MUSEVENI TO MEET 500 JOURNALISTS ON MARCH 6, 2020
President Yoweri Museveni is to meet about 500 Ugandan Journalists in a workshop slated for March 6, 2020 at either Kyankwanzi Political School or Entebbe.
According to well placed sources the Journalists will be trained on wealth creation. The Journalists planning to attend the workshop are said to be filling forms online. Many especially Editors have snubbed the program which they say compromises their ability to report and disseminate information independently and objectively.
Majority of the journalists planning to attend say they will ask the President to give them money to eradicate poverty. It is inconceivable how organisers will be able to vet and sieve professional journalists from quacks many of whom are taxi touts, cobblers, car washers, fish mongers and vendors on the streets.
Efforts to obtain a comment from Government Spokesman Mr Ofwono Opondo and President Museveni’s Press Secretary Mr Don Wanyama were futile. Observers say the President could be planning to gather support from the journalists ahead of the 2021 General Elections. In 2010 President Yoweri Museveni donated Ushs 150 million to Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) which the executive shared among themselves ahead of the 2011 elections
In 2011 journalists under the umbrella of UJA (Uganda Journalists Association) after getting sh150 millions, they reportedly traded punches over the “loot”. This money was received by Joshua Kyarimpa, who was the current President of UJA. Kyarimpa reportedly purchased his own house using journalists’ money.
Surprisingly, this meet is disowned by both Uganda Journalists Union (UJU) and Uganda Journalists Association (UJA). It is therefore believed that some poor schemers could be plotting to steal money and opportunity, taking advantage of the sleeping journalists.
Besides, journalists who are supposed to be mirrors of the society are being compromised. Experts say that if at all it is true journalists are organised to meet the president, where do they place their principles of brown envelops?