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Uganda Closes Down Local Radio Station

Posted on: Saturday, 13 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Uganda closes down local radio station

KAMPALA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Ugandan government has closed down a local FM radio station over what it called not conforming to the broadcast regulations, a senior official said on Friday.

Nsaba Buturo, the minister of state for information, told Xinhua that the radio station breached sections of the electronic media act.

"This radio station did not conform with the electronic act, therefore the Broadcasting Council, a body that is concerned with regulating the electronic media, had to close it," he said.

The radio station known as KFM 93.3 was closed on Thursday afternoon just a day after President Yoweri Museveni threatened to close media houses whose reports undermine regional security.

Speaking at a national ceremony to honor Sudan's former first vice president John Garang and those who perished with him in a helicopter crush, Museveni warned that he would close newspapers that compromise regional security.

Media houses in Uganda have been reporting conspiracy theories of the death of John Garang.

A letter from the Broadcasting Council suspending the operations of KFM said "following numerous complaints and listening to the recordings of your program Andrew Mwenda Live of August 10, 2005, the Council has on surface discovered that the program prima-facie offends the minimum broadcasting standards enshrined in the first schedule of the Electronic Media Act CAP 104 2000."

The letter, published on Friday, read "the Broadcasting Council has decided to accordingly and with immediate effect suspend your broadcasting license in order to carry out further investigations in to the matter."

Buturo said that the government does not want to fight with the media but to make it follow the law.

"It is unnecessary to collide with the media all the time, we are partners in the development of Uganda. We request them to follow the law," said Buturo.

He said that he has asked that the attorney general to examine the law and establish whether the media endangers national security.

"If some use the media to fight the government we should move quickly on the basis of the law," he said.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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