OFWONO OPONDO: Uganda steadily defies local media and political propaganda

Two decades ago during Joseph Kony’s atrocious war in Northern Uganda especially in Acholi subregion, local politicians, a few media houses, their Ugandan journalists, editors, and columnists made quite a name upon which many built profiles that hold on to-date. It was fashionable then to fabricate a completely false story and get away with, after all, instant fact-check, using telephone and google like today were not available.

But twice, luck ran out when a prominent media house published two salacious stories one being a woman, Candida Lakony who peddled a false photograph showing men in military fatigue shaving off a woman’s public, she claimed was herself as a victim at the hands of UPDF 4th Division Infantry soldiers. The second story claimed that Kony had gunned down a UPDF helicopter gunship in Kitgum whose wreckage the publication failed to show as proof.

Recent data in the Background to the 2024/25 Budget indicates that Uganda’s life expectancy has climbed from 63 to 68 years defying local political and media fact-naysayers. The data, adds to other glowing cumulative achievements of the past thirty-eight years under NRM, among them also is the steady decline in infant and maternal mortality, increase in accessibility to clean water and energy, increased literacy, and student enrollments at all levels of education. The rate and rise of gender parity between male and female are impressive, and bearing the overall desired results across sectors.

And, Uganda has now entered the status of a Developing country from Least Developed, although yet to be confirmed by the World Bank if we maintain and consolidate the progress. Our investment portfolio for both domestic and Foreign Direct Investors, trade with our regional neighbours, COMESA, AfCFTA and indeed with major world players China, European Union and the Arab world all indicate an upward trajectory.

The fifth columnists, NUP leaders and their surrogates, copying Kizza Besigye have in the last many decades decampaigned Uganda by promoting untenable propaganda through direct personal efforts and negative media narratives that Uganda is not a good place for democracy, governance, rule of law, investments, tourism and residency. NUP and Besigye’s FDC faction never leave western capitals where they believe to have built a network of gullible purveyors of their disinformation against Uganda often asking foreigners not to associate with its government under President Yoweri Museveni, prompting some, western Capitals to slap sanctions, but Uganda straddles on.

There have been a few particular media houses especially under their columnists now writing for decades, who have never seen anything good and positive, let alone promising under, President Museveni. In fact, one would even be right to say that they make a daily living solely out of hate-mongering President Museveni and those seen to be close to his administration.

Yet for three decades between 1966 and 1996, Uganda was a net exporter of its citizens, high and low as refugees, near and yonder, mainly to Zaire now DRC, Sudan, Kenya, apartheid Southern African states, and Western Europe, Canada and US. Today, on account of national security, peace, and stability, not only have Ugandans returned, settled and invested, Uganda is host to over 1.5 million refugees. Majority of the refugees in Uganda are DRC, S. Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia Burundi and Rwanda, and not very long-ago Afghanistan.

And Uganda’s national renaissance and steady continuous progress is going regardless the heavy assault by opposition politicians accompanied by negative media especially pseudo analysts writing invective columns day in, day out without any iota of professional embarrassments that much of their bad-mouthing have come to pass.

Uganda has conducted the last six presidential, parliamentary and local government elections, built its security services especially the UPDF, Internal Security and External Security Organisations almost from scratch without much direct western donor funding.

The writer, Ofwono Opondo is the Executive Director at the Uganda Media Centre