| Media not patriotic, says govt |
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By Hussein Bogere & Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi |
| NAKASERO — The media has come under strong attack from the government for ‘inventing, manufacturing and engineering conflicts between the government and foreign missions accredited to Uganda.’ The government says the media lacks patriotism and its donor stories are politically driven. “Government denounces this behaviour because such a practice by the known interest in the media undermines the Ugandan state. We call upon the media to change from the anti-state and provocative ways. If they refuse to listen to us we shall expose them,” the Minister of State for Information, Dr James Nsaba Buturo, said yesterday. He was speaking at the cabinet weekly press briefing at Nakasero. Buturo said that authors of donor stories might be convinced that they are fighting a political battle against the Movement government, “but in fact they are exposing themselves to a long-held view that Africa’s best enemies are Afric ans themselves.” The media has run stories of donors like Britain cutting aid and Ireland threatening to follow suit. “Government condemns such media attempts to cause fear and uncertainty among the population on the grounds that financial support from the country’s friends is going to stop,” Buturo, who is also government spokesman, said. A World Bank-commissioned report published early this week warned of a civil war if President Yoweri Museveni pushes for a third term. It recommended a cut in aid to Uganda over the next three years, warning that extreme prudence is required because of the country’s increased political uncertainty. “What is in the minds of people who don’t write the truth? The idea that this report represents the views of the World Bank is absurd. These people have other motives. Government is the author of the new dispensation,” Buturo said. Buturo also called on certain sections of the media to stop quoting individual rese archers’ findings about Uganda as the gospel truth. He was referring to Prof. Joel Barkan, the chief architect of the report. “That man comes from God knows where and says that we are not interested in democracy. Those views don’t represent the World Bank’s; that is why it disassociated itself from them. It is absurd that the print media spent days and days on a report rejected by the World Bank,” Buturo said. Contrary to the researcher’s findings, Buturo said, the government is bent on democratising Uganda and civil authority is in control of the country’s leadership. “The claim that the Presidential Guard Brigade towers over other security arms in the country has no foundation at all. The researcher further claims that Uganda is degenerating into repression. This man should be brought here to tell us what is repression. Instead Uganda is rapidly establishing herself as a bastion of democracy in the region.” According to Buturo, government objects to indirect and f requent media references to war should the political process deliver results that are not to their liking. “A well-calculated design by some individual politicians and certain sections within the media to sow seeds of fear and uncertainty about the future stability of the country is to be denounced in the strongest terms possible,” Buturo said. The government also believes that as long as the political transition process is handled transparently, Ugandans will want to look to the future with hope for a stable and progressive Uganda. “They are building up a situation and they want the people to buy it. The fear of a civil war is unfounded and only in the minds of those who dream Uganda should return to the past turmoil. The government will adhere strictly to constitutionalism, widening the political space in order to allow free _expression_ of alternative views. The problem is that its opponents will not believe this,” he said. |
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