By; Francis Lubega

04th November 2016

Police has finally agreed to sit with the media to resolve the misunderstanding that arouse after repeated manhandling and brutal attack on some journalists while in the field by the police officers.

Several Journalists under the two umbrella bodies Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) led by the UJA president Bashir Kazibwe and the Uganda Parliamentary Press Association UPPA led by the President Moses Mulondo matched to Nagulu police headquarters to present their petition against the brutal attacks but most of them were arrested and briefly detained at the Central Police Station Kampala and were later transported to Nagulu.

They engaged in a closed meeting headed by AIGPs; Hassan Kasingye, Asuman Mugenyi and Abas Byakagaba as well as the Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga while the Journalist were led by UJA president Mr Bashir Kazibwe, Uganda Parliamentary Press Association UPPA President Moses Mulondo and Francis Lubega from Radio Sapientia who is UPPA leader of Opposition and the coordinator of Human rights journalists network Robert Ssembala.

Journalists presented 8 points police must address that include; arrest, Parading and prosecuting officers who abused the rights of journalists, constituting an audit committee to investigate all tortures against journalists, Compensate victims, issue directives to all police officers to stop confronting journalists while on their line of duties, educate police officers on the rights of press freedom and human rights among others.

They also advised the police leadership to resign if the above demands aren’t fulfilled however they have maintained a ban on all police activities as Journalists.

Last week, several journalists who were covering protests at Makerere University were brutalised by police officers among them Alex Esagala, a photojournalist with Daily Monitor and Geoffrey Twesigye, a photographer with NTV Uganda.

Lawrence Kitata of Vision Group, was arrested on and detained at Makerere University Police Post.

The police team have promised to meeting their top leaders and respond to the press within three days from now.


Monday 4th November 2019 07:26:56 PM