Steven Candia
3 January 2009
Kampala — THREE Daily Monitor journalists - Daniel Kalinaki, Grace Matsiko and Angelo Izama were on Friday interrogated at the Criminal Investigation Directorate headquarters for over seven hours in connection with the weekend story on Operation Lightning Thunder said to be prejudicial to national security.
Kalinaki, the Managing Editor, Matsiko and Izama, both senior reporters, flanked by the company secretary Anne Abeja Muhwezi and their lawyer Assumpta Kemigisha of Nangwala, Rezida and Company Advocates left the headqarters at 5:38pm.
Having turned up at the CID headquarters at 10:00am, the journalists spent a greater part of the day before the media offences department boss, Charles Kataratambi, fielding questions and recording statements, before finally being set free. Izama and Matsiko who were finally released on police bond, contrary to earlier information, suggesting that the two would be detained.
The article, Reclusive Kony: UPDF's tactics under spotlight, which booked them the date with the Police was published in The Sunday Monitor of December 28, 2008.
Abeja said the trio was being fingered by the Police for publishing an article prejudicial to national security, contrary to section 37 of the Penal Code Act, an allegation she quickly dismissed.
"They seem to be more interested in the two and we are waiting for the Police to tell us their fate," she said.
"We stand by our story - it was factual and written in good faith with the intention of informing the nation of what is going on in the war and it did not in any way affect national security," Kalinaki said.
Source said the Police was less keen on Kalinaki given that though he is the overall editor, he is not directly responsible for The Sunday Monitor whose editor is Henry Ochieng and the Inside Politics section under Charles Mwanguhya and it is likely that criminal summons will go out for the two. Izama and Matsiko are expected to return to the CID headquarters on Monday.
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