Uganda: Disregard Fake Daily Monitor Front Page Headlined 'Youths to March to Parliament in Protest Against Corruption'

23 July 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Makinia Juma Sylvia

IN SHORT: A front page allegedly from Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper is circulating on social media amid calls to march to parliament over corruption. But it has been manipulated.

An image of what appears to be the front page of the Daily Monitor, a Ugandan newspaper, has been circulating on social media since July 2024.

It is headlined: "Youths to march to parliament in protest against corruption."

It also includes photos of Uganda's speaker of parliament Anita Among, former opposition leader Mathias Mpuuga and prime minister Robinah Nabbanja.

The page includes a poster of the Ugandan flag with the text "March to Parliament". The poster also shows 23 July 2024 as the day of the march.

Kenya's successful demonstrations, led mainly by young people, have sparked calls for other African countries to take to the streets to fight corruption.

In Uganda, corruption has prompted an online campaign using the hashtag #March2Parliament to mobilise Ugandans to march to parliament on 23 July.

The front page has been posted on X (formerly Twitter) here and here. (Note: See more instances listed at the end of this report.)

But is it authentic? We checked.

Fake front page

The first sign that something was amiss was that the headline font was different to the one normally used by the Daily Monitor, which we found unusual.

The Daily Monitor publishes its front pages on its official Facebook and X accounts. Africa Check searched the newspaper's social platforms for the front page circulating online, but could not find it.

On 2 July, the newspaper labelled the front page "FAKE".

"ALERT: This fake cover page is circulating online. Please disregard the information carried on this fake cover page since it did not or does not come from our official channels. #MonitorUpdates," the newspaper wrote on X.

Africa Check also looked through the Daily Monitor's X platform and found a different front page for 2 July. The authentic front page headline reads: "Nabbanja wants the poor to pay the price."

The front page circulating on social media is fake and should be disregarded.

It has also been posted here, here, here, here, here and here.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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