Kampala - The Ugandan government has ordered all journalists accredited with foreign media to re-register with a new state press agency, the head of the media agency said Saturday.
The government was reluctant to accredit a Canadian journalist for participating in talk shows on local radio, the official added.
Will Ross, a reporter with the British Broadcasting Service (BBC), had his 12-month accreditation cut by eight months after he filed negative stories about the government, Ross told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa Saturday.
'On January 3, we were summoned to the Media Centre and told to re-register. My accreditation was supposed to cover 12 months but it was retrieved and the period was reduced to April 30. We were told not to move beyond a radius of 100 kilometres from Kampala before we seek permission from the media centre,' Ross said.
The move comes as the country prepares for next month's general elections in which President Yoweri Museveni seeks re-election.
The government created the Media Centre in 2005 after Museveni complained that local and international media were deliberately tarnishing the country's image.
'My accreditation expired on January 6, but efforts to renew it have been frustrated because the media council is not returning my calls and my forms are not being accepted. I cannot tell whether this is deliberate or not,' said Canadian journalist Blake Lambert who writes for The Boston Times, The Economist and the Christian Science Monitor.
Media Centre Director Robert Kabushenga however told dpa Saturday that: 'Lambert has many problems. He says useless things on the radio talk shows. The answer is 'Yes' or 'No' to any application.
'We have been telling Ross that he is reporting negatively on the government and developments in the country. As for the accreditation, that is it. He can tell you all the lies for our decision. We did not order those journalists not to move beyond 100 kilometres.'
Lambert is a panellist on a regular talk show run by independent radio K FM, which is highly critical of the government.
The new Media Centre was set up to replace the Media Council and is becoming an increasingly powerful agency. It is believed to have been designed as a media-regulatory machine for Museveni.
'We are taking over the accreditation of foreign journalists and we believe we have the capacity to do this better. The media coverage needs to be regulated and and streamlined but this does not mean we are curbing press freedom,' Kabushenga said.
