For Immediate Release
Thursday 13 March 2025
Kampala: Today, the Kawempe North by-election degenerated into seemingly choreographed attacks on journalists covering the polls to replace the late area member of parliament, Muhammad Ssegirinya, who passed in January this year.
Hasifah Nanvuma from Nation Media Group, Hassan Wasswa of NBS TV and Francis Ijjo from NTV Uganda were assaulted and injured, the latter two needing hospitalisation to treat their injuries.
The trio bring to seven the number of journalists assaulted by security operatives while covering this by-election. On 12 March 2025, Steven Kibwika, a journalist working with NMG, was assaulted while investigating a tip that ballots for the by-election were being pre-ticked at a house in Nameere, a village in Kawempe North constituency. Also assaulted at the same premises was Thomas Kitimbo, a journalist with NBS TV.
On 26 February 2025, operatives of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Unit beat and injured Ibrahim Miracle, a journalist with Top TV. Miracle, who almost lost his left eye, is still undergoing treatment.
“The unrestrained conduct of security agents is a blatant attack on independent journalism, endangers legitimate civic participation in legal political activities, and undermines access to information that is vital for voters to exercise their constitutional rights,” said Dr George Lugalambi, ACME’s executive director. “These actions amount to criminalisation of journalism and must be condemned.”
More unsettling is that there appears to be a premediated pattern to destroy evidence of this brutality. Kibwika’s camera was confiscated; Miracle was forced to delete the footage he had recorded; Nanvuma’s camera was damaged; while several NBS TV cameras were, reportedly, confiscated. Moreover, the offending operatives have usually been pictured wearing masks to hide their identity. As pointed out by the Minister of State for Internal Affairs, Gen. David Muhoozi, in Parliament, security officials must always be identifiable while on duty.
ACME strongly condemns the impunity that has characterised these by-elections, as it might be perceived by citizens as a forecast of what to expect as we head to the 2026 general elections.
We urge all security agencies to strictly adhere to their mandate of maintaining law and order and guaranteeing the safety of all individuals involved in constitutionally-protected political and civic activities. This includes ensuring that security officers deployed in the field follow approved standard operating procedures and are accountable, and that they proactively safeguard journalists from attacks by anybody while carrying out their professional news-gathering duties.
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ABOUT AFRICAN CENTRE FOR MEDIA EXCELLENCE: ACME is a Kampala-based independent non-profit organisation committed to excellence in journalism, media, and public communication in Uganda and Africa.
For further information, please contact the Executive Director, Dr. George Lugalambi, on info[at]acme-ug.org.
