Rights group criticises closure of the Monitor

Protestors at the Daily Monitor newspaper put up a banner in Kampala on May 20, 2013. Ugandan police raided The Red Pepper newspaper, the Daily Monitor newspaper and radio station KFM after reports on a falling out among army generals over whether President Museveni's son is to succeed him. The raids come after newspapers printed a leaked confidential memo by a senior general, David Sejusa Tinyefuza, alleging that Museveni was grooming his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba to succeed him and plotting to assassinate those opposed to the plan. AFP PHOTO/Michele Sibiloni

What you need to know:

  • Human Rights Watch asked the Ugandan Government to immediately end the politically-motivated police intimidation of the media house. Senior Africa researcher Maria Burnett told the police to resolve legal disputes in courts without resorting to abusive tactics to scare away journalists from politically-sensitive stories.

A human rights group and a retired judge Tuesday criticised the Ugandan Government’s decision to shut down the Daily Monitor and its sister radio stations — Dembe FM and KFM.

Retired Ugandan Supreme Court judge George Kanyeihamba said the move “is an act of a brutal regime meant to suppress freedom of expression”.

Addressing a workshop organised by the Constitution and Reform Education Consortium at Hilton Hotel in Nairobi, Prof Kanyeihamba said the raid by the Ugandan police on the Monitor offices was against the country’s constitution.

“I was shocked by the news that the police raided media institutions that have remained independent and should be free to disseminate information and educate the public,” said Prof Kanyeihamba. He said it was needless to raid media houses or take them to court for doing their work.

The retired judge criticised President Museveni for using the police to intimidate opponents.

“Though the country is peaceful, democracy is at its rock bottom. The government is intolerant of the opposition. People who uphold the rule of law and the constitution have been silenced,” said Prof Kanyeihamba, who was among three out of seven Supreme Court judges who ruled that President Museveni’s election in 2006 was fraudulent.

Prof Kanyeihamba said the Museveni government was dismantling the constitution and that MPs were being used as puppets.

The retired judge led a team of eminent persons investigating corruption in the Kenyan Judiciary.

Human Rights Watch asked the Ugandan Government to immediately end the politically-motivated police intimidation of the media house. Senior Africa researcher Maria Burnett told the police to resolve legal disputes in courts without resorting to abusive tactics to scare away journalists from politically-sensitive stories. “Muzzling the media is a bad way to address Uganda’s political debates,” said Ms Burnett.

On Monday, police raided the newspaper’s premises in Kampala and declared it a “scene of crime” as they sought to obtain the source of an article by the Daily Monitor about the “Muhoozi Project”, an alleged plot to usher into power the son of President Museveni — Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

On May 7, 2013, the Daily Monitor published an article detailing an alleged conspiracy to eliminate high-ranking members of the government who do not support the succession plan.

The article was based on a leaked letter by Uganda’s coordinator of Intelligence Services, Gen David Sejusa, also known as Tinyefuza, to the director of the Internal Security Organisation calling for investigations into the plot.

Gen Sejusa, who is currently out of Uganda, has publicly confirmed that he wrote the letter.