The Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) has today unveiled a series of activities that will be undertaken to celebrate World Press Freedom Day on May 3.
Mathias Rukundo, the president of UJA said among other activities, they will hold a media football gala on May 5 at City High playground. Participation, however, will not be free as media organizations will be required to part with Shs 250,000 for registration and to help in preparations.
Rukundo said there will be a tree planting exercise as part of the broader initiative to plant one million trees across Uganda by 2025. There will be a press conference and stakeholders’ outreach engagements aimed at sensitizing society about press freedoms.
Celebrations this year will be held under the theme: “A Press for the Planet, Journalism in the face of Environmental Crisis”.
Rukundo said despite some gains, threats against journalism in Uganda persist.
“For example, although Article 29, 40, 44 of the 1995 constitution and Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees enjoyment press freedom, it remains blatantly violated un fortunately by the authorities and gate keepers that are charged with the duty of ensuring its protection,” he said.
He said more than 100 hundred journalists have been laid off work as of April 2024 by different media houses and they can hardly survive with their families.
“All the multimedia companies in Uganda have fired journalists citing the economic hardships in the country. The news rooms of most media houses are now almost empty as a result of intimidation, forced resignations and departures arising out of the same painful experience,” he said.
Going forward, he said Parliament should interest itself as to why there is persistent exploitation and violation of journalists and their economic rights by the employers and explore lasting and fair solutions like it has been done with other professions.
UJA also called on President Museveni to fulfil his promise of capitalizing the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) SACCO as agreed upon on February 11th 2023 when he met journalists at Kyambogo University.
