KAMPALA – The National Unity Platform – NUP has denied claims of a group of journalists on allegations of being beaten by the party’s security team.
Masaka journalists note that on 18th May 2024 during a burial of a London-based prominent businessman Pasikali in Lwengo District, they were beaten by the NUP security team and their gadgets were destroyed.
The assaulted journalists include Next Media’s Zainab Namusaazi Ssengendo, NTV’s Gertrude Mutyaba, and Radio Simba’s Margaret Kayondo.
In a statement, NUP says upon receiving the allegations, their communications team led by the Party Spokesperson reached out to the journalists who made these claims, those whom they accused, as well as other people who attended the event.
“The versions of what transpired are very different. The onlookers who we spoke to, as well as the accused persons all denied that such an attack took place. We reached out to and requested the affected persons, who claimed to have video evidence, to provide it. They haven’t provided it yet.”
“We are very concerned that some of the ‘journalists’ who have struggled to drive this narrative are actually political actors working for the detractors of our Party at different levels. Some have always used their social media pages to attack and disparage our Party and its leadership. In the absence of any evidence linking our teams to any wrongdoing, we have every reason to believe that the whole story is cooked and politically motivated. In fact, some journalists confessed that the camera apparently paraded as having been vandalized was never at the scene. It was an old, faulty camera paraded to support the wild claims.”
The party says it believes in media freedoms and “would be the last to condone any attack on the media.”
“If anyone has evidence that any of our team members conducted themselves wrongly, you are encouraged to send it to us and action will be taken swiftly.”
The assaulted journalists have since taken a decisive stance by initiating an indefinite boycott of all events related to the party.
“We have tried to be calm, but they have ignored us,” said Phiona Nanyomo of Bukedde TV in Bukomansimbi.
“We will no longer cover their events until they show us respect and apologize for whatever they have done to our colleagues who are peacefully doing their work in Lwengo,” she added.
Maurice Matovu, secretary general of the Greater Masaka Journalists Association, urged NUP to respect democratic values and accountability.
“NUP must accept responsibility for their disrespectful deeds,” he stated.
