By Mulengera Reporters
An unusually large crowd of journalists descended on the usually quiet Makindye-based Standards Utilities & Wildlife Court. They were here to witness Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu preside over the plea-taking session for online broadcasting journalist Dean Lubowa Saava.
He had been arrested earlier on by police and other security operatives after all earlier engagements between him, his employer TV10 Gano Mazima and the regulator UCC, failed to yield.
Shortly after 2pm, a hand-cuffed Saava was led into the court room. Moments after, Her Worship Kamasanyu walked in and the session started. First to speak were the prosecutors from UCC who told court why they were here. It was a team of three lawyers. Led by Abdullah Hamza Kigge, defence lawyers were introduced too as prison warders loosened the hand cuffs and led Saava to the dock.
While there, the Magistrate took him through the charge sheet comprising of three counts, which the accused person dramatically requested to be read and explained to him in Luganda because it’s his mother tongue and the one he uses in his Tik Tok and YouTube broadcasts. Looking composed, and not that much broken, Saava responded to each of the three counts separately-denying all of them, while maintaining his innocence.
He was profiled in the charge sheet as a 42-year-old Muganda man who serves as Chief of Strategy & journalist at TV10 Gano Mazima-and a resident of Mbubi Zone in Lungujja.
The three counts in the charge sheet, as read out to him by Kamasanyu, include (a) installing and operating online TV broadcasting apparatus without the mandatory license from UCC, which is the regulator contrary to section 27(1)(3) of Uganda Communications Act; (b) engaging in the actual online TV broadcasting activities without a license contrary to section 28(1)(2) of Uganda Communications Act and (c) disobeying lawful orders of UCC, which is an offence created under Uganda Communications Content creation Regulations (specifically regulation no 46).
The first two counts or offences, to which the accused person pleaded not guilty, were allegedly committed between November 2018 and 26th September 2025. The 3rd count was stated to have come into effect from 23rd August 2025 and remained active up to 26th September 2025.
The 3rd count’s particulars, as were read out by the Magistrate to the accused person, are that TV10 Gano Mazima, which Saava heads, disregarded the regulatory Commission’s directives as contained in the their 23rd August written decision, which was arrived at in relation to complaints which Prof Badru Kateregga, businessman Alex Lutaaya and Post Bank Uganda Ltd had lodged with the Commission. They had been aggrieved by Saava’s previous broadcasts about them and sought protection from the Commission, being the regulator.
The 23rd August decision directed Saava to seek license so that his broadcasts become authorized. He was also directed to pull down or delete the videos the trio had complained about to the Commission and to also proceed to retract or apologize over his earlier reporting in a manner that is acceptable to the complainants. He allegedly disregarded all these directives by the regulator and instead carried on with his broadcasts.
The state prosecutor from UCC informed court that the investigations are complete and that they are ready to bring witnesses and make their case. “We are only asking for a hearing date,” the prosecutor told the Court.
The defence lawyers applied for bail, which the Magistrate declined making it clear that she would only be ready to hear and rule on the bail application on Monday 13th October. She proclaimed that Saava was being remanded up to that time. She also rebuked the defence lawyers for misleading their client and the general public that the grant of bail is a right.
She insisted that it’s the act of applying for bail that is a right under Article 23 of the Constitution and then the decision to allow or disallow the application rests with the Court. “If it was a right as you lawyers keep misleading your clients and the public, then you wouldn’t be applying for it. You defence lawyers should stop misleading your clients and the general public that bail is a right. That’s wrong because that’s not what the laws says,” Kamasanyu clarified as the two defence lawyers nodded in approval.
Defence lawyers informed Court about the possibility of carrying on with the negotiations, which had started earlier between Saava and UCC, but the Magistrate said that doesn’t prevent the accused person from being remanded as she had earlier on proclaimed. She wondered why matters had to escalate this far, if indeed the parties had been trying to engage in order to find common ground.
Outside court, the prosecutors explained that government through UCC doesn’t seek to persecute any journalist or prevent them from doing their work. It was clarified that the regulator wishes Saava well, except that they want him to apply to get licensed so that he can operate legally while being entitled to all protection and benefits that come with being a licensed and authorized operator.
Human rights defender Male Mabirizi was present at Court too and controversially contradicted the process before Court, calling it defective. The two defence lawyers declined speaking to the media and preferred that Mabirizi does so.
Mabirizi asserted that UCC has mandate to regulate radios and TV and not online broadcasters like Saava. He also challenged the geographical jurisdiction of the Makindye Court. He wondered why Saava wasn’t presented before a Magistrate nearest to the Lungujja crime scene (Kyobe zone) where TV10 is situated and where the alleged crimes are supposed to have been committed from.
The Magistrate made it clear that Court was looking forward to being updated and formally communicated to in case the alleged negotiations between the complainant and the accused person make any progress. It was also implied to Court that Saava allegedly committed these offences not alone but with others still at large-implying that prosecution could be looking forward to arraigning more accused persons with passage of time.
