Harsh reception for Bill gagging free press

The government wants to introduce new licensing conditions for newspapers and to empower the Media Council to close media houses.

Kampala

The media fraternity and human rights activists have rejected the proposed Press and Journalists (Amendment) Bill, 2010, in which the State plots to muzzle the freedom of the press. The Bill is still before Cabinet but activists say its proposals are draconian, uncalled for and by far contravene the principles of democracy and rule of law.

Suspicious intentions
“The Bill intends to narrow the space for independent thought and must be resisted,” said Mr Livingstone Ssewanyana, the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative. The Chairperson of Uganda Journalists Union, Ms Lucy Ekadu, said the proposals in the Bill, coming ahead of general elections makes government intentions suspicious. “These amendments cannot be in good faith,” she said.Dr George Lugalambi, the head of Mass Communication Department at Makerere University, described it as outrageous and asked the government to drop the proposals in public interest.
“The proposals in the Bill go beyond what is necessary to control the media,” Dr Lugalambi said. “It shows how the government is obsessed with controlling the free press, stifling democracy and creating instability in the media.” In the new proposals pushed by the Minister for Information, Ms Kabakumba Masiko, the government wants to introduce new licensing conditions for newspapers and to empower the Media Council to close media houses.

The Bill also calls for a strengthening of the disciplinary committee of the Media Council, whose board will be appointed by the information minister. Mr JB Mayiga, who heads the Uganda Media Development Foundation, said the new Bill will make it difficult for one to start a newspaper in the country and makes it easy for government to close “unfriendly” media houses.

The government also wants to amend the existing Act to create offences and penalties against media houses that publish material prejudicial to national security, stability and unity. The media houses shall also be punished for utterances that are injurious to Uganda’s relations with her neighbours or friendly countries or those that tantamount to economic sabotage. “This Bill means government wants to license freedom of expression and this is against the principles of human rights,” Mr Mayiga said.

While the government Chief Whip, Daudi Migereko, yesterday said it was premature to talk about the Bill, his Ethics counterpart, Dr James Nsaba Buturo said: “We don’t have any ill- intentions. It is just that our media is still young and does not understand what constitutes national interest.” The Bill comes on the heels of the growing fears about increasing attacks on media freedom in the country.