SECTOR 1 “If you look at the level of fear today compared with 2010, I think we have reached peak levels”, said a panellist. “People are paralysed. There is a sense of hopelessness, which turns to apathy. It is still expressed sometimes in spurts of anger.” The number of violations of free expression and media freedom reported to the Uganda Human Rights Commission escalated in 2011. “Journalists are fearful to speak to even the Human Rights Commission. They are afraid of their bosses and their editors.” The situation has reached a point that everything in Uganda has become politicised. “Even nodding disease3 is being politicised. People can’t even talk freely about it because it links back to the government’s inability to provide services that the people need. When you start talking about issues affecting women, the government knows that it has been deficient.” Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.3 (2010: 1.8; 2007: 2.3) 1.3 There are no laws or parts of laws restricting freedom of expression such as excessive official secrets or libel acts, or laws that unreasonably interfere with the responsibilities of media. Section 39 of the Penal Code, which outlawed “seditious intention”, and Section 40, which made it illegal to publish seditious materials were ruled unconstitutional in August 2010.4 However, panellists felt other sections of the Code continued to “impact quite seriously” on free expression. “Although some of these laws 3 4 A mysterious illness affecting children largely in the Northern parts of the country. The challenge to the Penal Code was instituted in 2005 by the East African Media Institute, a Kenya-based media training college, and Andrew Mwenda, a Ugandan journalist charged with inciting public hatred against the person of the head of state. He stated on a live radio program that the Ugandan government was partly to blame for the death of the late Dr. John Garang, the leader of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. (http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/ servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402196_text , accessed 18 June 2012). The State appealed in the Supreme Court, which is yet to pronounce itself on the matter. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2012 15