Uganda government ready to crush critical media

Journalists in developing countries have one common problem with governments.....persecution! And then, when the journalists are persecuted, it obviously become media censorship.

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However, the reason why most African government have always taken the media to be the fourth estate is because most leaders of the continent today are products of post-colonialism. From the West of the Sahara to the horn of Africa and from the Nile of Egypt down to Africa´s once bread-basket(Zimbabwe), most of the leaders are people who faced the brant of colonialism. When most of them came into power, the instead adopted many elements of colonial rule into their system of leadership. That is why Africans today appear less liberated by this leaders. The leaders looked at the press as an enemy because that is how the colonialists saw it. In the process, free press has had a much lesser impact in the development of Africa that expected.

It is also important to note that if Post colonial African governments had embraced the free media, Africa´s democratic and accountability problems would have been more that a half solved.

The fact that the press has always been censored, the politician have hid behind their power to entrench themselves into power, illegally accumulate wealth and perpetuate all kinds of human rights abuses.

Even those leaders who have come after over 20 years of colonialism unfortunately have adopted the same mentality. A good example is the former Kenyan president Arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki, Ugandan Dictator Youweri Kaguta Museveni, Rwanda´s Paul Kagame ..to mention but a few.

In Uganda, for instance, Journalists face all kinds of threats from torture, intimidation, and censorship and less is really known about the real situation, even in the very local media.

It only of very vocal journalists like Andrew Mwenda, Serumaga, Ibrahim Ssemuju and a former colleague of mine Ebokorait Okile and many other whose case can easily be heard of. Otherwise even then, the vocal one too face harassment and intimidation most often and they tend to keep quiet with it. It sort of becomes normal but in reality it is not.

However, at Uganda free media, we strive to educate journalists of their rights and also encourage them to stand firm in the face of persecution.