Reuters —
Uganda’s military commander, who is also the president’s son, announced on Sunday that he had ordered the closure of two major media outlets, declaring that he “doesn’t believe in freedom of the press.”
Muhoozi Kainerugaba said Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent daily newspaper, and NTV Uganda, one of the country’s largest private broadcasters, “will not reopen without my permission.”
“In Uganda, I do not believe in freedom of the press! The press should be led by the cadres of the revolution,” Kainerugaba wrote in a series of posts on the X platform.
Both media outlets did not give specific reasons for closing the media companies owned by Kenyan media conglomerate Nation Media Group (NMG.NR), which is headquartered on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
Daily Monitor reported on Sunday that military personnel were deployed at NMG’s compound in the capital Kampala, preventing staff from entering or exiting the compound.
NTV Uganda and all other NMG television and radio stations in the country were down as of Sunday morning.
Ugandan government spokesman Alan Kasuja did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Susan Nsibirwa, managing director of NMG in Uganda, said she was not immediately available for comment.
Mr Kainerugaba has been touted as a potential successor to his elderly father, President Yoweri Museveni, and is best known for controversial social media posts, including threatening to behead opposition leader Bobi Wine.
In 2013, Museveni’s government, which has ruled the country since 1986, shut down the Daily Monitor for 10 days over its reporting on his successor.
