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By Mulengera Reporters
Recently, Kampala online journalist Chris Kato published a story on an online news platform, Uganda Today, whose contents the powerful Minister for Presidency Milly Babirye Babalanda found offensive and unacceptable provocation. She construed the same to be an attack on her person and hard-earned reputation.
The story was about a land dispute regarding prime properties in Kololo and other parts of Kampala-and they are being disputed over by the DFCU bank on one hand, and businessman/property owner Dr. Dennis Daniel Ssemugeni on the other. Kato’s story falsely implicated Babalanda for allegedly taking sides to aid one of the disputants.
The Presidency Minister took strong exception to the story and called the dragging in of her name as unacceptable misrepresentation and defamation for which she is determined to make the so-called Chris Kato pay a heavy price so that the same can serve as a deterrent to others who might be harbouring similar intentions.
Speaking on Tuesday at the UCC-organized regional broadcasters stakeholders engagement session for Kampala at Imperial Royale Hotel, in her capacity as the Presidency Minister who directly supervises all RDCs and RCCs plus their deputies, Babalanda commended the regulator UCC for using such platforms to remind media owners and broadcasters of the need to avoid hate speech, fake news and disinformation plus defamation of others, while purporting to be exercising their freedom of speech and expression rights as enshrined under Article 29 of the Constitution.
“I’m in a special way keen about this subject because I personally have been a victim. A one Chris Kato [recently] fabricated a story against me and I’m suing him in Courts of law because no one should be allowed to disrepute my name like that and get away with it under the guise of exercising freedom of speech. I’m going to pursue him all the way using the remedy that I’m entitled to through the courts of law,” said Babalanda who is renowned for not tolerating defamatory reporting on her person by such reckless media actors whose alleged disinformation and defamatory publications she said are many times sponsored content.
“What he wrote about me was totally false and fabricated. It shows failure to practice professional and ethical journalism, which makes stakeholder engagements like this one timely and very much necessary.”
She said there was need for media owners, similar to those who dominated the audience at the Thursday stakeholder engagement session, to ensure that the journalists and editors they employ “are neutral and report factual and accurate news to which their audiences are entitled as a matter of right as opposed to being biased, one sided and only prepared to publish sponsored content” targeting other people’s names for destruction.
She also spoke about the 5Ws and H which editors must ensure are adhered to in every story they sanction for publication. Babalanda (whose RDCs are supposed to coordinate and determine which government official in the districts and cities upcountry gets selected to represent government to utilize the one hour that is weekly allocated at every radio station to be used to communicate government business and service delivery agenda) also responded to what Next Media CEO Dr. Kin Kariisa and NAB Chairman Dr. Innocent Nahabwe had said (that government officials refuse to attend talk shows) by stating that many shy away because moderators are lately very extortional.
She explained that even when such talk shows are free airtime which every radio station or broadcaster is required to avail to government on a weekly basis as part of the licensing conditions, moderators deployed by management to conduct or moderate such radio programs end up demanding for money yet there is no need for government to pay for such. “As broadcasters and owners of these media platforms, you have a duty to ensure this stops otherwise there is no other reason why government officials would shy away because that is part of duty on their part.”
Babalanda, who gets regular updates from a network of RDCs scattered across the country about the media landscape and media operations in all districts and cities of Uganda, wondered why some rogue-minded moderators resort to allocating or using that government-dedicated time (1 hour of prime time per week) to host officials from NGOs, some of whom specialize on contradicting the government’s agenda.
While inviting her to make her remarks, UCC Executive Director Nyombi Thembo explained that as organizers they were honoured to have Babalanda in attendance because the RDCs she supervises are going to be key in enforcing minimum broadcasting standards from today onwards as the country counts down to 2026 elections. The regulator added that before any broadcaster gets their license renewal application accepted and cleared by UCC, a positive recommendation (a certificate of good conduct or compliance of some sort) from the RDC will be mandatory.
“If the RDC and the entire district security committee, which is created and provided for under the law, objects the license of such broadcaster won’t be renewed. That is why we greatly value the relationship between us and the Office of the President. We are glad and very grateful that Hon Minister [Babalanda] you have honoured our invitation to be here with us,” Nyombi Thembo said as he signalled Babalanda on the microphone to use. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
