NMG BAN: Legality or ego?

Legal experts have described the recent actions as a dangerous slide toward selective censorship, as both the Presidency and Parliament—institutions constitutionally responsible for public accountability—come under scrutiny for prohibiting journalists from Nation Media Group from covering their proceedings. While Farouk Kirunda, the Deputy Press Secretary to the President, claims that the ban results from alleged “misreporting,” constitutional scholars contend that such a ban has no legal basis under Articles 29 and 41 of Uganda’s Constitution, which safeguard freedom of expression and access to public information. As David Ijjo reports, they argue that what started as a personal grievance has now transformed into an institutional abuse of authority, where ego is masquerading as policy, and accountability is gradually being sealed behind closed doors.