MISLEADING: Buganda Officials Did Not Accuse NUP Of Harassing The Kabaka And Kingdom Officials

A WhatsApp user shared with us a link to a website story (archived link), claiming that Buganda officials are accusing the National Unity Platform (NUP) leadership of hiring people to harass the Buganda King (Kabaka) and kingdom officials.

In this story, the reporter indicates that these accusations were made during the arrest of a TikTok user known as Pressure24/7, who was arrested for using social media to insult Kabaka and his officials. 

The story still claims that the Kingdom’s prime minister, Charles Peter Mayiga, was interviewed, and he confirmed the NUP’s involvement.

Research: 

Upon the arrest of TikTok user identified as Ibrahim Musana, alias Pressure24/7, the Buganda Kingdom held a press conference and also issued a press release acknowledging his arrest. It is worth noting that there’s no sentence in the press release mentioning the National Unity Platform and its leaders hiring people to harass the Kabaka (king) and the kingdom officials.

In their interviews, neither the police nor Buganda spokespersons mention the National Unity Platform regarding Ibrahim Musana’s arrest and investigations.

Additionally, the statement on the Buganda Prime Minister’s X page doesn’t mention NUP or its leaders. Mayiga appreciates the kingdom minister in charge of information and warns people who intend to attack it through hate speech, that the kingdom through its legal office will handle them. 

In a video published by Sanyuka TV on May 7, 2024, following the case of Ibrahim Musana, Charles Peter Mayiga warned young people against using social media platforms inappropriately. And still, there’s no mention on the account of NUP’s involvement.

While on a phone call interview with Israel Kazibwe Kitooke, Minister of Information, Mobilization, and Spokesperson in the Buganda Kingdom, and Debunk Media Initiative, Kazibwe further clarifies the matter about the kingdom’s position on the controversies in the claims above.

“In his interview, as he was celebrating eleven years in the office of the Katikoro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga only said that there are individuals and groups of people politicizing the Kabaka’s illness to drive their political agendas home. He did not say it is the NUP,” Israel Kazibwe Kitooke explains. 

We confirmed this through various reports from media houses like BBS, SparkTv, and UBC and a video posted on a YouTube channel dubbed The Voice Podcast. 

From minute 35:28 seconds to minute 38:45 seconds of this video, Katikiro mentioned the word NUP in an example as he was addressing a question from a journalist about politicians using the Kabaka’s portraits during political rallies, but not to say that the NUP had used the portraits.

In response, the  Katikiro said that it’s not good to use cultural images for political gatherings because Kabaka has no political affiliations; therefore, he advised that politicians should use images of fellow politicians during political gatherings and leave the Kabaka’s portrait for cultural ceremonies.

In a phone call interview with Debunk Media Initiative, Luke Owoyesigyire, the Deputy Police Spokesperson, Kampala Metropolitan, says the police have never shared search information, as the article claims. 

We conducted a Google search to see if this matter had been reported by other media outlets, and we discovered that only the website in question had done so.

We performed a Whois search, a tool used to identify information about website ownership and registration details, and we found that this website is registered in Uganda. However, most of the registration details, like the date of registration and who registered it, are hidden, which is a red flag. 

This website has a reputation for publishing false news, and we debunked another article published by the platform.

Rating/Verdict:

Misleading, the Buganda Kingdom officials did not accuse the NUP of harassing or paying those who are insulting the Kabaka and Kingdom officials on social media. The contents of the article we are debunking should be treated with disregard.

Edited by Rukia Nabbanja

This fact-check post was produced by Debunk Media Initiative under the African Fact-Checking Incubator programme, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).