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Uganda police shut down Monitor

Tuesday May 21 2013

The Uganda Police have closed down the Daily Monitor and its two sister radio stations, KFM and Dembe FM, declaring the newspaper’s premises a “scene of crime”.

The newspaper’s offices, for the second time since 2002, were Monday surrounded by gun-wielding policemen with an order to search the place for, as they claimed, Gen David Sejusa’s letter.

At 11:15am, three packed police patrol vehicles arrived at the premises. Two vans were parked at the end of the Monitor Building and one just near the main entrance.

The officers jumped out of the vans and started chasing away civilians who were standing outside the Daily Monitor premises, including boda boda motorcycle operators who, on a daily basis, park at the entrance as they wait for journalists going out for assignments.

The men in uniform had a warrant to even search the production plant for Gen Sejusa’s letter.

In a press statement, police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said they learnt that there were people who have started scanning signatures of senior government officials “with the intention of using the said signatures on documents, claiming they are official documents from the government whereas they are not”.

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The police officers on the scene, led by deputy CID director Godfrey Musana, told the Monitor Publications management that the premises had been declared a “scene of crime”, and no operations could continue.

Security sources said the government is cracking the whip over media reports on the frenzy surrounding the prospects of President Museveni’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, for the presidency, dubbed by the coordinator of Intelligence Services, Gen Sejusa as the “Muhoozi Project”.

Monitor Publications managing director Alex Asiimwe described the situation as “very surprising and unfortunate”.

A statement released by the management reads: “The management of Monitor Publications Ltd strongly condemns the closure by Uganda Police today (Monday) of its newspaper, the Monitor, and its radio stations, KFM and Dembe FM ... They claimed to be looking for a document associated with a story that has been widely covered by all media quoting a letter from General David Tinyefuza to the head of the internal intelligence services on an alleged assassination plot.

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

“Instead of carrying out the search, the armed men disabled the printing press, computer servers and radio transmission equipment."

Nation Media Group chief operating officer Tom Mshindi said the action was very surprising in a country where core discussions on freedom of expression are lively.

“We could have hoped for a prior communication before this happened but we didn’t get it,” said Mr Mshindi.

Mr Mshindi was part of a team that came from Nairobi to attend an impromptu board meeting.

Addressing the staff, Mr Mshindi said: “This is a reminder of the hazards that good journalism brings. But just to assure you, we are fully in this and we will handle the situation. A situation like this requires that we engage proactively.”

Gen Sejusa has kicked up a storm after the Daily Monitor this month published a letter he wrote to the director of the Internal Security Organisation, Col Ronnie Balya, asking that he investigate claims of plots to eliminate government officials opposed to the “Muhoozi Project”.

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