UGANDA'S FLAWED ELECTIONS: How the media was misused in the election

In the Commonwealth Observers report yesterday, we focused our attention on the nomination exercise where observers noted that there were so many iregularities. Today, Daily Monitor turns its attention to the media and the role it played in the entire electoral process. Was the media misused? Did all the parties enjoy the same platform or was the media compromised in favour of the strong Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC)?

OBSERVERS’ REPORT

77. An explosion of newspapers and pamphlets reflected the overwhelming desire of the people of Uganda to make their voice heard after long years of silence. The 30 or more party news- papers and pamphlets made for a highly passionate and partisan press which enabled the views of practically every interest group in Uganda to be projected. There were great differences of perception among them but they all shared one important role - that of making people aware that the election was taking place and that the secret ballot was a powerful weapon.

78. Popular belief in the secrecy and power of the ballot was demonstrated vividly at one of the variety concerts sponsored by Radio Uganda to educate people about the elections. Songs extolled the political parties and their leaders; plays and poems were interspersed with instructions about the voting process. Then, a participant recited, to resounding cheers and laughter:

When I cast my powerful vote ... I
smile with mockery at the powerful
men ... My vote will put out the
powerful men ....

79. Newspapers fluctuated between 30 and 40 in number, their pages between four and eight. All of them, including the government-owned Uganda Times, were obliged by economic and physical constraints to confine their circulation to the area surrounding Kampala. Most had small and fluctuating circulations, and suffered from a scarcity of costly newsprint and very rudimentary distribution arrangements. On many occasions it was difficult to find a newspaper on the streets of Kampala and it required a certain amount of dedication to purchase copies of them.

80. Of the leading dozen newspapers, three were published daily, the rest weekly. The only English language daily was the Uganda Times with a circulation said to range between 10 and 18 thousand. The other dailies, Taifa and Munno, were in Luganda, the language of Buganda and the central area.

They were each said to have a circulation of between 5,000 and 10,000. The Leading weeklies in English, with circulations estimated at around 5,000,were Topic (more of a political journal than a newspaper). The Star, The Nationalist, The Champion, The New Century The Kampala Guardian, The Economy, The Citizen, The People and The Equator.

81. Every political party had two or more papers providing strident and partisan support. The UPC Congress had an official party newspaper, The People as well as The Nationalist and in the Uganda language Njuba. The DP had two magazines, Point and Exposure, as well as The Citizen, The Champion, The Star and the Economy and five weeklies in Uganda.

T he UPM was supported by Topic, perhaps the most intellectually stimulating publication in the country. The Equator which sometimes appeared bi-weekly, The Pilot and at least one Luganda language paper Ssekanyolya. Even the newly formed CP had the Kampala Guardian. And for the faithful who wished to have their political news from the Church, there was the New Century published by the Church of Uganda.

82. As the only English language daily and the only government owned newspaper in the country, the Uganda Times had a duty to provide impartial coverage of the election by publishing the views of all parties and give voters a fair assessment of the issues facing them. This it failed to do. Instead, its support of the UPC was unconcealed and on occasions it distorted news to advance the cause of that party.

All the other political parties resented the subjugation of a nationally-owned newspaper to the interests of one party, and conveyed their disquiet to the Group.

83. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting controls all broadcasting in Uganda, and has since before independence. Radio Uganda was on the air for some 16 hours daily, and broadcast programmes 18 languages. Of its several transmitters only one now functioned and this suffered frequent breakdowns. It was therefore ill equipped to provide the service which the country and the election demanded. The quality of election broadcasts, too, was poor. Live coverage of rallies with long speeches took up an excessive amount of time on radio.

84. On our arrival we were struck immediately by the disproportionate amount of time devoted by radio to the UPC. News items gave them prominence almost to the complete exclusion of their opponents, and we were not surprised that this was high on the list of complaints we received. However, as the election drew close, there was a growing awareness of the need for better balance, and in the final stages of the campaign the position, if still unsatisfactory, was greatly improved.

85. It must be admitted, however, that the UPC_was the best organized to take advantage of all opportunities for publicity. It readily responded to Radio Uganda's invitations to participate in discussion programmes and its President generated news in his 'own right. The other parties, unlike the UPC, failed to take full advantage of all the free time made available to them on both radio and television. There was a consistent pattern of complaints from the other parties that their statements were seldom carried on news broadcasts, but after we had made our own views known, over a period of time this situation was substantially improved.