By Aggrey Baba
A young journalist, Andrew Mwenda was once offered UGX8 million to suppress an investigative story that threatened to expose a big mineral water company, but he declined the money and returned to the newsroom to complete the assignment.
The revelation was made by veteran journalist and Daily Monitor founding editor Philip Wafula Oguttu, who said the incident remains one of the clearest examples of the ethical standards that defined Ugandan journalism in its earlier years.
Speaking during a recent exclusive interview with Mulengera Media at his Ntinda home, Oguttu said that Mwenda was still a junior reporter at the Monitor when the newspaper began investigating reports that a mineral water company was bottling water said to be drawn from a swamp in Luzira while marketing it as natural mineral water from the hills.
By the time Monitor decided to seek the company’s response, Oguttu said he had already assembled substantial evidence.
“We had done most of the investigation. What remained was to hear the company’s side before publication,” he said.
He entrusted the assignment to Mwenda, then one of the youngest reporters in the newsroom, but instead of responding to the allegations, the company’s managing director (MD), Wafula Oguttu said, attempted to buy off the reporter. He said Mwenda was offered UGX 8 million (which was too much in the late 1990s) on condition that he abandoned the investigation and ensured the story never saw the light of day, but the young reporter refused.
“He told the man, ‘Even if I accepted your money, Mr Wafula already has about 60% of the facts concerning this matter,'” Oguttu added.
However, according to Hon. Wafula Oguttu, the rejection did not discourage the businessman. Realizing that Mwenda could not be persuaded, he asked Mwenda for Wafula’s phone number and called him directly.
“I received a call from him. He told me, ‘Sir, I know you need more computers. I can offer as many as you want [free of charge],'” Oguttu said, adding that the businessman also dealt in computers and related equipment.
H also said that he sweetened the offer by promising the newspaper lucrative advertising business if it shelved the investigation.
“He also said he would give us advertisements worth a lot of money if we dropped the story,” Oguttu said, before adding that the proposal, however, was rejected.
“I thanked him for the offer, but I told him not publishing the story was simply out of the question.”
The investigation was eventually published despite the attempted inducements, and Oguttu said it initially dealt a significant blow to the company’s business, forcing it to confront serious public scrutiny which forced the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) to also pick interest in the matter, later declaring that the water the company was selling was not safe for human consumption.
However, he noted that the company later reformed its operations, regained public confidence and has since grown into one of Uganda’s leading mineral water producers.
“Today it is among the biggest companies in that business, and the water it sells is safe for people to drink,” he said.
The veteran journalist and opposition politician said the episode demonstrated the kind of newsroom culture that existed at the time, where decisions were insulated from the influence of money and journalists were expected to put the public interest ahead of personal benefit.
He said although young reporters earned modest salaries, many remained committed to protecting the credibility of journalism. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
