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|
Uganda |
MEDIA
Ugandan journalists and media industry stakeholders
have resolved to establish
a non-statutory self-regulating Media Council,
that is independent of governmental
control
The decision to create a non-statutory independent Media Council was greatly influenced by the Tanzanian experience, and the global trend.
Addressing a media law reform consultative meeting of journalists and media industry stakeholders in Kampala on 4 October 2001, Anthony Ngaiza, Executive Secretary of the non-statutory independent Media Council of Tanzania and president of the Eastern Africa Media Institute (EAMI), Tanzania Chapter, implored the journalists to think critically about establishing a non-statutory media council. «You need one independent non-statutory Media Council that is controlled by the journalists themselves. This is what journalists in Tanzania and in other countries have done. Kenyan journalists are also working on creating a non-statutory media council,» Ngaiza said.
Ngaiza was on a five-day visit to Uganda to share the Tanzanian experience with his colleagues in Uganda. He said it had not been easy to start a non-statutory media council in Tanzania, as the government was sceptical and wanted to institute a statutory one. He said neither is it easy to run such a Council. However, he said in spite of this, it would be possible to do it in Uganda as well. «Develop a constitution for it, and call a national convention to democratically elect credible members for the board of the Media Council. It is not easy operating a non-statutory council».
Uganda’s media laws
This in part followed the recommendations of a media law review panel, established in 1999 to study the media laws in Uganda. Led by Kenneth Kakuru, a Kampala-based lawyer, the panel had noted that the Press and Journalist Statute 1995 that established the Media Council, gives the Minister of Information, wide discretionary powers to intervene in the affairs of the media. For example, the law provides for the appointment of members of the Media Council by the minister, yet, as the panel noted, «independence from governmental control is an indispensable element of press freedom. The guarantee of freedom of the press was designed above all to shield the press from governmental interference,» the panel observed. «The Media Council is granted wide powers of control over the press, yet its members cannot be regarded as independent of the government, by virtue of the ministerial discretion as regards their terms of appointment, remuneration and re-appointment.»
Ngaiza said the institution of a statutory Media Council controlled by the state, has jeopardized Uganda’s chances of joining the Association of World Press Councils. He recommended that rather than the Media Council having quasi-judicial powers as provided for in the Press and Journalist Statute 1995, it should instead be a «court of honour» that is respected by all, regardless of status. However, he said, the success of the «court of honour» would depend largely on the people who sit on the council and the public’s perception of them. Ngaiza said it is important for the Media Council to be strong and respected.
Uganda’s Media Council
Since its establishment in 1995, the Media Council of Uganda has not attracted complaints from the public, and least of all from the government, save for just one complaint brought by a member of the public against The New Vision newspaper. Shunned by even the journalists and media industry, the Media Council has virtually failed to take off. Even worse, the government that established the Council, has not funded its operation. The government has instead resorted to continued use of the courts of law, particularly in cases of sedition (criminal libel) and publication of false news against The Monitor.
In October 2001, Ugandan police arrested and detained the editor and employees of Red Pepper, a tabloid newspaper, on the orders of the minister in charge of Ethics and Integrity in the Office of the President, for allegedly publishing pornography. It was argued that if the government had faith in the Media Council, it would have used it in this particular case, as the Council has powers to entertain complaints of this nature.
In a surprise development, the Uganda’s Minister of Information, Basoga Nsadhu, has given positive indication that he will support the establishment of such a Media Council. Initially, journalists were sceptical about whether the minister would support such a move. But in a meeting with Ngaiza in Kampala on 5 October, the minister welcomed the journalists’ decision to create a non-statutory Media Council and said there is a lot to learn from the Tanzanian experience.
Uganda’s journalists are waiting to see what will be the government’s final decision.
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PeaceLink 2002 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement