By Mulengera Reporters
On Tuesday, Makindye-based Standards, Utilities & Wildlife Court Chief Magistrate Her Worship Gladys formally convicted Ronald Kiweewa alias Selector Wagon, the 27-year-old Ugandan diploma journalist, after he pleaded guilty to charges related to establishing and operating a radio station without the requisite licensing and authorization by Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).
Where the Uganda Communications Act and other relevant laws require UCC authorisation, for more than a year Kiweewa operated 92.0 Crest fm in Kyotera Town Council for more than a year until last October when UCC enforcement officers raided his premises and forcefully switched it and confiscated the equipment he was using to effect his illegal broadcasting.
Initially, Kiweewa reacted with hostility and engaged in hate speech against individual UCC enforcement officers using his X and Tik Tok accounts. In the end, on realizing things weren’t going to as easy as he thought, Kiweewa climbed down his high horse, owned up to his wrongdoing and even apologized to UCC besides taking down all his belligerent posts. This was after Police had been engaged and had him locked up at Jinja Road Police Station where most of the UCC Act-related offences and investigated and processed from in close collaboration with UCC-based prosecutors.
Upon being arraigned before Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu at the Makindye Court, Kiweewa quickly owned up to everything because in any case, he didn’t have many options given the overwhelming evidence prosecutors from UCC had assembled. So, on Tuesday the Magistrate convicted him on his own plea and proceeded to have both parties submit on mitigation factors ahead of his sentencing scheduled for Tuesday next week.
The UCC prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence on grounds this offence of establishing and operating illegal broadcasting was lately rampant in Uganda and operations of such people expose innocent members of society to huge risk of being potentially targeted for hate speech and disinformation. The UCC prosecutors relied on Sections 27 & 28 of the Uganda Communications Act to justify their demand for maximum sentencing.
It was submitted for prosecution that illegal radio broadcasting operations perpetrators deserve maximum sentencing because of the resultant disruptions to security, broadcasting and aviation signals. That they undermine operations of licensed radio operators who conduct lawful business. That such unlicensed broadcasters air unregulated content which amplify hate speech, which the prosecutors submitted to be a growing problem for Uganda.
That besides breaching minimum broadcasting standards, such illegal radio operators result into loss of licensing revenue to government which all broadcasting licensees are obliged to and actually pay. It was submitted that giving Kiweewa the maximum sentence will serve the deterrent purpose by signalling and scaring off other would-be future offenders.
On his part, Kiweewa made reference to Proverbs 10:9 about God being the source of wisdom and made it clear he regrets he relied on false wisdom to go into broadcasting activities which he didn’t know where illegal in the first place. Saying he didn’t know this was an offence and this being his first time to commit such an offence, Kiweewa prayed for lighter sentencing promising never to do it again.
Saying he had resorted to brick-laying and water fetching business back home in Kyotera to be able to provide for his children, Kiweewa requested to be sentenced to payment of a fine which he vowed to accomplish by selling off his bicycle, jerrycans and hoes to be able to settle his obligation.
“Your Worship, my children [aged 5 years and 6 months] are starving and not going to school anymore. And i had gone into this radio business in order to provide for them. I didn’t have any bad intentions. The landlord is soon evicting them. Your Worship, I promise I will never do this again. I regret having done it in the first place and I promise to make sure I concentrate on my water fetching business and if I’m to ever be employed in journalism work, even if it’s UBC, which is a government channel giving me the job, I will make sure I first establish if they have a valid license from UCC. This is the bitter lesson I have learnt,” Ronald Kiweewa submitted in Luganda while struggling to hold back tears.
Signalling she had heard submissions of both prosecution and defence, Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu promised to deliver her sentence on Tuesday 29th in the morning for the now convicted Kiweewa to know his sentence. Will it be a jail term or payment of fine? That will be known that day. His mum and siblings were in Court and, especially the mum, the Makindye Court premises buried in tears while cursing the unnamed friend they kept saying misled their Kiweewa into illegal operations which ended him into his current predicament. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
