By Mulengera Reporters
Moments after appearing before Makindye-based Utilities Court Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu recently, UCC’s Head Legal Affairs Dr. Abdul Salaam Waiswa interacted with reporters about the telecom infrastructure vandalism and illegal broadcasting operations cases over which he had just prosecuted two young men.
The suspects, facing between 5 and 10 years of imprisonment upon conviction, were 30-year-old Quarish Yasiin Lubowa Ssegirinya and 27-year-old Kiweewa Ronald aka Wagon Selector.
Whereas Ssegirinya is a vehicle mechanic at Kisekka Market, Kiweewa is currently a brick-maker in Kyotera town having fallen from grace to grass following the 15th October raid by UCC enforcement officers who shut down his 92.0fm Crest FM radio which he had been operating illegally without authorization of the regulator.
In his case, Ssegirinya was for the second time caught red handed vandalizing telecom masts, towers and the relevant generators belonging to American Tower Corporation (ATC), on one of the hills in Matuga. This was in May this very year. He had months earlier just completed his jail term and came out of Luzira prison, having committed a similar offence in 2022.
In his interaction with reporters, Waiswa said that the two offences are lately rampant in Uganda and this is bad for the economy, business operations and for the ordinary Ugandan whose consumer protection rights UCC is mandated to protect and enforce.
Having explained how the two offences harm ordinary citizens, Waiswa implored members of the public to amplify UCC efforts by being vigilant and fearlessly reporting such illegal activities to the regulator through the established channels. Already UCC is working with telecom companies and industry players like ATC to fight against vandalism acts through the TOKIGEZA campaign.
Waiswa explained that vandalism actions don’t just hurt ATC and telecom companies that rely on such infrastructure but even ordinary members of the public who, as consumers of telecom services, suffer network interruptions while communicating via phone calls, WhatsApp messaging and other forms of internet usage. Online banking transactions equally get disrupted once the vandalism-ignited network interferences occur.
Abdul Salaam Waiswa said all these combine to create reason why members of the public are such stakeholders who can’t leave the fight against vandalism to the regulator alone.
As for the illegal broadcasting operations, such operators can disseminate fake news, disinformation and hate speech yet victims can’t readily get redress the moment the regulator isn’t aware of their existence and may not even know their exactly location or even who the duty bearers and decision-makers are, behind such unregulated broadcasting houses.
Being a repeat offender, Ssegirinya faces a maximum of 10 years in prison upon conviction over his vandalism offences and Kiweewa faces a maximum jail term of five years for ignoring the regulator’s warning to continue conducting illegal broadcasting operations in Kyotera. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
