CBS RADIO CLOSURE: GENOCIDE AND THE PARADOX OF MEDIA FREEDOMS

Over the past weeks an issue of eminent concern has been the centre of controversy in the country not for it's trivial character as has been advanced by regime-leaning politicians but mostly for its implication to good governance and the rule of law in the country. I first had this at the lawyers day dialogue at Makerere in 2009 where presidential assistant on Institutions David Mafabi likened CBS radio to Radio Television Libres du Mille Collines in extending hate propaganda. This was at a dialogue discussing Media Freedoms: Myth or Reality Then less than a week later Local Government Minister Kahinda Otafiire in his usual fiery attitude lambasted the Mengo estabilishment and reiterated his earlier position that Mengo operates as an NGO. He assured members present at the dialogue organised by the Makerere University Convocation and sponsored by Konrad Adenuer Foundatiion that the activities of CBS radio bordered terrorism and were fuelling ethnic divisions in the country and stuck a semblence to Mafabi's argument when he recalled the activities of Mille Collines in the Rwanda Genocide. Whether a common understanding has been reached by government to ally Genocide to CBS radio or views expressed by its loyal cadres, the crux remains that Mengo has managed to intensify Ganda consciousness amidst ethnic persecution as seen by ordinary Baganda. Word going round at Mengo from impeccable sources has revealed that the Kingdom is under pressure to lessen its criticism of the central government. By the NRM regime indicating a fear of Genocide purportedly perpetuated by Mengo which in itself appears an inadequate claim, it has opened up debate on who is actually fuelling ethnic animosity in the country. The misuse of the term Genocide will be the centre of debate in this argument. The term was invented after the second world war in reference to Nazi activities of exterminating the Jews and the Genocide convention was ratified on 9th December 1948.
The verdict of history has revealed to us that genocide is mainly a state crime and is usually practiced by those in power and to acuse Mengo of such a crime would be to reverse an agenda orchestrated by those in power. I advance that ethnic hatred aired on CBS radio as seen by our rulers is a veiled attempt to curtail media freedom under the guise of regulating content. Recently Police instituted a section on Media Crimes at CID and a number of the country's brains and resources are employed to record all statements 'injurious to stability of the country'. A radio presenter at the Mengo radio has even sarcastically demanded that the section be renamed CBS Crimes Unit. But one issue often forgotten by the accusers is that Radio Mille Collines enjoyed the support of the state. It enjoyed 24 hour power and was located(for security purposes)on the street just across State House. Its ownership was by state functionaries including the First Lady, Felicien Kabuga, Gaspard Gahigi, Ferdinand Nahimana and a host of others were well connected to the regime in power. Anyone who has watched the movie Sometimes in April featuring Uganda's own Abby Mukiibi will agree with me that Genocide as a crime cannot thrive unsupported by those in power. It was a small circle around Madame Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of President Juvenal Habaryimana of Rwanda, popularly known as the Akazu, or the Little House, which perceived the power sharing provisions of the Arusha Accords of 1993 as fatal to its ambition to cling to power and resolved to annihilate Rwanda’s entire Tutsi population. Suggestedly its is a small clique of politicians in Uganda keen on perpetuating Mr Museveni in power who seek to close down Buganda radio. While we can accuse Mengo of educating its citizens someone is arming his tribesmen with guns and the result has been terrorising of rural peasants and land grabbing in the countryside. Frank Chalk the Author of Hate radio in Rwanda has argued that the radio used to mould the opinions of rural citizens but that the role of the state in Genocide should not be underplayed. Genocide as a crime involves high organisation usually involving state machinery in concealment of objectives. It is more than a few presenters speaking their hearts out. To advance a claim that a Powerless Mengo with a government equated to an NGO,can incited genocide is to deny the magnitude of the issues discussed above. From a simple perspective, it occurs that Mengo in abid to organise its masses amidst temptations of desecrating the Kingdom by the NRM started up a radio station and later a newspaper Njuba Times. The King himself a former journalist with the DRUM Magazine,must have known the importance of the media in mass mobilisation for development. If Mengo is inciting ethnic hatred, it appears to be doing so as a counter-measure to counter those arming Balaalo for purposes that cannot be understood as of now. Lastly Genocide is a two-way traffic conflict in which like all wars one has an upper hand in victory. Even in Rwanda RPF had a hate radio the controllers of the RPF’s weakly powered radio station, Radio Muhabura (Radio Beacon) which only failed to counter Mille Collines listernership to have impact. Otherwise how do you explained a Tutsi-owned radio to Unite Rwandans as has been advanced by the western press when in its military and political composition it was 98 percent Tutsi. This should not be concieved as an affront to the Tutsi but rather a balanced overview. The Kabaka of Buganda welcomed the Tusti and even protected Kigeri IV at his court during the earlier conflicts. It has always been the politicians playing at the harp of ethnic divisions to elongate their stay in power that have always created instability.
Moses Kalanzi