Media outlets shut down over nonpayment of permit fees

The Ugandan authorities on Thursday shut down a privately owned television station and four radio stations in the capital, Kampala, over nonpayment of permit fees, according to the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The Broadcasting Council, which regulates TV and radio, had seized the transmitters of Top TV and Kampala African Radio, Mama FM, Kampala FM and Top Radio, said RSF. "It is reasonable for a government to get private media to pay for a permit, but this does not justify the wave of closures that has started," it commented in a statement. "Most of the media involved are not commercial and do not have the means to pay the tax imposed on them. The authorities should show more flexibility and find a compromise that will not bring about the demise of half of the country's private radio stations," it went on to say. Private radio stations are supposed to pay an annual state tax of 3 million shillings (about €1,300). Margaret Sentamu, head of Mama FM told a local daily newspaper that she believed that the authorities should make a distinction between commercial radios which broadcast advertisements and community radios with no resources of their own. "It will be the Ugandan people who will suffer the consequences by being deprived of much of their news," commented RSF. Dennis Lukaaya, spokesman for the Broadcasting Council, said almost half the estimated 100 radio stations and three TV stations operating in Uganda had not paid for their permits. The authorities have announced that they will continue over the next few days to close down media outlets that have not paid up.