Tuesday, 10. Nov 2009

Uganda: Colliding with the Fourth Estate

 
Yoweri Museveni, Ugandan President - dislikes critical cartoons
Yoweri Museveni, Ugandan President - dislikes critical cartoons

Yoweri Museveni used to be the darling of the West. After 23 years in power the Ugandan president still cuts a good figure at international summits. Only recently the US-Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice praised the Ugandan military’s peacekeeping deployment in Somalia. Western complaints about Museveni’s arbitrary rule and corruption inside his regime is only whispered behind closed doors.

 

Yet after having changed the 1995 constitution and lifting the Presidential term limits there is mounting criticism from Ugandan journalists and human rights activists of Museweni’s attempts at clinging to power which is challenged from within his ruling coalition.

 

Read Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi’s article for the International Press Service (IPS) on how President Museweni’s questionable preparation for the election in 2011 is “colliding with the Fourth Estate”.

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fesmedia Africa is the media project of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Africa. We are working towards a political, legal and regulatory framework for the media which follows international human rights law, the relevant protocols of the African Union (AU) and declarations of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or other regional standards in Africa. Our office is based in Windhoek, Namibia. Read more about us

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Africa has traditionally been at the centre of the international activities of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. In 19 Sub-Saharan African countries, FES is contributing to consolidating and intensifying the process of self-determination, democratisation and social development, in cooperation with partners in politics and society.

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung is a non-governmental and non-profit making Political Foundation based in almost 100 countries throughout the world. Established in 1925, it carries the name of Germany’s first democratically elected president, Friedrich Ebert, and continues to promote his legacy of promoting freedom, solidarity and social democracy.

 

Zimbabwe Communiqué: ACHPR calls for re-dedication to fight dictatorships in Africa

 
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WORST PRACTICES

Monday, 09. Nov 2009

The Return of the Military Man to the Media

The straight connection between the military and the media used to be that you first went to the state broadcaster to announce your coup d’etat. That was it - and the other media took the cue.

 

The age of multi-party democracy has done away with this kind of straightforward relationship. In most African countries the government still determines what happens at the state - or now euphemistically called - “public” broadcaster. Nowadays the control is exerted in more subtle ways than by military means. But recently we can detect a more sinister development: The Return of the Military Man to the media sector through the back door.[more]

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