Last Updated on: 8th December 2021, 09:52 pm
Benon Oluka told journalists in Lira that an enhanced press will last, leaving behind “a strong print in the region.”
By Patricia Amne Aceng
Lira – 8, December 2021: African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) is currently training fifteen journalists selected from different media houses in Northern Uganda on investigative reporting.
The journalists [training beneficiaries] are those working in print, broadcast and online media platforms.
Benon Oluka, an editor with the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN Africa) and a facilitator of a-five-day training course believes that an enhanced press will last, leaving behind “a strong print in the region”.
Asked if the training will better him while carrying out his journalistic duties, Amos Otok Omol, a journalist attached to Dokolo FM appreciated the opportunity saying, “This will address misinformation and disinformation.”
John Baptist Imokola, a trained journalist and grant’s officer who also serves as an assistant lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Communication at Makerere University, revealed that for effective service delivery, a journalist should use all resources possible to extract information.
“If we are ignorant about the provision for accessing public information, reporters will hit a dead end as enshrined in Article 41 (1) of the Constitution… to prescribe the classes of information refereed to in that article, the procedure for obtaining access to that information, and for related matters.”
According to Imokola, a study was done on the performance of media on investigative Journalism in Uganda and it is on “a red line”.
So far, over 90 journalists across the country from Mbale, Jinja, Masaka, Mbarara, Lira, Fort Portal and Arua have been trained.
The training is hosted by Pauline Hotel in Lira City and will end on Friday, December 10.
Similarly, fifteen journalists from the East, Western, Central and Northern Uganda have since Monday 6, December 2021 convened at ACME’s headquarters in Kampala for a-week-long training course on Road Safety in Uganda.
On Wednesday, SP Rogers Kauma Nsereko, Commander of Kampala Metropolitan Traffic Police took journalists at ACME through “Experience of the Uganda Police in Enforcing Road Safety” with specific focuses on: speed, drink-driving, seat-belts and crash helmets.
He said, “In road safety, we have three components; the three Es: Education, Engineering and Enforcement.” On engineering, SP Kuma said: “Some of the accidents [crashes] are due to engineering. Some roads don’t have road signs and mapping.”
“The signs and road mapping are languages on the roads. Unfortunately, most of our roads don’t have good communications (road signs) or our good Ugandans vandalize these sign posts.”
To date, Uganda still uses old technology when it comes to enforcing traffic flows, SP Kauma told journalists on Wednesday, adding that, “Uganda loses about 3,600 people every year to road traffic crashes.”
Additional reporting by Milton Emmy Akwam
Would like to be part be next time