By Our Reporter
A Police officer who was filmed pepper-spraying journalists as they covered the arrest of pre-medical interns who attempted to march to Parliament over delayed commencement of medical internship has been suspended from the Force, police Spokes Person Fred Enanga said Wednesday.
Ogwal Yeeko was on Tuesday filmed pepper spraying journalist, Isano Francis and Thomas Kitimbo, after police were deployed to disperse a group of pre-medical interns who had planned to march to Parliament over delayed commencement of medical internship for the year 2023/2024. They also wanted MPs to look into issues of medical interns’ welfare.
Enanga in a statement issued on Wednesday said the abuse directed at journalists and reporters for simply doing their job, can never be justified.
“The officer who acted unprofessionally has been identified as CPL Ogwal Yeeko. Although the officer issued an apology to the journalists, he has still been suspended and handed over to the Professional Standards Unit, for investigations,” said Enanga.
Enanga said the affected journalists have been asked to record their statements about the incident at Mulago Guest House Wandegeya, with PSU to allow charges to be brought against the said officer.
“We have also reached out to the journalists and expressed deep regrets over the conduct of our officers,” he added.
According to Enanga. ASP Kamulya Sowali, the OC Field Force Unit Kira Division, AIP Ogwang John Steven, the OC operations Wandegeya and PC Laker Harriet have also been summoned by the Professional Standards Unit and are undergoing investigations for their failings during their enforcement operations.
Such cases were common during the 2021 presidential campaigns where several journalists deployed to cover opposition candidates were targeted by enforcement officers in the line of duty.
The 2022 global press freedom index released by the Reporters Without Borders indicates that Uganda’s press freedom index has continued to backslide, with the country dropping to 132 out of 180.
This drop is seven steps down compared to the 2021 index where the country was ranked 125 out of 180 countries.
While press freedom in all the countries in the East African Community (EAC) improved, it is only in Uganda where the situation worsened for journalists.
Apart from Kenya and Burundi, the report describes the situation in the rest of the EAC countries as difficult for press freedom.
The report indicated that journalists in Uganda face intimidation and violence nearly on a daily basis and that they are regularly targeted by the security operatives.
The country has more than 200 radio stations and some 30 television networks, many of them belonging to members or supporters of the National Resistance Movement, the ruling party.
The report also indicates that President Museveni does not tolerate criticism and regularly indulges in hateful commentary against the press.
Although enshrined under Articles 29 and 41 of the Ugandan Constitution, repeated violation of press freedoms, profoundly by security forces, has raised questions over what appears to be a crisis of legitimacy.
By 2022, the East African nation of more than 44 million people had nosedived seven places as practitioners in Uganda’s fourth pillar of democracy continued to be threatened with a record overt and covert forms of repression from State actors.
The nation’s status of independent journalism falls far away from Reporters Without Borders’s description of free press.