EALA Speaker condemns media crackdown

 

Police siege Monitor Publication Ltd office on Eight Street Namuwongo May 20, 2013. PHOTO STEPHEN WANDERA. 

 

By Isaac Imaka
 

 

The Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly, Ms Margaret Zziwa has stressed the importance of freedom of the press, saying it is the cornerstone of democracy and development in any country.

Responding to a question on EALA’s stand on the closure of media houses in Uganda, Ms Zziwa said
 freedom of the press should be guaranteed in any environment without any hindrance.

“As EALA, we respect the freedom of the press and it should be guaranteed,” she said. “It is through the press that we can inform the public about what we are doing but this freedom also comes with responsibility from the journalists and a high level of accuracy.”

Ms Zziwa is in Uganda for the sixth meeting of the first session of the third East African Legislative Assembly scheduled to take place at the Parliament of Uganda from May 26 to June 6.

On Monday last week, gun-wielding police officers surrounded the offices of Monitor Publications Limited, stopping the operations of the newspaper over a letter that was published in the Daily Monitor about a supposed “Muhoozi Project”.

Subsequently, KFM and Dembe FM, both Monitor sister media houses, and a tabloid, the Red Pepper was also closed.

The letter, which was written by the Coordinator of Intelligence Services Gen. David Sejusa commonly known as Tinyefuza, claims the there is a plot to assassinate officials who are opposed to President Museveni’s plan to have his son, Brig Muhoozi Keinerugaba succeed him.

Ms Zziwa’s condemnation of the closure of the two media houses adds to criticism from United Nations and the European Union, who said the sealing off of the media premises and the restriction of movement of their personnel to carry out their professional activities is a flagrant violation of Uganda’s obligations under international human rights laws.