ARUA BY-ELECTIONS: Two NTV Journalists, Freelance Scribe Released

BY NATHAN NGOBI

GULU: Three journalists who were arrested Monday while covering the violent incidents that marred the Arua Municipality by-elections campaign have been released. The journalists include NTV’s Herbert Zziwa and Ronald Muwanga, as well as Annet Ntambi, a freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter for Red Pepper newspaper.

According to reports obtained by this website, Zziwa and Muwanga were briefly detained at Arua Central Police Station following their arrest at Pacific Hotel, where they had rushed to cover the shooting of Kyaddondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi’s driver, Mr. Yasin Kawuma. Initial reports indicated that the journalists had been kidnapped without trace. However, it later emerged that they had been whisked to Gulu Central Police Station late Monday evening.
Ntambi, meanwhile, was also arrested by plain-clothed persons as she conducted witness statements of the shooting incident. Eyewitnesses say she was bundled into a car and driven away after her camera was confiscated and smashed. However, it later emerged that she had been detained at arua Central Police Station where she was charged with inciting violence and malicious damage to property, which are the same charges slapped on the NTV journalists.
Narrating their ordeal, Zziwa noted that they were beaten by the Police.
“They picked us saying our activities were suspicious and not even our clear identification that we were journalists could save us,” he said. The arrest and eventual torture of the journalists has caused much uproar, with human rights activists urging the police to let journalists do their work. Sam Lawino, the Coordinator of Human Rights Network for Journalists in Gulu, told the media that following their release, the three journalists were preparing to return to Kampala.
Polls for the Arua Municipality by-elections will be conducted tomorrow, Wednesday, where the victorious candidate will replace deceased legislator Ibrahim Abiriga who was assassinated on June 8, 2018. The polls have pitted Bobi wine-backed Independent candidate Kassiano Wadri against the ruling NRM’s Nusura Tiperu.