President moves to gag media
President Museveni
PARLIAMENT- President Museveni is on Friday reported to have spoken angrily about media coverage of Kasese killings and the raging tensions in the Rwenzori sub-region and directed the Information minister to prepare “stringent amendments” to existing media laws.
Sources that attended the NRM Caucus meeting at State House Entebbe indicated that Mr Museveni they described as “livid” was in particularly foul mood about what he called “bad reporting that triggers panic” and ordered the Information minister, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, to prepare amendments to existing media laws to be urgently handled when Parliament resumes from the Christmas recess in February 2017.
Mr Museveni’s proposal to enact stringent laws to muzzle the media is said to have been strongly cheered on by NRM MPs who have been angry with coverage of their push for tax exemptions and what civil society activists have called “titanic expenses”. The MPs have also argued that coverage of Parliament is negative.
Parliament’s Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges is expected to table a report about an investigation ordered by the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga into media coverage of MPs and the House.
Mr Museveni is quoted to have told the MPs that the media is “creating a lot of havoc in the public”, arguing that there is need to tighten control on media freedoms.
Yesterday, NRM Caucus vice chairman Solomon Silwany, who chaired Friday’s session, confirmed that the President complained of “false reporting” and directed that the NRM Caucus convenes in January to draft proposed amendments to handle the media.
Mr Silwany said the President did not pin-point particular scenarios where the media has reported falsely but was rather furious with “wrong reporting generally”.
“The President was talking about bad media reporting where the media reports wrong information and causes panic in the public and yet professionally, media is supposed to report verified information. The President said the existing laws give the media unlimited freedom,” Mr Silwany said.
He added that MPs are “very angry” with the media and that they will offer blanket support to proposed amendments to control media freedoms.
The media fraternity and human rights activists have since rejected the proposed Press and Journalists (Amendment) Bill, 2010, in which the State wanted to muzzle press freedom.
The Bill has been in Cabinet since 2010 but activists say its proposals are draconian and contravene the principles of democracy and rule of law. They have asked the President and MPs to respect the Constitutional tenets on freedom of expression and media.
Mr Museveni was also angry with delays on major infrastructural projects like the Kampala-Entebbe Express Highway and the Kampala –Jinja Express Highway which were pegged back by delays triggered by court processes. On this, Mr Museveni directed the Finance ministry to prepare amendments to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Act to shield major infrastructural projects from litigants who cause delays.
“On the PPDA Act, the President was talking about how somebody takes the Procurement Committee to court and the whole process grounds to a halt. He said construction of a road is taking 10 years because there are court processes,” Mr Silwany said.
At the caucus meeting, Mr Museveni also rallied support for controversial amendments to the 1998 Land Act which seeks compulsory government acquisition of private land for public development projects.
