The leaders who spoke to the Monitor on Saturday were unanimous in their view that the government’s “high-handedness” was unnecessary. Ms Salaam Musumba, the vice president of the main opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), said: “This is an indicator of a failing or decayed and dictatorial system and therefore government needs to look into [themselves] instead of going for the messenger”.
Ms Musumba observed that this was not the first time such an incident has happened and it signalled all journalists that they are at risk. Mr Barnabas Tinkasiimire, an ‘immigrant’ in Bunyoro and MP for Buyaga County, Kibaale District, said the charges were misplaced. Mr Tinkasiimire comes from the ethnic Bakiga community whose presence in parts of Bunyoro is at the heart of the current national debate sparked by the President’s letter. “I don’t find any basis why these journalists were prosecuted, there is just no reason whatsoever and right now this government has gone too far,” he said. Mr Tinkasiimire added that President Museveni knew what he was writing and cannot now turn around and blame “innocent people”. “We won’t allow such acts to continue”, he noted.
For Makerere University political historian, Mr Mwambustya Ndebesa, the State is attempting damage control. “This is not fair enough as journalists [they] were doing their work as the fourth estate of government and citizens,” said Mr Ndebesa. Adding, “I think government has put in place damage control since the letter has received a lot of attention both locally and internationally and now wants to regain its legitimacy”. The ruling National Resistance Movement’s vice chairman for eastern Uganda, Capt. Mike Mukula, said: “the press is the fourth estate of government, what we need to do is build a harmonious relationship.
