PM Rugunda ordered to explain security brutality against journalists

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Parliament has directed the Prime Minister  Dr Ruhakana Rugunda to give a statement on the continued attacks on journalists by security officers in the country.

This is after the Mityana Municipality Member of Parliament Francis Zaake raised a matter of national importance in which he complained about the continued attack on journalists while doing their job.

Last week,  NTV Uganda’s Mityana Correspondent Enock Matovu  was attacked by security operatives reportedly belonging to the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF).

Matovu  told the press that as he was headed home on the fateful day together with his daughter during curfew hours, some soldiers called him by name, and then descended on him.  He told the press that he was beaten for what they called his bad work as a journalist.

Zaake raised the matter in the house saying security has continued to beat journalists even despite calls from Parliament.

He says that this comes after an incident where many journalists who were covering former National Unity Platform (NUP) Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu as he petitioned the UN Human rights were battered. Over 20 journalists were injured in the incident.

Zaake wondered when this brutality will end since several journalists have continuously been beaten.

He tasked the army and security agencies to hold the perpetrators to account, and not simply caution them. He says ahead of the Media freedom day on third May, the perpetrators are free, while some journalists are still nursing injuries.

The  speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga directed the Prime Minister to present a statement on the matter on Wednesday next week. She said Government should also account to Ugandans if the people who brutalized journalists have been held accountable.

The beating of the journalist comes barely weeks after the  Army top management and media owners played a football game in an attempt to mend the working relationships.

Meanwhile, the MPs have also tasked Parliament on the delayed compensation of families of part of the over 50 Ugandans who were killed during the November 2020 riots.

Government pledged to compensate Ugandans who were innocently killed during the riots.

Michael Timuzigu Kamugisha the Kajara county MP questioned why to date Government has never compensated the bereaved families.

The Speaker of Parliament directed that Government should come with a report of the people who were killed and the process to compensate them.

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URN