Monitor’s Gabriel Buule wades into NUP’s internal matters, gets fingers burned

Journalist Gabriel Buule, a writer for the Daily Monitor, has found himself in a spot of bother after making a bold suggestion on his X platform regarding the upcoming Kawempe North by-election.

In a post yesterday Buule wrote: “Dear NUP, if it’s about serious leadership, [Erias] Nalukoola has every quality and I encourage you guys to associate with him. We shouldn’t vote for people because they were thrown into jails. We are sorry for whatever they went through but let’s not get swayed by sympathy…”

It is not the first time that Buule, who has a penchant for wading into controversial matters on social media, has found himself on the receiving end of stinging criticism.

His comments regarding NUP’s choice in the Kawempe North by-election have reignited the debate whether a journalist, especially of Buule’s prominence, should take sides in an internal matter a political party or simply document the goings-on.

The Kawempe North by-election, set to be held on March 13, was triggered by the death of Muhammad Ssegirinya on January 9.

NUP last week kicked off the verification exercise of those seeking to carry it flag and is expected to announce its official candidate soon.

Besides Nalukoola, a number of NUP supporters have expressed interest in the seat. These include Umar Magala, a businessman; Mathias Mulumba, Moses Nsereko, and Muhammad Luwemba, Ssegirinya’s former aide.

Political watchers predict that the main competition for the NUP flag will be between Nalukoola, a lawyer, and Magala. The winner will face NRM’s Faridah Nambi who has already been given the party flag.

Buule’s suggestion, however, was met with backlash from political enthusiasts and party supporters, many of whom accused him of overstepping his boundaries as a journalist.

Critics argue that he should maintain journalistic neutrality instead of offering opinions on who NUP should endorse.

“Are you a NUP member? We think NUP has a group of people they trusted with that process so akajanja tukakendeze. That’s how we were conned by Mpuuga because we gave more attention to suits and good English than detailed picture. Stop judging people by their looks,” wrote someone who goes by username @IvanSenior4.

Another told Buule to stick to journalism and allow NUP to handle its internal processes.

“Journalists must report, not influence political decisions,” the user wrote.

A one Kisekka told Buule to let NUP be.

“The same statement you guys had against the late Ssegirinya. Today everyone wants to ride on his name. Team Mpuuga sit down!” he wrote.

Buule did not respond to this criticism at the time of writing this article.

However, some people jumped to his defence with one Dhakkiyu suggesting that NUP “needs people with credentials [like Nalukoola], who will actually understand how legislating works. No just sympathetic voting.”

Neutrality

Buule’s case reignites the long-standing debate on the role of journalists in political discussions. In Uganda where politics is highly polarized, many people argue that if a journalist openly expresses political preferences, it erodes people’s trust in him or her.

In the end some prominent journalists, unable to keep their political views in check, have ended up jumping into the political fray.

These include Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, a former Political Editor of The Observer who now represents Kira Municipality on the FDC ticket; NUP’s Joel Ssenyonyi, the leader of the opposition worked as news anchor at NTV and Joyce Bagala, the Mityana Woman MP was news manager at Next Media.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *