By Mulengera Reporters
Quoting UCC’s Director Corporate Affairs Fred Otunnu, the Daily Monitor newspaper of Wednesday reported that out of the 282 radio stations currently operating in Uganda, only 50 would remain on air if the Uganda Communications Commission was to strictly enforce the regulatory laws and requirements.
The Director is quoted as saying that more than 200 radio stations wouldn’t be on air if the law was to be strictly enforced and the stated reason is that “majority [of them] failed to meet the requirements for renewal of their broadcast licenses.”
This information is becoming public at the time when the regulatory Commission has amplified efforts to create awareness against illegal broadcasting in Uganda, which has seen unauthorized operators repeatedly breach minimum broadcasting standards by way of airing out harmful content that is synonymous with defamatory utterances, hate speech, misinformation and disinformation.
Uganda currently has 282 radio stations, which according to Uganda Human Rights Commission are regionally spread out and distributed as follows: 72 in Northern Uganda, 95 in Western Uganda, 85 in Buganda and 52 in Eastern Uganda.
Radio remains a key avenue through which majority Ugandans (73% according to IPSOS) access regular information. In contrast, only 28% rely on television to access information.
Godfrey Kabyanga, a state minister at the Information & National Guidance Ministry, which supervises Fred Otunnu’s UCC, says that whereas the number of radios in Uganda today stands at 282, mere 70 radio stations would be adequate to appropriately cover and serve the whole country. The Ministry regrets the fact that majority of 282 radio stations in Uganda are owned by politicians, Ministers and MPs who own and operate them not purely as businesses but as tools to maintain and strengthen their political control on the population in their respective constituencies and regions.
As part of the ongoing clapping down on illegal radio and online broadcasting, UCC recently shut down at least 19 radio stations for operating illegally by virtue of being on air without valid broadcasting license. The latest to be closed for lack of broadcasting license was Point Fm in Mubende district.
Several online operators have equally been clamped upon and individual proprietors prosecuted in the Ugandan courts in order to deter others who might have harbored intentions to engage in unauthorized broadcasting. Many such perpetrators have been convicted and are already serving their jail sentences. The Commission’s intervention in most cases has been preceded by frequent complaints from aggrieved members of the public who end up becoming victims of harmful broadcasting.
The Wednesday Monitor reporting indicates that recently a total of 181 radio stations applied for license renewal yet only 50 met the requirements and had their respective broadcasting licenses renewed. Some of the requirements are monetary; as for one to be licensed under the national broadcasting category for commercial operations one has to part with Shs7m annually. This is called tier 1.
There is also tier 2 which is applicable for radios licensed to operate within the Kampala region and this requires paying Shs5.6m annually. Teir 3 is in reference to radios based in Uganda’s regional cities and this requires payment of Shs4.2m annually.
Tier 4 is applicable to radios seeking to broadcast in other parts of the country outside what has already been described above and to obtain license renewal, one has to annually pay Shs3.5m.
Next Media CEO Dr. Kin Karisa, who is also a leader in the National Association of Broadcasters NAB under which radios and TV stations owners come together, says there is need to tame radio stations owned by Ministers and MPs who he says are fond of breaching minimum broadcasting standards, with impunity. Kabyanga admits that many such radio stations owners engage in violations such as using radios to abuse and demean their political opponents especially upcountry where they assume the regulator doesn’t have much presence in comparison to cities like Kampala.
According to Information & National Guidance Minister Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, many of the 282 radios currently operating in Uganda aren’t viable businesses and there is need for a comprehensive rationalization intervention whereby by government policy, those that are financially unstable and are struggling to break-even can be acquired to become part of bigger ones (and have mergers) whose financial viability has already been ascertained.
This is an option Cabinet recently discussed and assigned Baryomunsi to urgently come up with a paper guiding on the best interventions that can be undertaken to save the broadcasting sector before it becomes too late. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
