KAMPALA – In a brazen assault on the fourth estate, Uganda’s military has shuttered two of the country’s most influential media houses, triggering an immediate and scathing response from British diplomats who branded the move a “dangerous escalation of press suppression.”
On Friday morning, armed soldiers in unmarked vehicles surrounded the headquarters of Daily Monitor and the Bukedde newspaper, both part of the Nation Media Group. Staff were ordered to leave, and the buildings were sealed. Sources inside the offices confirm that servers and broadcast equipment were seized. No charges have been filed, and the government has offered no legal justification.
The closures follow weeks of tension between the state and independent media. The Daily Monitor had been investigating a series of corruption scandals linking senior military officials to a $2 billion infrastructure contract. According to leaked documents obtained by this correspondent, the contract was awarded to a shell company with ties to a brigadier general. The Monitor’s editor had reportedly received multiple threats in recent days.
In London, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office issued an unusually forceful statement. “We condemn in the strongest terms the closure of Daily Monitor and Bukedde,” a spokesperson said. “A free press is the cornerstone of any democracy. The Ugandan government must immediately reverse this decision and guarantee the safety of journalists.” The statement came hours after a meeting between the British High Commissioner and Uganda’s Minister of Defence, which sources describe as “heated” and “unproductive.”
The action is the latest in a pattern of escalating attacks on the media under President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power since 1986. In 2020, the government revoked the licences of several radio stations. In 2021, the police seized copies of the Daily Monitor. And in 2022, a journalist from the same paper was arrested and held for three days without charge.
“This is a calculated move to silence any scrutiny of the military’s finances,” said a Kampala-based analyst who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. “The Monitor was closing in on a story that would have brought down some very senior figures. The army didn’t wait for a court order. They just acted.”
Local journalists have called for solidarity strikes, and a coalition of civil society groups is planning a protest march for Monday. But the risks are high. In 2019, prominent investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja was beaten by security forces while covering a protest. He now lives in exile.
British diplomats have urged their citizens in Uganda to “remain vigilant” and avoid large gatherings. Meanwhile, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression has called for an immediate investigation.
As the sun set over Kampala, the shuttered newsrooms stood as monuments to a regime that fears nothing more than the truth. The question now is whether that truth will ever see the light of day.
Sources: Interviews with Nation Media Group staff (anonymised); leaked military procurement documents; statement from UK Foreign Office; prior reporting from the International Press Institute.
