By Halima Abdallah
Feb 6, 2004
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COURT – Government got a High Court injunction yesterday stopping The Monitor from publishing details of Lt. Gen. David Tinyefuza’s inquiry into ghost soldiers in the army. It is the second time in four months that government is stopping the newspaper from publishing stories. On November 18, government got a High Court injunction that stopped The Monitor from publishing details of the draft Constitutional Review Commission, which had thrown out calls to lift the two-term limit on the presidency. Yesterday’s injunction comes after The Monitor reported – on Tuesday and Wednesday – the details of the committee’s hearings into ghost, or non-existent, soldiers in the army. The Principal State Attorney, Mr Joseph Matsiko, and a senior official in the Attorney General’s chambers, Mr Mike Chibita, filed for the injunction yesterday afternoon. Government also filed a separate civil suit against The Monitor, its editor-in-chief Wafula Oguttu, and the news editor and author of the stories, Mr Daniel Kalinaki – who also wrote the CRC story. Government claims, in the injunction, that the details of the High Command Inquiry into the existence of ghost soldiers are “of a highly sensitive and classified security nature” and that their publication is likely to prejudice state security. They claim that the publication of such stories is also “illegal and unconstitutional”. Government also claims that the publication is sub-judicial to the on-going General Court Martial proceedings in which several UPDF officers are being prosecuted in respect to indiscipline and alleged creation of ghost soldiers on the army payroll. Government wants court to declare that the publication is illegal and prejudicial to state security and to issue a permanent injunction restraining The Monitor from publishing related classified materials. Government has also asked for costs of the suit. |
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