Vice President Jessica Alupo has called on members of Uganda Journalists Association to exercise responsible journalism saying all rights come with a duty of responsibility, especially to the country.
She rallied them to build, not break, and encouraged them to take keen interest in the development journey of Uganda, taking into consideration its past, present and its future aspirations.
“Be the voice that shapes a better future, report accurately,dont discriminate and promote dialogue always”.
Alupo addressed over 600 Journalists who are drawn from all regions of Uganda at Kyambogo University where they are undertaking a 6 day retreat, running under the theme: Socio-Economi Transformation for Journalists.
She hailed them as active partners and key pillars that play one of the key pillars in building a vibrant democracy, constitutionalism, rule of law, justice, and an informed society of shared prosperity.
Lt.General Peter Elwelu, the Deputy Chief of Defense Forces and Brig General Charity the Deputy Commander SFC had addressed the gathering earlier.
Below, is the Vice President’s abridged speech to the fraternity.
The leadership of the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA),
The organizers and managers of this symposium, allow me to thank Kyambogo university management and leadership for hosting this symposium here which is conducive for learning and within easy proximity for invited resource persons.
It is on record, Kyambogo University has been a very peaceful university, and I therefore pay tribute to you, Prof Katashaya and implore you to keep up.
I extend my appreciation to State House and H.E. President Yoweri Museveni in particular for inviting and sponsoring this symposium for journalists under the Uganda Journalist Association (UJA), and others selected, to participate in this ongoing dialogue to build Uganda.
I see mostly young journalists at the beginning and in the middle of their journalism and media careers.
This is a good selection as it means that we are truly building for the future, and that future starts now! Otherwise as the old adage goes, you cannot bend an old tree, or indeed teach an old dog new hunting tricks.
I am further informed that you have been selected from all parts of the country and across all media groupings and platforms of traditional and new media, comprising newspapers, radio, television, mobile, digital and social media platforms.
This is a clear manifestation that the organizers are sending a message that you should not discriminate when conducting business. Dont discriminate on account of age, gender, religion, region colour. That is one of my deepest messages to you since you have been picked from accross the country.
Ministry of Gender, always says there are three categories of people; youth, senior youth and elderly youth. Today, it is wonderful to see youth and senior youths, all here to learn.
This massive group of participants, and the people you will meet during these six days are good network that you must put to good use. They provide great opportunity for further exposure in your career growth. I am happy that I am one of the people you are meeting today.
Today’s participants are a huge catchment as you have the potential to reach the deepest corners of our country including; amongst rural and an uneducated population, across many languages, and transcending national and international territories or boundaries.
On behalf of the Government of Uganda therefore, and on my own behalf, I welcome you all to this symposium which I hope you will find engaging, productive and fulfilling in your professional careers, and personal callings as Ugandan citizens with a stake in its future as a peaceful, stable, secure, democratic, prosperous, and transformed country.
As members of the Fourth Estate I wish to inform you that the NRM government attaches great importance in the role that journalists and media play as one of the key pillars in building a vibrant democracy, constitutionalism, rule of law, justice, and an informed society of shared prosperity.
Over the last thirty-seven years of NRM administration, Uganda has undergone tremendous and wide-ranging structural transformation which continues to-date.
Among them are constitutionalism, democratization, gender mainstreaming, universal health, universal education, extension and access to safe water, transport and energy infrastructure, poverty reduction from over 56% down to 21% currently, reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates, increase in literacy rates and life expectancy, and other social indexes all of which have made life better in Uganda.
I implore you, as journalists to familiarize and clamatise yourselves with these indexes as they will deepen your understanding and appreciation of where Uganda is coming from because sometimes we may take the present circumstances for granted.
Iam sure the senior journalists are aware that the bedrock for development and socio-economic transformation is peace, security and stability. Because of such peace and security, we were able to organize this, confident that the six days will end peace fully.
I implore you to take some few minutes to explore where we have come from and where we want to go-as a country and examine why peace is paramount. I encourage you to read the history of our country, value the senior citizens of our country who will offer free knowledge.
I would like to categorically thank H.E President Museveni who is so knowledgeable and has participated and sacrificed a greater part of his life until peace and security were achieved throughout the country.
Let’s take time to deepen our knowledge so that we can appreciate the circumstances around us, ahead of us, and before us. That will enable us to create partnerships which are productive, not counter productive.
The theme “Socio-Economic Transformation for Journalists” is an appropriate one not just for this symposium, but to help us sketch out, reinforce and maintain our collective national momentum towards one common purpose in accordance with the Uganda Vision 2040 which to is “To Transform Uganda from a peasant to a modern and prosperous Country” by the year 2040.
The purpose of this symposium, therefore, is to rally you to join government and other stakeholders in the national mobilization efforts to increase focus and pace on the socio-economic agenda.
The traditional and still acknowledged role of the media and journalists as the Fourth Estate remains to:
1. Inform.
2. Educate.
3. Entertain.
4. Be the watchdog of society.
5. Increasingly however, the media is aggressively expanding its role into advocacy, activism for social, political, cultural and economic causes.
6. The media has today become investment, trade and business enterprise employing thousands of people and paying tax revenue to the national coffers.
The above altogether especially in today’s world of liberalization, privatization, and technological advancements, expansion and global penetration means that your role has become even more important and critical if, in our case, Ugandans are to be served well, effectively, equitably, and sustainably.
With over twenty print publications, over 270 FM radio stations and over 30 television channels available in Uganda today and many broadcasting in vernacular languages, we should be able to reach the overwhelming majority of citizens with spiritually and development uplifting messages that mobilise them to creativity, innovative, and decisive positive actions.
Today you enjoy a peaceful, secure, stable and democratic environment provided by the government so you have no valid excuse to fail to perform your roles in a good, fair, balanced and objective manner.
The political environment provides legal and policy framework that enables you to travel and access relevant and critical pieces of information that you need to effectively, inform, educate, entertain and as well hold those with power to adequately account to the public in a more transparent manner.
But to do so, you have to be adequately informed through education, research, and skills acquisition especially in modern technology, current policy, legal and organizational frameworks of public institutions that you seek to deal with on a regular basis, otherwise you may remain as gossipers spreading half, inaccurate, or even false or fake information as we are witnessing on social media platforms.
You have the responsibility and the media to stop that.
In fact social media is increasingly become a threat through the spread of deliberate disinformation, misinformation and hate which is a threat to society generally which we need to guard against.
The thrust of the NRM government is to cause socio-economic transformation of Uganda and its people by ensuring that we mobilise every segment of society to embrace policies and programs that positively change the lives of citizens. I ask you to acquaint with the Vision 2040, NDPI, NDPII, and NDPIII currently under implementation that its various strands relating to major sectors of the economy so that you can point to the population and yourselves to the desired policy programs.
I specifically call upon you as educators and informers of the population who have access to and enjoy media platforms to which many Ugandans don’t have easy access, to mobilise them for government and private initiatives that help transform lives starting with a positive mind set.
Experts on mindeset change say that to change a group of people, start with your mindset. I’m sure you you have all changed your mindsets already to contributing to a better Uganda.
I call upon you all to equally embrace these programs so that you don’t remain at collecting and disseminating of development programs when you are not any better than those you engage with on the various platforms through news, feature articles, the many radio and television talk-shows that you host, and social media interactions.
H.E the President is due to start a national tour, where he will visit farmers. I wish one of the farmers would be a journalist so that you become an advocate of the President’s message. To be a leader, you must be a leader yourself.
Journalists, especially you the young ones either already in employment or seeking placements should take advantage of the conducive environment or government policies in the various sector to build your private enterprises which in turn make you provide opportunities to other Ugandans.
In your respective districts from where you come or work, and the specific media beats (area/topics) of specialization, I would like to pick major programs of government under implementation and follow them up for better, quality and effective delivery to members of the public.
I want you to pay particular attention on programs intended for mass benefit like the UPE, USE, which are exclusively free, public health, (drugs are sent to health centres based on the returns from the District health workers, yet we hear of drug shortages, where do they go? That is the question you should find answers to and expose the culprits) water and sanitation, environment protection and promotion, human rights and rights of vulnerable groups like children, elderly, women, the girl-child, the boy child (who are also increasingly abused) and PDWs.
Currently, to rump up our efforts to transform the rural households of Uganda, government launched and is implementing the Parish Development Model (PDM) which I ask you to fully acquaint yourselves with including the support level and structure, intended beneficiaries and other key stakeholders so you ensure its success in your respective areas. (The last census put out a segment of districts with the least money and it’s those that are being targeted for the PDM)
The appropriate and optimum exploitation of natural resource capital of Uganda targeting the poor, within a framework of enabling policies and laws, coupled with the drive for good governance should be a fertile ground on which the seeds of our joint efforts will grow to bear fruits.
Furthermore, in your work, pay adequate attention to governance issues like detecting and exposing corruption, abuse of office, wastage and malfunction in government public service delivery systems particularly in the core areas above.
On our part as government I would want to reiterate that the NRM government has established polices, laws and vibrant administrative mechanisms to ensure broad media freedom, rights of journalists to seek information and have access to information in the custody of the State.
Legal and administration procedures also exist to apply and seek this information that you may need in the execution of your roles as watchdog institutions. Sometimes, people forget that freedoms come with responsibility, but please encourage dialogue for the sake of the country and for the progress we are consolidating. Work with all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to always give an accurate balanced account.
Government guarantees your rights but you should always be responsible. I emphasize that the isolated cases of abuse, denial and other forms of transgressions against journalists by members of state agencies should be reported so that the perpetrators can be investigated by the appropriate organs and where found culpable, they will be held accountable held to account. Government has not instituted a law or policy to encourage abuse or condone them when they occur.
Government calls upon you, the media as citizens, to become joint partners in the collective national drive to mobilise Ugandans to a common purpose and good which is the socio-economic transformation of each and every individual Ugandan, so that our country accelerates the pace of an inclusive growth, sustainable and shared prosperity. Always concentrate on your speciality such that you are all mot always reporting politics.
Friends, His Excellency the President has emphasised abdu committed helping the poor to get out of poverty. Let this be your focus now, to support, help, share information that can help them. The rest of the sectors like peace, security, education which are fundamentals have been addressed, we implore you to focus on helping people to address poverty.
On sustained Peace, I refer you to S.Sudan where the fundamental of peace and security is still absent, yet here, we have uniterrupted peace and security. Let’s use this peace to fight poverty and to take take the message of the deeper meaning of what this means, so that the people can appreciate it in simple terms.
When reporting, report messages that build not break, and if there must be negatives, dont use strong words. With you doing your work very well, we can achieve unity, make everyone understand where Uganda is coming from and where it must go.
I now wish to formally open this six-day symposium, and hoping you have fruitful deliberations and engagements.
For God and my country.