Journalists up in arms after being caught in parliament scuffle

Journalists who set out to cover proceedings in the House on the National Coffee Amendment Bill, 2024, were met with an increasingly hostile place on November 6.

A cross-section of the journalists were barred from accessing the House to cover a plenary session that got underway at 10am under the stewardship of Speaker Anita Among.

The situation worsened when chaos erupted among lawmakers during plenary. This prompted the House leadership to order the eviction of all reporters who were inside the debating chambers. The journalists were condemned to the Conference Hall located at the basement of the House where, it is alleged, that some of their gadgets were confiscated.

Mr Sam Ibanda Mugabi, the President of the Uganda Parliamentary Press Association (UPPA) that binds all reporters that cover the House, yesterday announced a total boycott on parliamentary coverage.

At a media briefing, Mr Mugabi described as “inhumane” the manner in which the House’s security apparatus handled the journalists.

“As media we aren’t here to be pro-government and we aren’t here to be pro-Opposition, but we are here to disseminate information to the public. We have agreed that starting now we shall not cover the proceedings of Parliament, neither the proceedings of the Opposition nor proceedings of government in Parliament until when the UPPA leadership engages the leadership of Parliament and have a common consensus and give assurance on the safety of journalists in this Parliament. I want to ask editors, I know there are some editors who will be putting pressure on reporters here at Parliament, let us be patient.”

The eviction of reporters from the chambers came shortly after they covered ugly morning scenes in the House where Mr Francis Zaake, the Mityana Municipality lawmaker, was beaten by his Kilak North counterpart, Mr Anthony Akol.

Reporters, who were present as Speaker Among invoked rule 90 of the Rules of Procedure to suspend 12 members from the plenary over what she called misconduct, were puzzled when a section of security personnel whom they say were new evicted them from the media gallery and pushed them into the conference room.

“As UPPA leadership, we think this is uncalled for, there was no need to chase away journalists and then confine them in the conference hall,” Mr Mugabi said.

Earlier, Daily Monitor journalist Busein Samilu was denied access beyond the Parliament main entrance despite having accreditation.

Mr Samilu said police officers deployed at the entrance asked him to sit at the visitor’s lounge after looking at his accreditation card. He spent half an hour in the waiting area only to be told that he would not access the House’s chambers.

Unfortunate development

Journalists, media experts, rights organisations, and former Parliament reporters interviewed described yesterday’s scenes as ugly and unfortunate. Mr Robert Ssempala, the executive director of the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda), described what happened yesterday as unfortunate.

“This is a clear indication that the leadership of Parliament does not appreciate members of the public knowing what is happening there especially during controversial matters. But also the Parliamentary press team also failed us because how could they look at such incidents happening to journalists who are doing their work,” he said.

Mr Moses Kajangu, the chief-editor of Salt Media, who has covered the eighth, ninth and tenth parliament, said incidents of violence in the precincts of the House and intimidation against journalists are unacceptable and a clear violation of press freedom and human rights.

“I strongly condemn the blocking and harassment of journalists who are simply doing their job. Journalists play a vital role in informing the public and holding those in power accountable, and any attempt to silence them is a threat to democracy,” he said.

Mr Abubakar Lubowa, a journalist and media rights activist, said: “The habit of people thinking that they are doing us a favour to cover some of these entities like Parliament is wrong.”

He added that switching off the lights when the journalists were covering House proceedings was also “unfortunate.” 

“We are not working for Parliament but the people of Uganda. So I condemn those ugly scenes and call for an end to such. Editors of all media houses should take a stand. Journalists who cover Parliament have been humiliated enough. This intimidation should stop,” Mr Lubowa protested.

Ugly past

Mr Apolo Kakaire, the communication and advocacy manager at the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), condemned the actions that happened days after the world marked the international day to end impunity against journalists.

“It is really sad that all this is happening in the House that is meant to uphold the laws where we see articles in the constitution speaking about freedom of expression, access to information law among others. Such crucial debates must go on with media allowed to enable the public to understand what’s going on,” he said.

Ugly scenes of reporters being maltreated at Parliament are not new. Mr Suleiman Kakaire, who covered the eighth and ninth parliaments for The Observer, said what happened on November 6 is not new but simply worse.

“Those days we used to have such practices but the Parliament leadership would only apply to issues that are on their personalities but for a public issue like coffee, no. What we are seeing is that this House is acting worse,” he told Monitor, adding that they had to petition the Constitutional Court to have some sections of the Administration of Parliament Act that “were treating journalists as strangers” to be repealed.

While some reforms were secured, Mr Suleiman Kakaire said the current House leadership has not respected them.

Mr Chris Obore, Parliament’s director in-charge of public and corporate affairs, when contacted on November 6 said everything that transpired was in the best interest of journalists.

Evacuating reporters to the conference room, he said, was done in response to some lawmakers who had threatened to cause mayhem, including hurling objects at the press gallery. 

“Intelligence picked the bad plan and moved fast to ensure no journalist was hurt including their equipment. The Speaker later asked the press to be let in after the situation posed no danger to them,” he said.