By Mulengera Reporters
The Kyotera town-based 27-year-old man, Kiweewa Ronald aka Wagon Selector, for years ignored warnings by UCC (the regulator) calling on him to cease illegal broadcasting operations. He continued to defiantly operate a radio station (92.0 Crest FM) which was based in Kyotera Town Council, without broadcasting license or authorization from the Bugolobi-based Commission.
He was warned through newspaper notices but he continued with his radio business even when it had been indicated to him it was all illegal. His luck ran out October last year when the regulator (UCC)’s patience ran out and enforcement teams were sent to Kyotera to enforce the law under the provisions of sections 27(1)(3) and 28(1)(2) of the UCC Act.
The enforcement officers immediately switched off the radio and forcefully halted all broadcasting operations. They confiscated all the equipment (including a transmitter, mixers, CPUs, microphones, headsets and microphone stands) as exhibits from Kiweewa’s premises.
On the fateful day, Ronald Kiweewa was with his receptionist Sharifah Nakafeero at his radio premises in Kyotera town. He signed off the seizure note acknowledging what had been confiscated by UCC enforcement officers.
Instead of owning up to his offences and humbling himself while seeking to be pardoned, Mr. Kiweewa used social media (TikTok and X accounts) which he used to character-assassinate, incite violence and tell lies against UCC and other GoU officials he considered to be hostile to him. He falsely accused UCC officials of trying to extort money from him to buy their silence.
He even threatened violence and harm against the enforcement officers and UCC officials who supervise such operations. He believes his social media rants would intimidate UCC to back off and allow continuation of his illegal radio broadcasting operations back on air.
Instead, he was arrested, locked up at Jinja Road Police station in Kampala from where he was later on released on Police bond but thereafter went into hiding. This prompted UCC to leverage GPS technology and human intelligence capabilities to harvest and arraign him before Court.
He was eventually paraded before the Makindye-based Standards, Wildlife & Utilities Court Chief Magistrate Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu. He owned up to everything contained in the charge sheet (including installing radio broadcasting equipment and going ahead to operate it for broadcasting purposes in Kyotera from where he spent years broadcasting to the public without the mandatory authorization from UCC).
Saying he was doing all this because he was poverty-stricken and in need of money to fed his young children and jobless wife, Kiweewa cried infront of Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu who he requested to ask the UCC prosecutors forgive him. He told court that he will never involve himself into broadcasting stuff and that he had since taken to brick-making to be able to make ends meet.
Dr. Abdul Salaam Waiswa who heads Legal Affairs & Advisory at UCC says they will be pushing for the maximum sentence which goes up to 5 years of imprisonment against Kiweewa. Waiswa says there is need for such heavy sentencing in order to serve the deterrent purpose because this practice of people disregarding the law to set and operate illegal broadcasting stations is detrimental to the Ugandan society and is widespread across Uganda. Securing the harshest sentencing against Kiweewa has the potential to scare other would-be offenders, Waiswa says.
Upon conviction, Ronald Kiweewa (a young man Waiswa says should ordinarily be engaging in productive work at 27) risks either being locked up at Luzira prison for a maximum of five years or paying a fine of Shs2.4m, if not both. Illegally installing radio equipment for broadcasting purposes is a separate charge or offence which attracts a sentence of 1 year in prison on top of a fine of Shs0.9m!
Kiweewa’s remorsefulness, which he demonstrated by denouncing his criminal enterprise and publicly apologizing to UCC using social media, hasn’t caused the UCC prosecutors to treat him any more leniently because they have clear provisions of the law to enforce. They are obliged to do exactly that, on behalf of the Ugandan state.
The Makindye Chief Magistrate Her Worship Kamasanyu recently remanded Ronald Kiweewa to Luzira prison from where he will return to Court on the Monday of 23rd June. On that day, the UCC prosecutors will bring and exhibit to court the broadcasting equipment that was seized during the 15th October raid onto Kiweewa’s business premises in Kyotera.
Waiswa says the UCC prosecutors will be insisting on custodial sentencing so that Kiweewa serves some prison period in Luzira. Abdul Salaam Waiswa says that as UCC, they don’t derive pleasure from seeing young men like Kiweewa languish in Luzira or any other prison but the law has to strictly be enforced to achieve deterrence objectives because offences relating to illegal broadcasting activities have lately become very rampant across the country.
He called on Ugandans to be keen and positively respond to their duty to report illegal broadcasting activities in their respective areas because the same is injurious to both the government and the general public.
Waiswa also called on the public to be on the lookout for conmen who move around the different parts of the country claiming to be brokers or agents who can help someone secure UCC’s broadcasting license.
He said many unsuspecting members of the public had been duped and conned of their hard-earned money by such fraudsters. The Uganda Communications Commission, as part of its public awareness creation efforts, has since advised those intending to go into broadcasting of whatever form to use the official channels of communicating with the Commission because these are well known.
This surely is the way to go because when one directly contacts the Commission to inquire about the relevant procedures, they are able to obtain the appropriate advice and guidance which UCC customer service officers are always more than prepared to render to any citizen, free of charge-regarding how one can engage in lawful broadcasting. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
