President Museveni’s longtime Presidential Advisor In-charge of Political Mobilization also his Chief agent for the 2026-2031 Moses Byaruhanga has narrated the daily monitor story which pissed off his boss and made him lose sleep.
When speaking about the ongoing standoff between Museveni and the nation media group in Uganda which resulted into banning all its media outlets from covering him, Byaruhanga said that even though the president decided to keep his cool whenever Monitor paper wrote annoying stories about him, he was pissed when the paper wrote a story accusing him of secretly being vaccinated against Covid-19 together with his immediate family members before other Ugandans.
Byaruhanga revealed that the man from Rwakitura was angered by the story because it portrayed him before the public as a selfish leader who only thinks about himself and his family to the extent that while other Ugandans were dying of the pandemic, he was only thinking about saving his family.
He added that even though the president was very bitter and had the powers to close the operations of the paper in the country, he only instructed his lawyers led by his son-in-law Edwin Karugire to take legal action and the matter was solved in Court after Monitor conceded and was fined with Shs300m which Museveni donated to his political party the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
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Byaruhanga’s explanation was supported by Faruk Kirunda the deputy Presidential Press Secretary and also his Assistant in charge of political mobilization in Busoga region who stated clearly that the decision of banning Nation Media from covering the president was taken by himself as a person
“To set the record straight: H.E Kaguta Museveni stopped NMG (parent company of Daily Monitor, ntv uganda, 933kfm (etc) from covering him as an individual- after persistent instances of misreporting on him. One such instance was at Kisozi when he hosted MPs on a Wealth Creation tour. NMG management is aware of these problematic instances, which were brought to their attention. But the President didn’t stop NMG from working in Uganda or covering other Government institutions. Moreover, as PPU, we provide press releases and appreciate their use. President Kaguta Museveni cannot infringe on Constitutional provisions (on free media) when he was the one who oversaw the return to Constitutionalism and rule of law, and is the most media-friendly person,” Kirunda clarify on his social media handle.
Byaruhanga insisted that the President has a right to ban any media house upon realising that it is misleading the public about him and he is not the first president to do it citing the American President Donald Trump who stopped certain media houses and journalists from covering him.
However, Patrick Kamara a veteran journalist practicing with Nation media group for a long time rejected Byaruhanga’s narrative that Museveni was angered because of monitor story on Covid-19. Kamara explained that when he was a young journalist practicing with a local media house in Fort portal, he interviewed Museveni many times and was very friendly and responded to his questions calmly.
He added that when he joined monitor, whenever, he interviewed the president and asked him hard questions, he changed his face and started accusing him of being the enemy of his government adding that he was sent by his bosses to fight him.
“At first I thought that it was a joke but when the president insisted on making such statements, I realised that the president was very serious about what he was saying and meant it,” Kamara said.
Godber Tumushabe a political commentator and a lawyer said that Museveni has no right to ban any media house from covering him because of the public office he is holding and the people he is leading want to know through media how he is running the affairs of their country.
Obed Katurebe the media centre acting Executive Director revealed that talks of lifting the ban which the president himself and parliament leadership placed on NMG are going on and very soon the matter will be resolved.
Kirunda said that Nation Media Group (NMG) should copy what Next Media which runs NBS television and other media outlets did when they sat on a round table and solved their misunderstanding through talks.
In the statement signed by Susan Nsibirwa, the Managing Director of Nation Media Group in Uganda noted that even though her media house has been banned from covering the president and parliament, they have not been served with any written communication revealing the offence they have committed against these powerful people including giving them a chance to defend themselves.
However, Ono Bwino has established from highly placed sources in the corridors of power that the decision was taken not to put everything in writing because international human rights bodies could use them against government accusing them of violating human rights and suppressing media rights in the country.
“Do you see how Venezuela’s government handles the media, they just give a phone call to an errant media house to stop exposing the government, when it insists, they just do not renew the license and if it is online, they just block it so that it is not accessed in their territory. That’s what we have started doing here,” a source said .
