East Africa’s largest independent media company has resumed operations in Uganda after the country’s military chief, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Yoweri Museveni’s son and widely seen as his political heir, lifted a weeks-long shutdown that had silenced some of the country’s biggest newspapers, television stations and radio outlets.
The reopening followed talks between Kainerugaba and Tanzanian billionaire Rostam Azizi, the new majority shareholder of Kenya-listed Nation Media Group (NMG), bringing an end to one of the most significant political and commercial crises faced by the regional media giant in recent years.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Azizi thanked President Museveni for the decision to allow the company’s Ugandan operations to resume and expressed appreciation to Kainerugaba for supporting the discussions that led to the breakthrough.
Neither the Ugandan government nor the military explained why the shutdown had been reversed.
The development comes barely weeks after Kainerugaba ordered the closure of Nation Media’s Ugandan operations, including the Daily Monitor, NTV Uganda, Spark TV, KFM and Dembe FM, without publicly stating the reasons for the action.
