‘Museveni’s ban on state adverts to private media houses is a new scheme of siphoning government funds by mafias’, says Ex-MP Munyagwa

Former Kawempe South Member of Parliament, Mubarak Munyagwa has claimed that the new directive by President Yoweri Museveni banning government agencies from advertising with private media houses is a new scheme for ‘mafias’ to siphon government money.

Appearing on NBS TV’s Barometer political show on Tuesday, Munyagwa said that the directive is nothing but a new deal that was tabled before President Museveni by some mafias yearning to centralize all funds for government adverts so that they can have authority over all state adverts and can decide which funds must be allocated.

“There is a new deal on the table, some mafias are now eyeing the advertising money which is allocated to government agencies. Now they want to gather all that money in one pull so that they can determine and even rate the prices. They will also have a choice to determine who advertises and who does not,” he said.

Munyagwa added that this is a new scheme of stealing government money in a smart way.

It must be recalled that last month, a new presidential directive was issued directing all government departments and agencies to distribute all government advertisements through Uganda Broadcasting Cooperation (UBC) and Vision Group in order to ensure resource mobilization efforts to capitalize and fund UBC.

The directive was once again re-echoed by the Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary, Ramathan Ggoobi earlier this month, and asked all accounting officers to ensure all government adverts are placed in government-owned media houses and warned that failing to do so culprits will face dismissal immediately.

“..all government advertising must be through the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC). Any accounting officer who deviates from this will be sanctioned including dismissal. Print media advertising should be done through the New Vision. I, therefore, urge all accounting officers to strictly adhere to the directive,” he said.

However, since the directive was made, the broadcasters under their umbrella body, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) have protested against it and have vowed to also boycott all government programs.

“The directive on advertising is an affront to free speech and the democratic principles that the government has been promoting. We are willing to discuss this matter, but until a mutually agreeable solution is reached, we stand firm in our decision,” NAB’s Secretary General, Joseph Beyanga said in a letter to the government this week.