25 Mar 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The International Press Institute has accused the Ugandan government of conducting a “well-planned campaign to stifle the media” ahead of next year’s election. Wangethi Mwangi, Kenyan board member of the global organisation, cited the Press and Journalist Amendment Bill as proof of the president’s Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s efforts to silence the East African country’s independent press. This legislation, if passed, will give authorities the power to revoke the licenses of media organisations if they publish material deemed “prejudicial to national security”.
8 Feb 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Two reporters from The Monitor newspaper, Angelo Izama and Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi Izama lost an appeal to compel the government to release papers relating to oil deals, when the judge decided the information was not in the public interest. Izama was arrested and bailed for criminal libel last week in an unrelated case.
4 Feb 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Henry Ochieng, editor of the Daily Monitor news magazine and Angelo Izama, a senior reporter were charged with criminal libel yesterday after a complaint from President Yoweri Museveni about an article that compared him to Ferdinand Marcos, former leader of the Philippines. The journalists have been released on bail, pending the trial on 25 February.
19 Jan 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
On 18 January at least 30 women were detained in Kampala while attempting to deliver a petition calling for the resignation of the electoral commission chief Badru Kiggundu, who they say is unable to organise credible and fair elections, scheduled for 2011. The women, members of a group called InterParty Cooperation, were wearing T-shirts with the slogan ‘Women for Peace’; “they forcefully loaded us on police vehicles like sacks of beans even when we had voluntarily accepted arrest,” said the chair of the opposition women’s league, Ingrid Turinawe. Police say they are likely to be charged with criminal trespass, unlawful assembly and inciting violence.
