Uganda’s leading independent media outlets have been forced off air and locked out of their offices after a dramatic order from the country’s army chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba — son of President Yoweri Museveni. Armed soldiers surrounded the headquarters of the Daily Monitor in Kampala, while NTV and Spark TV broadcasts went dark, leaving viewers staring at blank screens.
Gen Kainerugaba, widely seen as a potential successor to his father, openly declared on social media: “I DO NOT believe in a free press! The press should be guided by cadres of the revolution.” He further boasted that his father had given him the authority to shut down any media house at will, insisting that outlets would not reopen without his permission.
The crackdown has sparked outrage among opposition figures and human rights groups, who accuse the Museveni family of tightening their grip on power through repression. Exiled opposition leader Bobi Wine condemned the move, saying Uganda is now “a country under open military rule, where fear replaces law and force replaces accountability.”
This is not the first time Uganda’s media has faced state pressure. The Daily Monitor was raided in 2013 over reports of a succession plan dubbed the “Muhoozi Project,” while NTV was previously taken off air in 2007 for alleged negative coverage. President Museveni himself has long criticized the Daily Monitor, once branding it an “enemy and evil newspaper.”
Uganda’s National Broadcasters Association has called the shutdown unconstitutional and vowed to seek clarification from the government. Meanwhile, the United Nations has previously warned that Uganda’s elections take place in an environment of “widespread repression and intimidation.”
With Museveni now in his seventh term and speculation mounting that his son is being groomed to succeed him, the silencing of independent media raises fresh concerns about the future of democracy in Uganda.