Activists slam government over Monitor closure
Police arrest activists near monitor premises on Thursday. they were protesting the continued closure of Monitor Publications. Four of them were arrested. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa
Civil society activists Friday attacked President Yoweri Museveni’s government over the continued closure of Monitor Publications Limited despite a court order directing police to vacate the premises.
The activist told journalists at the Human Rights Network for Journalists offices in Ntinda,a Kampala suburb, that the closure amounts to “economic sabotage, impunity and a contravention of the Constitution.”
Police on Monday besieged Monitor premises in Namuwongo with a search warrant purportedly in quest of a letter written by Gen. David Sejusa, the coordinator of Security Services. The premises have remained under siege despite another court order which cancelled the one police used to surround Monitor.
So far, 8th Street in Industrial Area has been closed to public use, with riot police blocking the road. More officers armed with guns and teargas canisters are also on site.
Mr Richard Ssewakiryanga, the Executive Director, NGO Forum, said the seizing of Monitor premises was not “only a misinterpretation of the law but an abuse of the law”
“The logic of the state is becoming hard to understand. Do they need three days to search? When you publish or broadcast, will the document they are looking for fly away? Mr Ssewakiryanga wondered.
He added: “We must not forget about the business interests of the closed media houses. Who will compensate the people who have been advertising with the paper and are now losing income?”
Retired Bishop Zac Nirigiye rallied Ugandans to start asking tough questions about the conduct of government, saying Uganda has been on a path of “consistent degeneration” since the removal of term limits in 2005.
“We are sounding an alarm for President Museveni because he is on a path of de-legitimising himself as government deliberately acts with impunity. The Office of the Prime Minister should have been declared a crime scene when some of its officials were being investigated by police,” Bishop Niringiye said.
