Ugandan journalists protest killing of their colleagues

By Henry Neondo

Following killings of two journalists in as many days, Ugandan media fraternity today wore black to express solidarity with slain colleagues Joshua Kyalimpa, president, Uganda Journalists Association(UJA) urged all journalists in the country to dress in black this Friday to show solidarity in mourning of the killed colleagues.

On Wednesday, a local daily reported the killing of a journalist by a mob of bodaboda (motor cyclists) on assignment to cover an event.

This was followed by yet another report the next day that a journalist was on Wednesday morning beaten to death by unknown assailants wielding metal bars in central Uganda.

The killing comes three days after Joseph Kiggundu, a journalist who was working for Top Radio was killed in Rakai District. Dickson Ssentongo, Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ – Uganda), the latest killings was of a news anchor with Prime Radio.

He was waylaid by unidentified men who reportedly hit him at 5:00 am while on his way to his working station on foot to catch a taxi on the main road.

“They dragged him about 100 meters away from the scene of crime where they left him lying unconscious in a pool of blood,” the statement from UHRJ says.

Wilbroad Kasujja, a news anchor at a community radio fears of the new trends and says that there seems to be a resurgence of attacks of media practitioners since a similar case was last reported in 2004 when a Ms Buwama, a journalist, was raped and killed. No conclusive investigations have been made and produced.