By Mulengera Reporters
With Ugandans already counting down to the election day 2026, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Executive Director Nyombi Thembo says there is a lot the regulator has to keep reminding media owners and broadcasters so that the regulatory red lines don’t get crossed.
Nyombi Thembo says that there are growing concerns from stakeholders that most media houses and individual broadcasters are increasingly falling short of minimum broadcasting standards, broadly requiring them to be fair, balanced, contextual, objective and accurate while going about their broadcasting and reporting duties.
He adds that as the regulator, UCC can’t afford to merely overlook these concerns from stakeholders because “elections results-reporting doesn’t deal with estimates but with accurate figures” and any irresponsible reporting can result into the country blowing up.
Speaking during the UCC Broadcasting Stakeholders Engagement meeting on Friday at Imperial Royale, where media owners and broadcasters operating in the Kampala region gathered, Nyombi Thembo elaborated that media practitioners and individual broadcasters operating on radios, TV and online wield so much influence and reach too many people (whose views, perceptions and choices they influence) to the extent that UCC can’t afford not adequately regulating their work.
However, Nyombi Thembo (who was explaining the purpose of such stakeholder engagement meetings that had already been held with broadcasters in other parts of Uganda) was disappointed that a significant number of media owners didn’t show up at Imperial Royale yet their Kampala is the broadcasting region with the highest complaints and regulatory problems.
“Gentlemen and ladies, this is a very important meeting because of the growing concerns especially from stakeholders who keep insisting that Kampala region is the most problematic area when it comes to media broadcasting. I’m appalled to look through the audience and realizing that most owners are not here. I don’t see the responsible officers. They have taken this meeting casually and ended up delegating people like accountants, administrative and security officers, who are not decision-makers,” Nyombi Thembo protested infront of his line minister Chris Baryomunsi, Presidency Minister Milly Babalanda and his ICT Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr. Amina Zawedde.
In presence of broadcasters’ association (NAB) leaders like Kin Karisa and Dr. Innocent Nahabwe plus RUBA’s Julius Tumusiime, a visibly displeased Nyombi Thembo said such media owners miss out a lot on very important information by failing to turn up at such meetings.
He said he was going to escalate from sending out mere invitations to what he called “regulatory summons” in order to compel such indifferent media owners to change their attitude and begin to treat such meetings with the seriousness they deserve.
He proposed, as Nahabwe and Karisa agreed, that he was going to convene another subsequent must-attend meeting as early as next week so that all broadcast media houses’ owners and key decision makers are personally present.
“Media owners’ failure to attend such meetings can actually attract regulatory sanctions and this is something the Commission is going to be considering if we don’t begin to take these meetings seriously,” Nyombi Thembo asserted as NAB leaders and his Minister Chris Baryomunsi nodded in approval.
Chief publicist Julius Mucunguzi, who represented the EC at the Imperial Royale meeting, agreed with Nyombi Thembo that such meetings on the eve of a major election ought to always be ‘must-attends.’ Mucunguzi said the EC takes such meetings very seriously because they are a platform for the Electoral Commission to directly pass on information that is important especially on the subject of the expected media conduct during the campaigning, the election period and after.
He made it clear that media owners and their employees have a duty to broadcast content that complements EC’s efforts to deliver a free, fair and above all peaceful election come 2026. He said delivering a peaceful election is good for everybody including those pursuing business interests through investing in media because no business can thrive once disruptive riots and protests result from elections-related anxiety.
In a related development, Mucunguzi re-iterated UCC’s earlier much-publicized directive requiring all media broadcasters to refrain from establishing their own tally centers and going on to declare and proclaim their own results-indicating who has won at which polling station, in which constituency, Municipality, City, district or region.
“As EC, we take the opportunity of this meeting to re-iterate what our UCC partners have already been telling you that no media house nor broadcaster has the authority to declare results. This is so because announcing results and declaring winners is the exclusive mandate of the Electoral Commission or its designated officers; otherwise, we can end up with a situation where you sit for an exam and you award yourself marks. We can’t accept that because it will cause anarchy and disrupt the peace and stability of our country,” said Mucunguzi who in a separate submission clashed with some media managers and owners who were accusing EC of refusing or failing to sufficiently spend on voter education this time around, through placing media adverts. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
