Kampala rioters languish in prisons as media crackdown continues

By ISAAC KHISA
Published September 20, 2009

Rowdy youths took to the streets to protest the decision by the central government to block Buganda Premier from visiting Kayunga, north of Kampala.

A large percentage of the 600 people arrested during recent riots in Kampala are likely to rot in jails after they were prosecuted but denied bail. Those who have been charged are more than 300, but have been denied bail on assertion that they do not have substantial sureties and might hide immediately after their release.

The rioting followed the fallout between the Mengo establishment and the central government in the past two weeks. Since the outbreak of the riots, 26 people were prosecuted in Kayunga on Monday last week, while 283 were charged in Kampala, bringing the number of those prosecuted to 309, slightly half of those arrested during the worst ever riots in the country’s recent history.

Following such arrests, the Buganda Kingdom last week announced that it would offer lawyers to defend the suspected rioters in courts of law as prosecution continues.

According to the Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen Kale Kayihura, 122 suspects were charged at Buganda Road Court, 64 at Mwanga II Court and 14 at Makindye Magistrates Court, whereas 83 more were charged in the previous week in Kampala. All the suspects denied the charges preferred against them and were remanded to Luzira maximum prison.

The prosecution preferred denial of bail on grounds that the situation was still tense and the culprits would easily regroup to cause more havoc, if granted bail.

Only Robert Kalundi Serumaga, a journalist with Radio One, was released on bail following his arrest. He was accused of inciting violence and promoting sectarianism on a WBS Television talk host show programme, when the riots were at their worst. He has, however, been suspended indefinitely from practicing journalism.

Radio stations still closed

The Uganda Broadcasting Council, a government tool, shut down four radio stations on September 10 and 11, and ordered all radio stations to halt political debate in the wake of violent clashes in Kampala, which left at least 15 people dead and property worth billions of shillings destroyed.

The Central Broadcasting Service (CBS), which is owned by the Buganda Kingdom, has been off air since September 10, when the Uganda Broadcasting Council technicians, backed by soldiers switched off its transmissions.

Later on September 11, the broadcasting council agents backed by soldiers, also raided the studios of Radio Sapientia, a Catholic Church-run station. The station had aired a morning talk show during which callers reacted to Thursday’s (September 10) deadly riots.

However, its license was reinstated on Monday last week after the radio owners wrote an apology to the broadcasting council. They were however directed to stick to airing out Christian programmes.

A similar raid took place at Radio Two, a community station popularly known as “Akaboozi ku biiri”. Ssuubi FM, a commercial, youth-oriented station was not spared either, as it was forced off the air during a raid by the broadcasting council technicians and soldiers, accusing it of “inciting the public to violence.”

In a statement issued by Chairman of the Broadcasting Council, Mr. Godfrey Mutabazi, the four radio stations were inciting violence and breaching “minimum broadcasting standards.”

Live debate programmes, commonly known as “bimeeza,” were banned for what the statement vaguely called “technical” shortcomings.

However, the statement did not make clear how long the stations would be off air or how long the ban on talk shows would be in force.

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