Writer: Odoobo C. Bichachi. PHOTO/COURTESY
On Tuesday, we marked World Press Freedom Day 2025. The event was organised by the Uganda Media Sector Working Group (UMSWG) and hosted by Makerere University’s department of Journalism and Communication.
UMSWG is a multi-sector platform for journalism and media stakeholders. Its objectives are to foster engagement and conversations on our journalism with the view to uplift its quality, continuously engage on issues of media freedom, regulation and standards, professionalism, media environment, etc. While this year’s global UNESCO theme was, “Reporting in the Brave New World: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Press Freedom and the Media”, we localized the theme, focusing our conversation on “Defending Truth in the age of Polarisation and Distrust in the Context of our Elections.”
If you watched the violence meted out on journalists by “security” forces in the recent Kawempe North constituency by-election, and aware that we are getting into campaigns for a general election that will culminate in a vote in January or February 2026, then you understand why journalists wanted to have this conversation. Unfortunately, UPDF’s director of Defence Public Information, Brig-Gen Felix Kulaiyigye, was a no-show on the panel to discuss “Media, Elections and Security in Uganda”.
Uganda Communications Commission executive director, Mr Nyombi Tembo, was a no-show too. Only Electoral Commission spokesperson Julius Mucunguzi; one of the journalists battered at Kawempe, Abubaker Lubowa; and Joanna Nakabiito from Inter Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) made the panel discussion ably moderated by Dr John Baptist Imokola. Did this conversation help in keeping away the sticks come the next elections? I don’t know.
Anyhow, journalists spoke out and pledged to continue reporting the truth. The other highlight of the day was “UMSWG World Press Freedom Day Awards”, an annual fixture of these celebrations. MAK’s Department of Journalism and Communication students who participated in the inter-university debate organised by Media Challenge Initiative (MCI) were awarded for emerging winners ahead of Uganda Christian University and Ndejje University.
The “Journalism Life Achievement Awards” were the most remarkable. They went to Dr Zadok Ekimwere and Mr Drake Sekeba. Both need little introduction, except for the benefit of the younger generation. Mr Ekimwere started his journalism in 1977 as a features writer and reporter at Voice of Uganda (baptised Voice of Amin for dedicating almost the entire paper to him).
He went on to report for National Mirror, the shortest-lived government newspaper after Idi Amin’s regime fell and the Uganda National Liberation Front/Army (UNLF/A) government set up shop between 1979-1980. From 1980 to 1985, he was sub-editor at Uganda Times (nicknamed Uganda Sometimes for being thin and notoriously irregular on the streets). It later morphed into New Vision with the change of regime in 1986, and he transitioned with it, working there for 10 years as sub-editor, features editor, chief sub-editor, and training editor.
He later lectured and headed the School of Journalism and Media Management at Uganda Management Institute (UMI) from 1996 to 2001. Mr Sekeba is most known for his popular investigative programme – Vumbula (which means “discover” in Luganda) – that aired weekly on Wavah Broadcasting Service (WBS) TV for about 10 years (2006 – 2017). But that was the tail end of his journalism career. His journalism journey dates back to the independence activism newspaper, Ssekanyolya, where he made his debut in 1965 as a trainee reporter.
He would in the intervening years work with some of the newspapers this generation only reads about in history – Uganda Argus, The People, Munno, Ngabo, The Star, Market Place and Ngoma – where he was variously a reporter, sub-editor, editor, and in the case of The Star, a founding editor.
He left print and transitioned into broadcast, first at Radio Uganda and Uganda Television (UTV) where he produced and hosted the famous “Face the Press” programme in the late 1980s. WBS TV gave him perhaps the most fame. He produced and presented several iconic shows that included: a weekly historical documentary – Mutesa ne Uganda (106 episodes); a traffic and road safety show (short-lived); and Tuula Twogere (over 200 weekly episodes from 2000 to 2006). He has also authored books on Uganda’s journalism, political history, etc, one of them being, “The Media Bullets in Uganda: A reference guide to history of newspapers and their role in the Church and politics of Uganda”. Congratulations to the awardees and good luck in covering the coming election!
Odoobo C. Bichachi
Public Editor
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