The Uganda police has this morning moved to stop a screening of an investigative documentary by the African Institute for Investigative journalism (AIIJ) on Labour export.
In an official statement, the Institute revealed that police wants them to seek permission from the IGP before getting the green light to screen the documentary.
“The AIIJ team has been notified by police authorities that we need express permission from the IGP to go ahead with a private screening of our most recent investigative work; On the Go a documentary that profiles Uganda’s labour externalization industry” the statement reads in part adding that
“It is unprecedented, unconsititutional and well outside the scope of the law that private events require express permission from the IGP”
News 24/7 Managing director and one of the producers who made the documentary Daniel Lutaaya expressed his dissatisfaction at Police’s move to block the screening.
“I was part of the production behind this documentary and it is such a shock that police now doesn’s want us to release it” Lutaaya said
Lutaaya however added that the documentary will be released nonetheless
“Well, I don’t know what the police will do to us but we shall release this documentary today at 2:00PM come rain or sunshine”
“We saw this coming, but we have to put out this documentary because it is not ours, this information belongs to the public and we owe it to them to release this documentary” said Rahim Nwali, the Operations manager of AIIJ
The AIIJ now says the move by police to stop this documentary is one to gag the media;
“This is a clear attempt to gag independent press and to censor the voices of the sources who spoke in this documentary.” the Institute said in its statement
On the go, the dark side of labor externalization is a documentary that is seeking to reemphasize the dangerous conditions of Ugandan workers in the gulf.
A digital copy of the documentary is however already uploaded online and awaiting premiering.
