By Isaac Tugume
A bitter war that is likely to become bloody has erupted between two associations that pool together journalists.
The warring parties are the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) and Youth Initiative for Transformation Uganda Association (YITA).
According to our Spies, the trouble between the two groups is that YITA members organized a training workshop for journalists, at which President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is expected to be chief guest and main facilitator, but they didn’t involve Kazibwe Bashir and his UJA Management Committee.
The four-day workshop is slated to be held at Makerere University Business School (MUBS) Nakawa, from Saturday, March 6 to Monday 9th, 2020 and YITA has for the past few days been registering over 1000 journalists who will participate in the training.
A notice from one of the coordinators only identified as Kim Danz calling upon journalists who filled in YITA forms to prepare for the workshop reads thus; “From YITA, hello you are requested to Come with ur Passport photo if u never filled YITA forms, don’t forget a bedsheet(s) come with Sportswear on Friday 6-03-2020 is the reporting day at Mubs Nakawa ,Training will start at 8am on each day ( Saturday and Sunday) then the official Closure will be Monday 9th March 2020 , drinks, eats accommodation all Catered for ..NB Training is strictly for Journalists and those who applied. More information call 0700402194 Kind regards.”
However, whereas YITA members are proceeding smoothly with the preparations for the workshop and possible training from president Museveni, UJA members led by their president Bashir Kazibwe have since issued a statement, denouncing YITA activities and disassociating themselves from the same.
A statement issued by Ronald Kabuye, the UJA Secretary for Information titled ‘RE: Caution against ongoing registration and mobilization of Journalists by YITA’, dated March 2, 2020, reads thus;
The Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) has learnt of an ongoing plot by Youth Initiative for Transformation Uganda Association (YITA), to register 1000 journalists across the country.
That they will undergo 5 days training on how they can transform themselves from poverty. That everything for them is catered for. That his H. E president Yoweri Museveni is among the trainers. That the registration should be done through; Almafavour2020@gmail.com.
We are deeply concerned by the abuse of authority by YITA to the extent of registering journalists who happen to be members of UJA without the knowledge of its mandated leadership.
As leaders, we question the intentions by YITA which defines its membership as of only ‘Youths’ but end up undermining the UJA structures whose membership also included old journalists.
We understand that if H.E the President wishes to meet various professionals, say, Teachers, Medics, Engineers among others, always mobilize them through the leadership of their entities. We wonder mas to why this time he chose to use YITA to mobilize Journalists.
Though we appreciate that it is everyone’s right to meet the fountain of honour but the mobilization and registration, in this case, should have been conducted through the right channels of any of the existing journalists’ organizations.
We, therefore, distance ourselves from the purported Journalists mobilization and warn our members about them.”
However, whereas as UJA members wonder why president Museveni opted to use YITA instead of them to mobilize journalists, we have learnt from our Spies that the reason he might have done so is that UJA is infested with People Power supporters.
Indeed our insiders intimate that Hajji Kazibwe, who heads UJA, is a close confidant of People Power movement leader and Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
However, although by press time we hadn’t yet secured a comment from either UJA or YITA members about this brewing war, we promise to bring you updates in our subsequent reports.
