Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | President John Magufuli has presided over a crackdown on media and civil society in Tanzania that has seriously undermined democratic freedoms as the country approaches elections, global rights groups said Monday. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tanzania was backsliding under Magufuli, whose …
Read More »Zuckerberg’s Facebook extends fact-checking programme to Uganda
Paris, France | AFP | Facebook on Tuesday announced the expansion of its third-party fact-checking programme to 10 new African countries in partnership with Agence France-Presse and other media. The programme will be available in Ethiopia, Zambia, Somalia and Burkina Faso in partnership with AFP; in Uganda and Tanzania …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: Who is next on US sanctions list?
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The top stories in this week’s THE INDEPENDENT. COVER STORY America pins ex-IGP Kayihura on torture: Who is next on the sanctions list? THE LAST WORD America’s human rights imperialism: How US government sanctions against Kayihura are a toxic mixture of ignorance, prejudice and hypocrisy …
Read More »UCU promotes Dr. Monica Chibita to rank of full professor
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Christian University (UCU) Council on Thursday May 23, 2019 approved the promotion of Dr. Monica Chibita to the rank of full professor. The UCU Council said in a statement that Prof. Chibita “has not only shown herself to be a consummate academic, …
Read More »King Mswati III ‘marriage’ order is fake
eSwatini says fake polygamy story ‘insult’ to king and country Mbabane, eSwatini | AFP | The government of eSwatini on Tuesday angrily denied viral online reports that King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch who has 14 wives, had ordered men to have at least two marriages or face jail. …
Read More »Uganda slips further in World Press Freedom rankings
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | “Acts of intimidation and violence against reporters are an almost daily occurrence in Uganda. The security services, which are the leading press freedom violators, often target journalists, arresting them arbitrarily and sometimes holding them incommunicado,” read the entry on Uganda by Reporters Without Borders, …
Read More »UCC blasted over directive to media houses
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) came under fire for issuing a directive to media houses to suspend their employees over a breach of “minimum broadcasting standards.” The stations are; NTV, NBS TV, BBS TV, Bukedde TV, Kingdom TV and Salt TV. Others are; Akaboozi FM, …
Read More »‘Mutabazi and team at UCC playing catch up, need media literacy’
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Makerere University scholar Dr. Fred Kakooza contends that Uganda Communications Commission-(UCC is playing catch up in its regulatory role in the media, and actually needs support. According to Dr. Kakooza, a Multimedia Production and Broadcasting scholar in the Department of Journalism and Communication at Makerere …
Read More »UHRC calls for dialogue between UCC and Media
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Human Rights Commission is calling for dialogue to resolve the impasse between the Media and the Uganda Communications Commission-UCC. The impasse stems from a Wednesday directive in which Eng. Godfrey Mutabazi ordered 13 media companies to suspend 39 senior members of staff including …
Read More »Tanzanian media mogul and industrialist Mengi dies aged 75
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian business tycoon and philanthropist Reginald Mengi, who headed one of Africa’s largest media groups, has died aged 75 in Dubai, his news outlets reported Thursday. “We are sorry to announce the death of the executive chairman of IPP Group of Companies, Dr Reginald Mengi,” …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price