Dr Peter Mwesige has joined the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) where he is the chief of Party of their USAID funded project, Your Rights Activity.
We have been told that the project seeks to support rights activists, especially those in the “accountability sector” and has already extended assistance to organisations like Agora Centre for Research, founded by Agather Atuhaire.
Mwesige, a renowned media scholar and trainer, has began his work with gusto and has already authored an article about how online activism is moving the dial on social accountability in Uganda.
“One can argue that the traction of online social justice campaigns makes the riskier street protests unnecessary. Indeed, in a country where public demonstrations on hot button issues have been criminalised in complete disregard of the constitutional right of citizens to protest and petition the government, the alternative offered by digital platforms should be embraced,” he wrote in a piece published on March 28, 2024.
Stellar career
Dr Mwesige retired as executive director of the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), which he co-founded, in June 2022.
He has worked as Group Training Editor of Nation Media Group (NMG), where he was in charge of newsroom training at nearly 12 media outlets in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Before that he served as Executive Editor of NMG’s Kampala-based Monitor Publications Ltd. Dr. Mwesige has also served as a board member for several local and international NGOs.
Mwesige is a holder of a Ph.D. in Mass Communications from Indiana University, Bloomington, U.S.A., and a Master’s degree in Journalism & Mass Communication from the American University in Cairo, Egypt.
He has chaired the Department of Journalism & Communication at Makerere University, Kampala, where he was also a senior lecturer.
