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Uganda: Museveni Attacks 'Stupid' FM Radios
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The Monitor (Kampala)
24 July 2008
Posted to the web 24 July 2008
Solomon Muyita
Jinja
President Yoweri Museveni yesterday vowed to stop offensive programmes on local radio stations, which he said were full of lies about him and his government.
The President's comments come five days after three Buganda Kingdom officials, who are vocal critics of a proposed amendment to the land laws by the government, were arrested and detained on several allegations, including terrorism and inciting sectarianism.
"These radios are very stupid," President Museveni said, while officially opening the 16th annual Source of the Nile National Agricultural and Trade Show in Jinja.
"People are talking a lot of rubbish on these radios. They are very poisonous and this is unacceptable. Do they think we fought in the bush to come here and play? We, the liberators of this country are still around. Where do they think our strength went? They are telling lies and lies are unacceptable. They will be stopped. They will stop!"
Buganda's Minister of Information and Cabinet Affairs Charles Peter Mayiga, his deputy Medard Lubega and Ms Betty Nambooze, who heads the kingdom committee set up to publicly campaign against the proposed amendments to the Land Act, were arrested on Friday and were still in detention by press time yesterday.
The three have been regular critics of the President and the proposed land reforms, including during talk shows (ebimeeza) on Buganda Kingdom's CBS radio station.
President Museveni said yesterday his government, which liberalised the broadcast media in 1993, expected private radio stations to explain development issues but they were broadcasting inaccurate information.
"These radios should be telling you that we have seeds, markets for our produce and educate you on projects like [the African Growth and Opportunities Act] but instead they are telling a lot of lies," the President said. "They are now part of the problem."
In a letter to Kabaka Ronald Mutebi last December, President Museveni accused officials in Mengo, the seat of Buganda kingdom, of "telling incredible lies" about the proposed land amendments at public rallies and through CBS radio. The President also accused CBS radio of "propagating sectarianism" and asked the Kabaka to restrain the station.
"I prefer to request Your Highness to be the one to stop the hate campaign and incitement carried out by these groups on the radio and the public rallies," President Museveni wrote. "I would prefer not to have to act independently."
President Museveni yesterday said that people had continued to abuse him through radio talk shows. He said: "How do you describe a man who went to the bush with 27 guns and was able to defeat an army of 60,000 soldiers stupid? Those who think I'm stupid should watch out...Uganda is no place to place to play with. If you are clever, you cannot think that."
He said the current tension over the land debate and the recent arrests would not cause political instability in the country. "We have the peace," President Museveni said. "Let no one lose sleep that Uganda can go back to turmoil. You know my history very well...what I say is final. Whoever wants to do something should do it legally."
In 2004 the Broadcasting Council shut down Daily Monitor's sister radio station, KFM, over what the government said were unfairly critical comments broadcast, while two other radio stations, have been shut down for similar reasons in recent years. Daily Monitor was also shut for a week in October 2002 over what the government said was a false story about the war in northern Uganda.
President Museveni told participants and show goers that the government would support efforts to add value to their products, through the Shs80 million allocated to every sub-county under the National Agricultural Advisory Services programme.
Mr Museveni also discouraged the habit of people sub-dividing family land soon after the head dies, saying it is better for families to pool resources and invest in a family company.
The Chairman of the National Farmers Federation, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, asked the President to help farmers by improving feeder roads across the country.
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He also asked the government to raise the infrastructure of the Jinja Show Ground, among others. The exhibition, under the theme "Targeting Increasing Agricultural Production as the Engine for Economic Growth, opened on Tuesday and closes on Sunday.
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