March 05-11, 2014

Media Monitoring Report for Uganda

Posted on March 11, 2014

Compiled by Alessandra Willsher, Media Monitoring Reporter

March 11, 2014, New Vision – ISO Boss hatched plot to kill MPs

The Internal Security Organization (ISO) director in charge of the marine, Maj. Herbert Muramagi, has been charged with a plot to kill superiors.
Muramagi, between last May and February this year, in diverse places in Kampala, with others still at large, hatched a plot to kill superiors. The superiors on the charge sheet are identified as MPs.

March 5, 2014, Government of Ethiopia – Ugandan Troops to Form a UN Guard Force in Somalia

Uganda is going to send a further 410 extra troops to Somalia to protect U.N. personnel in the capital, Mogadishu.
United Nations requested a specific guard force after Al-Shabaab attacked the main U.N. compound in Mogadishu in June, killing at least 22 people.
Ugandan military spokesman, Colonel Paddy Ankunda, said the force would be "to provide security to the United Nations so that AMISOM is not bogged down by escorting them", adding that "AMISOM will be freed to follow AlShabaab wherever they are hiding."

March 6, 2014, The Independent – Civil liberties being suffocated in Uganda

President Yoweri Museveni on Feb.24 assented to a law that will institutionalise discrimination, and increase the potential for violence against one of the most vulnerable groups in Uganda.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014 has been widely criticised for violating many of the most fundamental human rights contained in Uganda's Constitution.
President Museveni has disregarded his constitutional duty to promote the welfare of all citizens, in exchange for short-term political popularity.
"Anyone who cares to read history books knows very well that in times of crisis, when people at the locus of power are feeling vulnerable and their power is being threatened, they will turn against the weaker groups in society," said the Ugandan scholar Sylvia Tamale in 2009.
In this case, however, the government has not only turned on weaker groups in society, but in passing this law has taken one more step towards stifling any form of dissent in the country.

March 5, 2014, New Vision – Museveni orders on early campaigns

President Yoweri Museveni has told NRM leaders, who are reportedly engaged in underground campaigns, that it is not yet time for politicking, but for completing the implementation of government programs.
Museveni told the MPs on their second day of the meeting that they were confusing Ugandans by starting campaigns early before the 2011 election pledges are fulfilled
One MP reportedly sought clarification from the President about reports that State House has deployed spies to snoop on MPs and ascertain those deemed not loyal to the President, a thing the MP reportedly said has caused panic among some MPs
President Museveni and the Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, talked about their political struggle. Museveni said they have been friends since 1974, while Mbabazi said the cause they were fighting for started in 1972
The basis of discussions yesterday with some members suggesting that Mbabazi steps down.
Later resolved that they stop politicking and focus on reviving the party’s structures as well as implementing the NRM manifesto.

March 7, 2014, The Independent - President Museveni Denies Media Reports About Rt. Hon. Amama Mbabazi

President Yoweri Museveni has denied media reports that Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has been replaced as Secretary General of the ruling NRM party.
The President explained: “However, on account of being very busy as Prime Minister, I, some time last year, appointed the Hon. Todwong as Minister without Portfolio in charge of Mobilization to help the Secretary General run the day to day activities of mass political work. He is, however, not Secretary General. The Deputy Secretary-General, Hon. Dorothy Hyuha, was appointed as Ambassador and posted to Tanzania as our High Commissioner.”

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