejinja and Musumba’s papers and advise Cabinet within one month.


This committee members, as reported by the dailies last week, are; Public Service Minister Henry Muganwa Kajura, 73, Kivejinja, Amama Mbabazi, Matia Kasaija and Khiddu Makubuya.

A source close to this team told The Weekly Observer that it might propose amending Article 29 (1) of the Constitution to remove the reference to “freedom of the press”.

Using annual licenses to reign in perceived errant journalists is also being floated. Those considered too critical would have their licenses withdrawn.

Rwanda gunship enters Uganda, Govt. Protests

Thursday, May 29, 2008


LOOK ALIKE: The Mi-17 military chopper similar to that used by the Rwanda airforce that violated Ugandan airspace.



By Alfred Tumushabe & Rodney Muhumuza

Diplomatic talks have begun to ease tensions and offset the fallout from the May 18 violation of Uganda’s airspace by a helicopter gunship belonging to the Rwandan military.The Monitor can reveal.

Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said a Rwanda’s Mi-17 gunship hovered over the south-western frontier district of Kisoro for a distance of about 80km inside Uganda.

The aircraft spent an hour in Ugandan airspace on the afternoon of May 18, the sources said.

It entered through Kyanika border post and flew over Kisoro airstrip, Murora and Kanaaba sub-counties and Icuya forest, the sources said.

It was also claimed that the aircraft flew at a low altitude of 80-100 meters above sea level, causing panic among residents.

Days before, there had been massive deployment of the Rwandan military on the borderline stretch of Kyanika.

Mr James Mugume, the Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, said yesterday the violation “is an issue” that is being discussed between Kampala and Kigali.

“It’s being discussed, but I think that they have admitted that it was a mistake
[on the part of the Rwandans],” Mr Mugume said.

“It is an issue…Everything is taken seriously.” Mr Kamali Karegesa, Rwanda’s ambassador in Kampala, said he was not comfortable to comment on the issue.

The Rwandans have reportedly said the pilot flying the gunship believed he was in Rwandan territory when he was in fact flying over foreign territory, according to Mr Mugume.

“All we wanted was an explanation from Rwanda. We are [still] discussing,” Mr Mugume said.

The spokesman for the UPDF’s Second Division, Capt. Tabaaro Kiconco, said the violation was suspicious.

“A [Rwanda] military helicopter entered into Uganda [without the knowledge of
Ugandan officials] and there was deployment of [Rwandan Defence Forces] along
the border,” Capt. Kiconco said on Tuesday

Security Meeting

. A security meeting, chaired by the commander of the Mbarara-based 2nd Division, Brig. Charles Otema, was convened on May 20 to discuss the violation.

Our sources could not say whether they suspected the gunship to have been on a reconnaissance mission.

Asked whether the gunship would have been shot down had it stayed much longer, Capt. Paddy Ankunda, the Defence and Army spokesman, could only say that the violation had a diplomatic bearing, not a military one.

Rebels fear

Some sources said the FDLR, a Hutu-led rebel group that is said to be dominated by men who participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and has been fighting the government in Kigali, has recently been regrouping in the areas of Kihito and Mpimbi, about 30 km from the common border.

It is suspected that the deployment of the Rwandan military along the border with Uganda reflects the intensity of a new military effort to fight the rebels.

Brig. Otema reportedly said during the May 20 security meeting that no rebel group would use Uganda’s territory to launch an attack on Rwanda.

Under the Tripartite Plus Commission, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Congo and Burundi have held several meetings whose ultimate goal is to rid the region of “negative forces”.

Funded by the United States, the TPC is supposed to provide a framework within which member states can arrest the leaders of rebel forces operating within the region.

But the arrangement has not been so successful.

Wanted gangsters arrested in city

Wednesday, 28th May, 2008
The weapons recovered
from the suspects
across the country,
with a logbook (foreground)
for a stolen car



By Steven Candia

The Rapid Response Unit of the Police has arrested 11 suspected criminals and recovered four guns in an ongoing operation to curb the wave of armed crime in the country, reports The New Vision.

Three stolen vehicles, 89 bullets, two machetes, a knife and a stick grenade were seized in the two-week-long crackdown countrywide.

Four of the suspects were arrested in Kampala, three in the eastern district of Bukedea, three in Wakiso and one in Mbarara in the west.

The Kampala suspects were caught in the suburb of Kyaliwajala, in possession of an AK 47 and a stick grenade, the Police said.

“They are the ones who have been terrorising Kampala and spreading terror to
nearby places,”

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said at a press conference at the crack unit’s headquarters in Kireka yesterday.

She identified the suspects as Alhaj Hassan Mutyaba, Charles Lukulya, Geoffrey Akior, alias Vincent Alele, and Alhaj Hassan Zubair, a UPDF deserter, who was in the possession of the grenade.

The suspects arrested in connection with a gun recovered in Bukedea are Alfred Emokor, Nathan Adome and Hassan Adome.

The Police said the three were responsible for extending crime from Bukedea through Mbale to Jinja, using the firearm in robbery missions and theft of cattle.

At the time of their capture, they had 25 rounds of ammunition. A double grip AK47 was recovered in Nkoma village in Mbale district from thugs in flight.

Commandant David Magara said the suspects abandoned the firearm in an incomplete building and fled, with operatives hot on their heels.

He identified them as Hussein Nkalubo and Moses Mudoola, all with past criminal records. “We had arrested them some time back and took them to the General Court Martial.

They served their sentences and were released,” he said.

The three arrested in Wakiso, Henry Serugo, Ronald Magala and Stephen Ssekaja, are accused of having hacked and robbed a couple in the area, using a firearm which they had grabbed earlier from a private security guard outside a bar in Nabbingo.

“They used the firearm to rob Daniel Sebuma
and his wife, whom they cut with pangas and knives before robbing other items
that included two mobile phones of
which we traced one,” Nabakooba said.

The Police described the last suspect, Edward Nuwatamba Bamulobeka, as a man with a bag of tricks.

He was responsible for the theft of three vehicles in western Uganda, which were later recovered in Lira, the Police said.

All the suspects were paraded before the press.

There has been an upsurge in crime in Kampala and other parts of the country, with criminal gangs carrying out armed robberies, killing and raping their victims in some cases.

The most recent incident was the shooting and carjacking of a UPDF colonel in Rubaga, a Kampala city suburb, on Monday night.

Forty firms eye Ugandan Oil

Wednesday, 28th May, 2008


FORTY oil companies have applied for permits to carry out exploration and production of oil and gas in Uganda, the energy ministry has said, reports Ibrahim Kasita of The New Vision.

Fred Kabanda, the principle geologist, said the firms were eying the remaining four exploration areas.

“The successful discovery of oil and gas has interested many companies. At the moment 40 firms have applied for licences,” he said.

“We have a total of nine exploration areas but five were given out. We shall use competitive bidding to issue the licences.”

Oil pacts to be disclosed

Tuesday, 27th May, 2008

By Ibrahim Kasita
THE Government has finally agreed to disclose the confidential oil production-sharing agreements it signed with four companies exploring for oil and gas, The New Vision can reveal.

The companies are; Heritage Oil, Tullow Oil, Tower Oil and Dominion Oil.

However, the Government had been reluctant to disclose the agreements, claiming

“it was a matter of national interest.”

Fred Kabanda, the principal geologist, said the agreements were submitted to the natural resources committee of Parliament two weeks ago.

“This was after the Solicitor General perused through the documents and passed them for public scrutiny.

We have nothing to hide. We have established that the explored oil reserves are at 3,500,000 barrels of oil per day,” he explained

Kabanda said the early production scheme was intended to supply heavy fuel oil for thermal power production and test the pressure and quantity of the oil reserves.

“We agreed that royalties varying between 5% and 12% be deducted first. Then the investment recovery costs should also go to the oil company,” he revealed.

“We shall remain with the profitable oil. This one will be shared between the Government and the oil company and the percentage will depend on the amount of oil produced.”

Kabanda said the Government was planning to start a national oil company that would transact business on its behalf.

He said the agreements also stipulate training and employment of Ugandans so that technological skills are transferred for the benefit of the country.

“Uganda intends to join the Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative and we have had meetings with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The national oil and gas policy passed in January guides us on how to manage the resource effectively for national development,” Kabanda said.

Dickens Kamugisha, the Africa Institute for Energy Governance chief executive officer, the Government must put in place relevant laws to ensure consistence in the governance of the oil sector.

Somali Islamists attack Ugandan Peacekeepers

Tuesday, 27th May, 2008

Ugandan peace-keeping troops defend the airport in Mogadishu against militia in a previous encounter


By Abdi Sheikh

Islamist insurgents attacked Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu on Monday night, killing at least 10 people and injuring a dozen others in the crossfire, reports Uganda's leading daily, The New Vision.

“An unknown group attacked us at Kilometer 4, using mortars, rocket-propelled
grenades and small arms but we repulsed them,” AU force spokesman Maj. Barigye Ba-Hoku told The New Vision.

“There were no casualties from our side but we killed two of them and recovered two guns.”

He added that the attackers wore uniforms similar to those of the government army and the police while others were in civilian clothes.

Residents said two mortars killed eight people and wounded nine others in the attack.

A stray rocket-propelled grenade killed a further two people, according to witnesses.

A contingent of 1,600 Ugandan peacekeepers and 600 Burundian troops, known as AMISOM, are in Somalia to protect the transitional government and strategic positions such as the port and the airport.

The Shabab militia, which the United States has labelled a terrorist organisation, claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack.

“Our mujahideen forces carried out an attack on the so-called AMISOM and our operation was successful,” Shabab spokesman Mukhtar Ali Robow told Reuters.

“We had neither injuries nor deaths and we shall continue attacking them until Somalia is liberated.”

In another incident on Tuesday noon, Ugandan soldiers detonated two landmines on the road from the airport, where the AU peacekeeping force has its base.

“The land mines, which must have been planted the previous night, were at the same position where a land mine hit our vehicle last week, wounding five soldiers,” Ba-Hoku explained.

He said the intentions of the attackers were to scare Somalis from accessing services offered by AMISOM, stop the peacekeepers from executing their task and for propaganda purposes.

Last week, a UN expert panel accused Ugandan, Ethiopian and Somali troops of selling arms to insurgents in violation of a 1992 arms embargo.

Both Kampala and Addis Ababa have denied the allegations.

Thousands have been killed and nearly one million displaced in fighting in Somalia since the Islamic Courts were ousted in late 2006 by Ethiopian-backed government troops.

Over 1,000 new teachers hired

Over 1,000 new teachers hired
Monday, 26th May, 2008

By Conan Businge

THE Education Service Commission has appointed 1,148 teachers for secondary schools in hard-to-reach areas and under the double-shift programme, Reports The New Vision.

The list was released yesterday, as the new school term opened. Teachers jammed the ministry’s corridors to check for their names. Interviews for candidates had been held between January and April this year.

“All these are fresh graduates,” said the commission’s undersecretary, Stanley Omonyi.

“We are still short-listing the Grade V teachers who went for upgrading and applied on completion of their courses.”

Officials at the education ministry explained that the newly-recruited teachers would be posted to private schools and not in any of the Government-aided schools.

In March this year, there were 17,155 secondary school teachers in service. They were

covering 920 government-aided secondary schools, of which about 700 are under Universal Secondary Education.

The total number of students in secondary schools, from S1 to S6, now stands at 451,000.

The new teachers will be sent to the districts of Kampala, Kalangala, Kayunga, Lyantonde, Masaka, Mityana, Mpigi, Mubende, Mukono, Nakaseke, Nakasongola, Rakai, Ssembabule, Wakiso, and Budaka.

Other districts covered by the new recruitment are Bududa, Bugiri, Busia, Butaleja, Iganga, Jinja, Kaliro, Kamuli and Kapchorwa.

In Kampala, 32 additional teachers were recruited in Kitebi SS, Luzira SS and Nateete Muslim. Of these, Luzira SS has a double-shift programme. In Mpigi, 14 schools got additional teachers.

Some of the newly recruited teachers will be offered appointments as education officers and assistant education officers.

The education ministry advised the applicants, who were not successful, to “wait and re-apply when the next recruitment starts.”

Lists of the newly-recruited teachers are also being displayed at the district headquarters, according to ministry officials.

Tinyefuza wants Sebaggala’s house

Robert Mwanje & Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa

Kampala

Kampala City Council may lose its multi-billion official mayoral residence in Kololo, following a directive from Local Government Minister Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire urging the town clerk to hand over the house on Plot 2, Mabua Road to national intelligence coordinator, Gen David Tinyefuza,The daily Monitor reveals.

Minister Otafiire, in a March 26, 2008 letter to Town Clerk Ruth Kijjambu said the house is required for “security reasons” and gave no further details about its intended use.

A day earlier, Gen Tinyefuza wrote to the minister seeking to throw out the “encroachers” who had allegedly run down the now blighted mansion – and possess the property for what he (Tinyefuza) has indicated would be security work. The house, Daily Monitor has established is currently put to different uses and the mayor’s driver also lives there.

In his March 26 communication to KCC management, Maj. Gen. Otafiire said:

“Reference is made to the letter vide SPA/COORD/03/08 dated 25th 03 2008 written to me by Hon. Gen David Tinyefuza in the matter of his request that the issue of encroachers who are destroying the above mentioned premises to be resolved.”
“

The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to ask you to ensure that this property [in Kololo] is given to Gen David Tinyefuza for security reasons.”