NMG-U editors summoned again over Museveni story
NMG-U editors managing editor Tabu Butagira (left) interfaces with Media Council chairperson Paul Ekochu (right) and Council member Assumpta Kemigisha Sebunya (2nd right) and a delegated member at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance headquarters in Kampala on July 19, 2022. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
- In a rejoinder, Counsel Richard Bwayo from Nangwala, Rezida & Co. Advocates, representing Mr Butagira and Mr Naturinda, submitted that the publications stood by their stories and denied alleged inaccuracies.
The Media Council, a statutory body, yesterday questioned two senior Nation Media Group-Uganda (NMG-U) editors; Mr Tabu Butagira, the managing editor, and the East African newspaper’s Bureau Chief, Mr Nelson Naturinda.
This was the second time the Council summoned the editors over articles that the two titles adapted early last year from the Wall Street Journal, an American newspaper, suggesting that President Museveni’s ‘inner circle’ had been offered Covid-19 vaccines.
During yesterday’s session at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance headquarters in Kampala, Media Council Chairperson Paulo Ekochu, without providing the specifics, said they had determined that the stories had contained “inaccuracies”.
He expressed the Council’s willingness, considering the lapse of time, to close the case but only if the accused admitted the unspecified “inaccuracies” and tendered an apology.
In a rejoinder, Counsel Richard Bwayo from Nangwala, Rezida & Co. Advocates, representing Mr Butagira and Mr Naturinda, submitted that the publications stood by their stories and denied alleged inaccuracies.
Mr Bwayo sought for a disclosure of the identity of the complainant in the case before the Media Council, arguing that it presented the potential risk of double jeopardy if it were President Museveni who already sued Monitor Publications Ltd (MPL), publisher of the Daily Monitor newspaper, for defamation at the High Court on similar grounds.
Mr Museveni filed a case against the newspaper for its article titled, Museveni ‘inner circle’ got Covid jabs – US paper, published on February 23, 2021.
Justice Musa Ssekaana is yet to decide on a prayer by Mr James Nangwala, the external lawyer of MPL, a Ugandan subsidiary of Nation Media Group (NMG), in court early this month to refer the President’s case for interpretation of its constitutionality by the Constitutional Court.
He argued that Article 98 (4) of the Constitution debars a sitting President from being liable to proceedings in any court, yet by suing the newspaper, he appears to willfully expose himself to scrutiny in court.
Whereas those decisions are pending, Media Council Chairperson Ekochu yesterday said the court process does not affect the proceeding of the quasi-judicial body that he heads and that they will make a final decision within a week.
This followed a prayer by Mr Bwayo that in light of the concurrent processes, the Media Council stay its proceedings pending Court determination on the matter, or discontinue the proceedings altogether.
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He also invited the Council in its imminent decision to consider that the Daily Monitor had published a clarification on the impugned story.
Present at yesterday’s proceedings was Council member, Ms Assumpta Kemigisha Sebunya, and two delegated members.
The Council issued the second summons for NMG-U Mr Butagira and Mr Naturinda on June 29, more than a year after the editors first appeared before the Council in April 2021.
Following that interface, editors were through their lawyers tasked to file written defences, which they did.
In the June 29 summon, the secretary to the Media Council of Uganda wrote: “Whereas you filed written submission, you are hereby summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee of the Media Council of Uganda to answer to ethical issues contained in the aforementioned article.”
The Media Council
The Media Council is a statutory body established to regulate the conduct and promote good ethical standards and discipline of journalists, as well as arbitrate disputes between the public and the media or the state and the media.
