Opposition: Journalists should not be intimidated while doing their work

BETTY NAMBOOZE

We are temporarily relieved to hear that the BBC and NBS TV journalists arrested and framed with stealing drugs from Government facilities have been released.

It's unfortunate that they got arrested in the first place, stayed in detention and another has been on the run since Wednesday night.

It's equally annoying that the security personnel who were only carrying out a cover up for a big drug cartel in the Country even got to arrest Mrs Vivian Sserwanja leaving her small children with no parent at home.

We therefore demand; now that the Journalists have been released, let the swoop to arrest the true culprits start since any delays in apprehending them might give them time to tamper with evidence.

The Army should also arrest its Officers who arrested the journalists because it's these security operatives who will reveal the big people who sent them to foil the investigations that were being carried out by BBC-NBS.

We also sternly warn the Uganda Police to stop acting as a front for crimes committed by the Army. We are reliably informed that Police was nowhere near the place when the arrest of these journalist was done.

They only came in to shield the army when matters went out of their hands.

Spinning around criminal stories against victims of security forces by Police to cover up crime by the Army is not new, we all know that this has become a daily occurrence.

Its common these days for Police to come up and owns arrests not sanctioned by the force.

We highly commend the BBC-Team and their Media houses for a job well done. This is a developing story and we in the Minority Government are to follow it up to the letter.

Good enough because of this team and other partners we have the inside story about this cartel and we shall be presenting it's details in parliament soon.

It is amusing to see that at such a shocking moment, several offices linked to the developments are still tight lipped!

Recently the office of the President launched a new team to fight corruption, where is Brig. Nakalema in all this?

I implore all right minded Ugandans to embrace this development as a God sent opportunity that adds a positive punctuation to unveiling the dirty linen in state institutions.

Previously such operations were headed by Diana Atwine when she was a mere employee at State House. Surprisingly she is now in a better placed position as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry and she is also acting damn!

We in the Minority Government know why Diana Twine is embarrassingly silent about the mafia cartel in the Ministry she presides over as a chief civil servant.

We demand that since these journalists were in line of duty and only acted as whistle blowers, a guarantee unto their security be made immediately.

We boldly emphasise this because our minds are still fresh about the shooting of the Ghanaian undercover journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale shortly after a certain leader called for retribution against him.

His only crime was investigating corruption in Ghana's Football Leagues.

Even meditating about their release on police bond is an embarrassment itself! These are now key State witnesses who should be protected jealously.

To the rest of the citizenry, let's keep an eagle eye out there, a lot is yet to be unveiled.

The author is the Minority Information Minister.