Constitutional Courts Rule Against Sedition Laws, Responding to Mwenda’s Petition
By Rebecca Harshbarger–
Today, the Constitutional Court dumped sedition legislation that were being used to prosecute more than twelve journalists and politicians, responding to a petition filed by
journalist Andrew Mwenda and the East African Media Institute in 2005. The Court ruled that the sedition laws were inconsistent with the Ugandan constitution. Mwenda was being prosecuted for sedition after saying that the Ugandan government was partially responsible for the death of Dr. John Garang, former president of southern Sudan, by offering a bad helicopter, according to reporting by the Daily Monitor.
“I have been with 25 cases in court, 17 have been sedition and 8 are of promoting sectarianism,” Andrew Mwenda told the AP. ”The 17 cases are now no more.”
Observer reporter David Tash Lumu had faced four counts of sedition for political reporting, but says the court's ruling has cleared his slate.
David Tash Lumu, a reporter with the Kampala-based Observer, was relieved to hear about the ruling, and discussed it with Ugandans Abroad. ”It’s a great milestone for journalists in Uganda, East Africa, Africa and the world,” Lumu said from Uganda. ”Kampala had no reason whatsoever to continue employing such an out-of-date law to brutalize reporters and gag the right to free speech. It is time for Uganda to live in the 21st century.”
Lumu says that he had been battling four counts of sedition for his work as a political reporter covering President Museveni, and now says the ruling is a load off of his shoulders. ”I think repealing sedition has opened a new chapter in Uganda,” he said. ”A Ugandan journalist, and more an African one, needs to be very bold.”
Earlier this month, The Uganda Record’s online editor, Timothy Kalyegira, was accused of sedition after he speculated in two articles that the Ugandan government was involved in the July 11th bomb attacks in Kampala. His laptop, modem, passport, notes and cell phone were confiscated by the police. Kalyegira was the first online journalist to be charged with sedition– and perhaps the last, due to the Court ruling.
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