Minah Nalule
The Inspector-General of Police –IGP Martin Okoth Ochola, has vowed to keep flogging journalists should they be found contradicting security orders.
Ochola sounded the stern warning during a presser organized by the joint security team, the meeting was attended by top security bosses.
He made it clear that he would not apologize to the fourth estate for previous incidents that have put them in harm’s way while in the line of duty.
Ochola instead blamed journalists for acting against their orders which often end up with them getting hurt.
“What I am saying, when we tell a journalist do not go there and you insist that you are going there. We need you and you need us. We shall beat you for your own safety. We shall use reasonable force to ensure you do not go where there is a risk,” Ochola said.
Ochola says the media later portray them as devils who are brutal.
In Dec 2020,3 journalists, Ashraf Kasirye, a Ghetto TV journalist, Ali Mivule of NTV, and Daniel Lutaaya of NBS faced the wrath of security when they were injured in Lwengo after NUP campaigns went wrong.
Shortly after that incident, Journalists attending a security presser at the Uganda Media Center protesting continued brutality against them and demanded a formal apology, which we can now confidently affirm will not happen anytime soon.
