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UCC shuts down 30 outdoor community radios
Banned. One of the outdoor megaphone community radios in Lukaya Town, Kalungu District, being confiscated by UCC enforcement team. PHOTO BY MUZAFARU NSUBUGA
What you need to know:
- Mr Ssemambo claims UCC enforcement team took away equipment for his two community radios in Lukaya Town. “We have been helping residents to advertise and announce their lost property at low cost as compared to FM radio stations,” he added.
Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has finally shut down outdoor megaphone community radios, commonly known as bizindalo that have been operating illegally in Kalungu District.
More than 30 bizindalos have been confiscated by the UCC enforcement team during a crackdown that started last week at Kabaale-Bugonzi trading centre before being extended to Mukoko, Bukulula, Lukaya Town Council and other areas in Kalungu.
The operators of the community radios claim UCC is taking away their sole source of income without giving them an alternative.
“We have been paying licences to local councils and always promoting government programmes at no cost. Why are they taking away our equipment?” Mr Muwada Ssemambo asked during an interview on Monday.
Mr Ssemambo claims UCC enforcement team took away equipment for his two community radios in Lukaya Town. “We have been helping residents to advertise and announce their lost property at low cost as compared to FM radio stations,” he added.
He said instead of confiscating their equipment and rendering them jobless, UCC would have advised the operators and regulated them.
“We were doing some small businesses in Kampala and government advised us to come back to villages to create jobs but it is unfortunate that it is the same government which is now making us jobless,” he said
In Lukaya Town, the owners of bizindalo radios charge between Shs1,000 and Shs3,000 per announcement.
Mr Ibrahim Bbosa, the UCC spokesperson, said they had earlier advised operators of bizindalo radios to voluntarily shut them down but they refused.
Mr Bbosa said the bizindalo radios are responsible for noise pollution in the communities, especially health centres and schools, which is against National Environment Management Authority regulations.
“We have more than 300 licensed radio stations which do the same work as those bizindalo radios. We shall take the suspects to court because we received information that they have reopened despite being shut down,” he said
Mr Bbosa said the crackdown will soon be extended to other parts of the country and only community radios whose operators promote government programmes such as immunisation will be spared .
The Kalungu District chairperson, Mr Richard Kyabaggu, said banning bizindalo radios will not help and that UCC should instead come up with a licensing regime as well as policies and regulations for their operations.
“For us in communities, we know how useful they are [bizindalo]; they are really filling a gap left by licensed radio stations. They should just help them get organised and ensure that they operate in regulated manner,” he said.
The law
Operation. Section 26(1) of the UCC Act 2013 states that a person shall not install or operate a television station, radio station, or any related broadcasting apparatus without a licence issued by the Commission”.
The National Environment (Noise Standards and Control) Regulations, 2003, empowers local councils to make laws regulating noise and vibration pollution in accordance with the Local Governments Act.
