Less than 48 hours before the elections, RSF has learned that the authorities have announced an internet shutdown starting at 3 p.m. GMT on Tuesday 13 January, for an indefinite period, with the aim of “mitigate the rapid spread of online misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks, as well as preventing incitement of violence that could affect public confidence and national security during the election period.” RSF warns of the very real risk of restricted access to information during a crucial period for populations both inside and outside the country.
Several independent international organisations, including the Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ Uganda) and the African Centre of Excellence for Media (ACME), based in Kampala, have seen their activities suspended by the National Bureau for NGOs – a public body under the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – which claims they were engaged in activities “prejudicial to the security and laws of Uganda.” These two organisations, at the forefront of the defence of journalists in the country, have condemned violations of and attacks on journalists’ rights in Uganda during the electoral period.
These measures are not the only attacks on press freedom and freedom of information during the electoral period. On 5 January, Ivan Mbadhi, a journalist with the private television channel BBS, was assaulted by police officers in the east of the country while covering a rally by opposition figure Robert Kyagulanyi, better known by his stage name Bobi Wine. Why was he attacked? For filming them as they sprayed tear gas into his colleagues’ work vehicle. “After officers realised that I was filming them, they turned their anger to me, boxed me, banged my head on the car, squeezed my throat, ribs, and brutalised me for about two minutes, until […] a commander ordered them to leave,” he told RSF. This is the latest example of violence against journalists during the electoral period in Uganda, which ranks 143rd out of 180 countries in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
The journalist has been undergoing medical treatment since the incident, which illustrates the level of violence faced by media professionals during the electoral period. In March 2025, RSF had already condemned violent assaults by Ugandan armed forces against at least 18 journalists while they were covering legislative by-elections in the north of the capital, Kampala.