Isaac Kawalya Ssemulondo alias Kayz, in addition to two other Next Media Services journalists, were charged and remanded on Friday by the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court for spreading false information.
The Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court Friday charged and remanded Isaac Kawalya Ssemulondo alias Kayz in addition to two other Next Media Services journalists over spreading false information.
The two others include Bryan Kennedy Waako and Williams Makuliro. They will all be detained at Kitalya government prison for 14 days.
Kayz together with the other two journalists were charged with offensive communication and criminal libel. They were particularly accused of using their TV programme to aim to dig and attack long time musician, Emmanuel Ssuuna commonly known as Omulangira Ssuuna.
Prominent blogger Ibrahim Tusubira known by many entertainment lovers as Isma Olaxess is also accused of the same offences but is currently on the run.
In a statement, the Magistrate read that the accused committed the crime on August 27, 2021 while at Sanyuka Television, a sister company to the Next Media Services.
Among other accusations, the crew is accused of verbally tormenting Suuna on live television. The court read that allegations indicate they have been using their programme to attack the singer’s family with one incident cited when they said the singer has bad luck.
Meanwhile, the charges were confirmed by the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) spokesperson, ASP Charles Twiine saying that the case file was sanctioned.
“They were produced in court where the trio were remanded until October 15, 2021. Journalists and people in the media should be careful when talking about people in the media to avoid making statements that are criminal in nature,” Twine said.
He raised that the four presenters were warned to desist from their acts but on notable occasions repeatedly made offensive statements on television despite caution from the complainants.
“They were warned but continued to repeat the statement,” he raised adding that security operatives are already on the search for blogger Isma Olaxes who has since been on the run following the remand of his colleagues.
“He is part of the suspects on the sanctioned file. He should be a good civilian and bring himself to police to avoid embarrassment,” Twine added.
He further issued a warning to media practitioners especially reporters to think twice and get facts right before making any communication.
“The law is lenient, it gives you time to think twice. Offensive communication comes with the element of repeated communication, if you do it once and someone has complained do not do it again.
When you repeat you try to portray an element of impunity and that is when the law strikes,” Twine warned.
