The Ugandan authorities have shut down a radio station that allegedly aired a talk show critical of the country’s military and ruling party, media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday.
The New York-based CPJ said police shut Choice FM based in the northern town of Gulu on Monday after it aired the show in which an opposition politician criticised local civilian and military authorities for alleged corruption and mistreatment of local residents in last month’s municipal elections.
State-run regulator Uganda Broadcast Council said the show aired on February 28 was ”in violation of the minimum broadcasting standards,” citing a section of the country’s media law that bars programmes ”likely to cause public insecurity or violence”.
In addition, the council accused Choice FM of operating without a licence, but news editor Sam Lawino said the station had a receipt from the council for the renewal of its broadcasting license dated March 3, CPJ said in a statement.
CPJ chief Ann Cooper condemned the increasing clamp down on media freedom and urged authorities to lift the suspension.
”The closure of Choice FM is nothing but political retaliation for airing a programme critical of the ruling party and military,” she said.
”We are alarmed that this and other curtailments of press freedom show that Uganda, a country with a vibrant local press, is moving in a repressive direction. Authorities should lift the suspension on Choice FM immediately.”
CPJ coordinator for Africa Julia Crawford said Uganda was showing a steady pattern in clamping down on journalists especially since the February 23 elections that were won by President Yoweri Museveni.
Last week, authorities denied entry to a Canadian journalist who wrote for the Economist, Washington Times and Christian Science Monitor over coverage of the East African nation’s first multi-party elections since 1980 which took place last month.
Museveni on Monday asked a court to dismiss a petition by his main rival seeking to nullify the election results which extended his 20-year hold on power. – AFP
