Uganda
person” and enjoins parliament to develop appropriate legislation.
It took lawmakers ten years to pass an Access to Information Act in
2005 after a member of parliament had tabled a private member
bill forcing government to act. The law is being implemented very
reluctantly because there seems to be no political will to do so. The
Directorate in charge of its implementation lacks the required support and resources from government. The long ingrained culture of
secrecy still exists and civil servants still need to be educated on
the fact that they are holding official information on behalf of the
citizens. Even if information is available, it is not accessible to the
majority of the people because most documents are in English.
SCORES:
Individual scores:
Average:
1.7

2, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3
2.7

Civil society in general and media lobby groups actively
advance the cause of media freedom.

ANALYSIS:
Civil society groups play a very minimal role in advancing media
freedom as they do not seem to understand the connection between
their particular cause and that of media freedom and its importance
and relevance for the country as a whole.
For example, when the Monitor newspaper was closed down for seven days in October 2002, or when radio stations time and again are
being forced off air for periods of one to four months, no civil society group has ever tried to mobilize people against these actions,
nor did the public protest.
Non Government Organisations fear to engage on matters which are
8

African Media Barometer - Uganda 2007

Select target paragraph3