Explainer Series 3: Examining the “Foreign Agent” Narrative in Uganda

Government’s Use of the “Foreign Agent” Label Against Independent Media

“…These foreigners have been approaching our people and saying, ‘You go and make a bad report against the government of Uganda, and we shall give you an award, and it will have such money attached to it. I wish them good luck; that money of betrayal, we are following it up. They think that we are fools…” said President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in his address.

One of the targets of this foreign agent narrative is the media. In authoritarian states, independent media are often branded as a threat to security. The authorities often frame criticism, scrutiny, and foreign connections as an attack on national stability.

Reports here, here, here, here and here highlight this practice in countries like Russia, where media houses, through their Ministry of Justice, brand media or journalists as foreign agents; they have relied on the same language for years, describing independent media as a threat to sovereignty. We have witnessed the same rhetoric in Uganda, raising important questions: Is this about protecting independence or about controlling dissent?

What Sovereignty Means

With sovereignty, according to the Peace of Westphalia of October 24, 1648, there is full autonomy and self-determination over a country’s affairs and territory. It is recognised as a legitimate nation by other nations and is generally characterised by five main elements:

(1) a defined territory over which the state exercises internal and external sovereignty.

(2) a permanent population.

(3) a government not under the control of a foreign power.

(4) independence from other states and powers, and 

(5) the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states.

A Makerere University professor of international relations, Philip Kasaija, defined sovereignty in an interview with Executive Director (ED) of the African Institute of Investigative Journalism (AIIJ), Solomon Serwanjja, as independence, being able to make independent decisions without being influenced from outside. 

Sovereignty is one of the foundations of global politics. It gives countries the right to govern themselves without interference from outsiders. It can be stretched beyond its original meaning, whereby instead of being a shield against foreign domination, it can be used as a shield for avoiding accountability by leaders at home. That is when sovereignty becomes less about protection and more about suppression.

How Uganda Uses Sovereignty

The media gets targeted unfairly. Criticism has now become disloyalty to the government, and journalists who expose corruption are described as puppets of the West. Calling the media and journalists “foreign agents” and serving “foreign interests” suggests that reporting critically by exposing corruption, human rights violations or electoral malpractice weakens the state in the eyes of the masses.

It also suggests that instead of being watchdogs, journalists are enemies who undermine “national unity” or “the image of the country”.

For instance, in 2019, after the famous  “Stealing from the Sick”, a documentary meant to expose corruption in the health sector was published by BBC Africa Eye, an Investigative journalist, and now ED AIIJ Solomon Serwanjja, who was the brain behind the exposé, was branded as a foreign agent here, along with others like anchor, Canary Mugume.  

The documentary led to Serwanjja winning the 2019 Kolma Duma award from the BBC, and President Museveni calls such people (those who receive story grants) traitors.  

During the State of the Nation address in June 2024, President Museveni said that there are people who receive awards and money to write badly about the Ugandan government and promised to deal with them. 

“…These foreigners have been approaching our people and saying, ‘You go and make a bad report against the government of Uganda, and we shall give you an award, and it will have such money attached to it. I wish them good luck; that money of betrayal; we are following it up. “They think that we are fools…” said Museveni in his address.

In an AIIJ podcast, Serwanjja admits to being called a “foreign agent” and being summoned to answer questions about being an agent and how it has affected him.

“…calling people foreign agents has, in a way, an effect on how  we express ourselves, our freedom of expression,”  he said

In the article by the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), a pulled down article by the Monitor website was alluded to, where it was reported that the former Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga had failed to pay for a witch doctor’s services to stay in power. The article led to the order of the website’s “suspension”.

“The Uganda Communications Commission has ordered the Daily Monitor to immediately suspend its website for failing to register it as per the new directive issued to all online publishers last year,” reads the first paragraph of the article.

“The order to suspend the website was, however, prompted by a complaint by the Speaker of Parliament over a story run by the website and widely circulated on social media about her alleged failure to pay for services procured from a traditional healer several years ago,” the article continues.

 

From Sovereignty to Suppression

Similar to the Russian playbook, authorities in Uganda also portray foreign funding as evidence of foreign control.

Independent media are treated with suspicion, and patriotism is used to justify restrictions, turning the principle of sovereignty inward, as what once meant defending Uganda’s independence is now being used to limit Ugandans’ freedoms.

There are reports about the deportation of foreign journalists here, here, here and here, accused of “interfering with elections”, and the suspension of journalists from covering government institutions like parliament in 2013 and 2015 

The saying ‘he who plays the piper determines the tune’ cannot be used selectively. The Ugandan media may be collaborating cross-borderly and have been supported to deliver on their oath to the public and to the truth. And that does not go against the principles of reporting fairly and holding those in power to account, considering the reports are fact-based and there’s evidence of it, like in Stealing from the Sick, by foreign institutions as a way of collaboration. 

If it is a question of where the media gets the funds to facilitate their role, and it is the reason it is labelled “traitor”, then isn’t the government its own enemy?

Prof. Kasaija said in a YouTube publication (time stamp 6:05) that no country is truly independent, as the government still gets loans from outside. 

“There is no self-sufficient country; all of us need each other. Countries need each other; even the big superpowers need to have contacts outside,” he said

Impact and Resistance

When the media is intimidated, challenges to the country’s development, like corruption and abuse, go unchecked. We get to see a lot of self-censorship within the media. 

Journalists serve as watchdogs, scrutinising government institutions, exposing corruption and violations and providing the public with information they may not easily access. When silenced in the name of creating national security, authorities shall act with impunity, and the masses are left in the dark about matters that concern them, hence weakening public trust and fuelling fear.