Uganda’s private Monitor Group media company complained on Saturday that its website and radio station are being jammed to prevent the independent release of partial results from this week’s elections.
The firm said it was warned by Ugandan authorities to stop compiling and issuing returns from the country’s first multiparty polls since 1980 on its own, but did not directly accuse the government of blocking the signals.
”We are very unhappy about the fact that someone who doesn’t want us to publish independent results … is disabling the website of our newspaper and jamming the signal of our radio station,” MD Conrad Nkutu said.
Nkutu told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists that the jamming is preventing the Monitor newspaper online and sister KFM radio from reporting preliminary returns from Thursday’s polls.
The two outlets began releasing results on Friday before the Electoral Commission issued the first official counts.
Their initial reports had President Yoweri Museveni and his main rival, opposition leader Kizza Besigye, in a tight race, but later showed the incumbent taking a comfortable lead over the challenger.
Official results give Museveni a near-insurmountable lead with counts complete from almost 60% of the polling stations.
Final returns were due later on Saturday, but the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was disturbed at the interruptions that were denying Ugandans access to independent reporting on the elections.
”We are deeply troubled that the Monitor‘s website and KFM are inaccessible during this important time,” it said. ”Ugandan authorities must ensure that independent media are able to report on the election results without interference, censorship or reprisals.”
Information Minister James Buturo said the government is not involved in any interference and accused the Monitor of trying ”to discredit the electoral process” because it has supported the opposition. — Sapa-AFP