Two media houses in Uganda remained shut and their operations paralysed for the fifth day after police defied a court order and continued to cordon off their premises.

On Monday May 20, the police and other security agencies raided Monitor Publications Ltd, paralysing operations at the Daily Monitor newspaper and two radio stations affiliated to it, as well the offices of the Red Pepper newspaper, ostensibly to enforce a court order to search their premises for a letter written by an army general that had stirred controversy over the past several weeks.

READ: Uganda police shut down Monitor

The letter, by Gen David Sejusa (popularly known as Tinyefuza), who co-ordinates the country’s intelligence services, was addressed to the Director of Internal Security Organisation Ronnie Balya, asking him to investigate rumours of a plan to assassinate those opposed to what has come to be known as the Muhoozi Project, an alleged scheme by President Yoweri Museveni to have his son, Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba, succeed him. The president and the government have denied the existence of such a project.

READ: Army man’s assassination claims put Museveni on the spot

In a statement explaining the raid, police said they cordoned off the premises of the two media houses in pursuant of the search warrant, and that they would continue to occupy and search the two premises until they recovered the documents.

On Wednesday, Monitor Publications Ltd obtained a fresh court order, cancelling the earlier one, but the police would not vacate.

In issuing the order, Senior Principal Magistrate Rosemary Bareebe said “the search warrant issued to D/ASP Mbonimpa Emmanuel on 20th May 2013 in Misc.

Application No. 2005 of 2013 is hereby vacated in the exercise of the powers given to the Court under Section 11 (2) of the MCA, having been satisfied that in the process of execution of the said warrant the mandate given by the warrant was over stepped,” adding that the head of the police team at MPL “return the said search warrant to this Honourable Court this 22nd day of May 2013.”

Monitor Publications says it is losing in excess of Ush120 million (about $46,379) each day the company is closed: “This is to say nothing of the state of uncertainty that more than 500 employees of the company, their dependants and over 3,000 other stakeholders in the value chain have to endure. The impact is huge. We are optimistic that reason will prevail and the police will vacate the premises soon,” Managing Director Alex Asiimwe told The EastAfrican.

Senior managers from the Nation Media Group, the parent company of Monitor Publications, spent the week shuttling between government offices in a bid to resolve the stalemate, even as the firm’s lawyers went to court to have the search warrant revoked.

By Friday, Pepper Publications Director Arinaitwe Rugyendo said the company had lost over Ush530 million (about $204,842) circulation and advertising revenue across its affiliate publications, while its newsprint containers remain stuck and the border.

The shutdown of the two media houses has been roundly condemned by defenders of media rights, human rights organisations and diplomats.

“The government needs to tolerate debate of divergent and critical opinions and leave the concerns of professionalism to the listeners,” says Maria Burnett, Human Rights Watch senior researcher for Africa.

Diplomatic missions, led by the European Union also took issue with the action: “The EU Delegation is deeply concerned about respect for freedom of expression and freedom of the press. A free, independent and vibrant press is essential to a democratic society.

These fundamental rights are provided for under the constitution of Uganda and must be upheld under close scrutiny of the court,” said EU Head of Delegation Dr Roberto Ridolfi, a position also shared by the Head of the Norwegian embassy.

Human rights defenders argue that there will be no freedom of expression and association in Uganda if the government does not genuinely respect all its laws and legal processes, but rather selectively applies the law when it is in favour of the powers that be.

“The state should be warned that these are strong signs of the reversal of our democratic process,” said Livingstone Sewanyana, Executive Director of the Foundation of Human Rights Initiative.

East Africa regional co-ordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists Tom Rhodes said it was difficult for human rights defenders alone to force countries like Uganda to respect citizens’ rights when their leaders can still hobnob with their counterparts in the international community.

Both MPL and Red Pepper are key investors and employers. Apart from the obvious effects on freedom of expression in Uganda, the closure will have economic consequences as well as dent the country’s image in the eyes of investors.

Past closures of media houses have dealt a heavy blow to investors: The Buganda Kingdom-affiliated Central Broadcasting Services (CBS) was closed for a year between 2009 and 2010, with the broadcasters losing billions of shillings in revenue.

CBS was one of four local radio stations that suffered a similar fate, although the others settled for a compromise deal to reopen as they could not countenance a lengthy closure.

By Dicta Asiimwe and Julius Barigaba