Oguttu, two others receive lifetime journalism awards

Monitor Publications Ltd co-founder and pioneer Managing Editor  Wafula Oguttu, Fountain Publishers’ James Tumusiime, and Makerere University’s Prof Goretti Nassanga have been recognised for their outstanding contribution to media development in the country.

The trio received award citations from the Uganda Media Sector Working Group (UMSWG) as part of commemorations of World Press Freedom Day last Friday. UMSWG is a multi-stakeholder platform to create dialogue within the media industry.

Uganda marked the day under the global theme, ‘A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the Environmental Crisis’, to highlight the crisis and the role of journalism and freedom of expression in shaping solutions to climate change disasters.

Mr Oguttu, a retired journalist and politician, received the Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award for establishing this newspaper 32 years ago, and uplifting professionalism and safeguarding media freedoms.

UMSWG described Mr Oguttu in a statement as “one of Uganda’s famous and impactful political journalists”.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Literature and Political Economy from Beijing University in 1977, Mr Oguttu first worked as a book editor in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and later as a reporter, assistant editor, and chief editor of the defunct Weekly Topic from 1981 to 1992.

Mr Oguttu then teamed up with colleagues, Kevin Aliro, Richard Tebere Olal, Charles Onyango-Obbo, and David Ouma Balikowa to co-found Monitor Publication Ltd, publisher of   The Montor ,  which rebranded to Daily Monitor  in June 2005.

“The success of The Monitor, now Daily Monitor, especially in the early years, has been credited to Waf’s foresight, passion, integrity, and political dexterity, to mention a few. He has continued to chaperone Daily Monitor as a member of its board of directors while, again, dabbling in (3rd?) ‘Uganda liberation politics’,” UMSWG said.

Mr Oguttu told this newspaper last evening that the recognition “means a lot.”

“The job of journalism is a dangerous, and thankless job. We have the job of being the watchdogs, but rarely are our efforts recognised. Few times anybody ever says  ‘thank you’,” he said, adding: “And indeed, I have put etoffali (brick) on media in Uganda.”

Mr Oguttu added that it “means a lot to hear good things said about you when still alive as opposed to when dead”.

Prof Nassanga, a journalism lecturer at Makerere University’s Department of Journalism and Communication, received the Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution through tutoring, training, mentoring, and research.

Prof Nassanga started as a journalist at Radio Uganda and Uganda Television (UTV) in the 1980s. She later switched to academia and has authored more than 40 publications in local and international journals.

UMSWG also bestowed the Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award on Mr James Tumusiime for his contribution as a founding editor, publisher, and proprietor of the country’s leading media and publishing houses, Fountain Publishers. 

He is the chairperson of Fountain Publishers, which specialises in educational and literary materials, and maps.

Mr Tumusiime, 74, studied agriculture and economics at university but switched vocations to journalism and became more widely known for the cartoon strips Ekanya in Uganda – briefly after Tumusiime Rushedge fled into exile between 1976 and 1980; and Bogi Benda published in Kenya from 1980 to 1991.

Mr Tumusiime last evening said he was delighted that his efforts in promoting a free, creative and balanced press have been recognised.

“I have used my knowledge to set up a media house, employed a number of people, and contributed to knowledge flow,” he added.

About Oguttu

Mr Wafula Oguttu or Waf, as he is fondly known, is one of Uganda’s famous and impactful political journalists.

He refused to return home after his journalism, literature, and political science studies in Beijing, China, and worked as a book editor at Tanzania Publishing House in Dar es Salaam, while dabbling in 1970s Uganda liberation politics.

From exile in 1979 to 1992, Mr Oguttu was a reporter, assistant editor, and then chief editor of 
the Weekly Topic, one of the independent and premier English-Language newspapers of the time.

Typical of political journalists, Waf carries a rebellious streak. In 1992, when the owners of Weekly Topic, who had now joined the NRM government, tried to lean on the newspaper’s editorial, he refused and was fired.

Waf, together with five colleagues, then founded The Monitor newspaper in 1992. It remains the most enduring, most successful, and most impactful private independent newspaper in Uganda in recent times.  It has played an important role in lifting the standards of journalism. 

This is testament to the fruits of one of his dreams and initiatives to professionalise journalism in the country, hitherto dominated by secondary school drop-outs. Working together with colleagues at Makerere’s Literature Department and in the industry, they championed the starting of a Mass Communications degree course to build professionalism.

The success of The Monitor (now Daily Monitor), especially in the early years, is down to Waf’s foresight, passion, integrity, and political dexterity, to mention a few. He has continued to chaperone Daily Monitor as a member of its board of directors.

Waf leveraged his political connections to have some of the most important clauses that have guaranteed media freedom in Uganda inserted in the 1995 Constitution. They include taking away the power of government to ban or close a media house, and the right of access to information by journalists. The Monitor  initiated and funded several landmark litigations that saw the striking of the Penal Code clauses on publication of sedition and false news.

Tumusiime's career

Dr James Tumusiime is one of the most impactful personalities on the Uganda media scene.

An agriculturalist who switched vocations to journalism, Dr Tumusiime chalked out the famous cartoons – Ekanya in Uganda (briefly after Tumusiime Rushedge fled to exile –1976-1980) and Bogi Benda in Kenya (1980-1991). Bogi Benda was the first internationally syndicated African cartoon strip. It was published in three Kenya newspapers, in Tanzania, and Swaziland. He was thus one of the pioneers of comic political cartooning in the country and region during the repressive years of Idi Amin and Daniel Arap Moi in 1970s and 1980s.

Dr Tumusiime also worked as an editor at Kenya Times, editor of Kenya Farmer magazine, and the publisher of Resistance News, an NRM-in-exile newsletter. He has published several book titles to his name, and has overseen the publication of hundreds of others in education, politics, history, and heritage, among others.

His pinnacle years, however, have been as founding managing editor/managing director of the New Vision; as founder and proprietor of Radio West and TV West; and as founder of Fountain Publishers Ltd.

He is currently the board chairperson of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC). 

About Prof Nassanga

Prof Nassanga Goretti Linda is a professor at the Journalism & Communication Department, Makerere University. She started off as a journalist at Radio Uganda and UTV in 1980, before moving into training and research in 1992. 

She has made a significant contribution to the generation of knowledge by publishing more than 40 publications in international and local journals in several areas such as environment and climate communication, media and gender, global communication and health communication.

She has been a member of several local and international professional bodies. In December 2017, Prof Nassanga received the highly prestigious Media Life Time Achievement Award in recognition of her contribution to the media industry in Uganda and East Africa. On March 8, 2020, Prof Nassanga was nominated as one of the top ten ‘trail-blazing’ women in Uganda at a celebration to mark 25 years of gender activism on International Women’s Day.