KAMPALA-UGANDA/NEWSDAY; With hundreds of Ugandan opposition supporters incarcerated in imprisonment, security agencies continue to hunt down nearly every dissenting voice in a bid to eliminate political space for the opposition.
Does the above trend the reason journalist and human rights activist Katongole Allan Kaluma is being pursued? Perhaps yes.
Police is pursuing Mr. Katongole likely because of his connections to the main opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP). Last week, the Uganda Police force raided the home of former Uganda Broadcasting but officers did not present any charge sheets apart from harassing the people that were found at his home.
The 41-year-old Katongole, borne on May 23, 1981 is working with the oppositions NUP whose spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi is Katongole’s classmate at Shimoni Demonstration school and St.Lawrence Kabaka Lake campus during Secondary school. Both later worked together at the Uganda Broadcasting Services.
“It is amazing how we have been together that long with Ssenyonyi since childhood,” Katongole says.
Katongole is an instrumental mobiliser of NUP in the areas of Kampala and Wakiso District. He played a key role before, during and after the 2021 general elections where his Party Leader Robert Kyagulanyi lost to dictator Yoweri Museveni in a sham election.
Hundreds of Ugandans are being held incommunicado in Prison without charge. Various Ugandans have been tortured and maimed and at worst, so many have been murder because of they are government opponents.
Mr. Katongole is a youth leader in Kansanga Kiwempe zone and has helped to mobilize my folks to stand up for their rights and demand for democracy- to stand up against a dictatorial regime. HE also uses his tweeter handle Twitter #Ugandaisbleeding to teach democracy.
Mr. Katongole attended Saint Lawrence –Kabaka’s Lake campus. Katongole also attended a bankers’ training institute studying financial markets in Uganda and achieving a certificate in treasury courses. He also attended his college education in a Zimbabwe school. Katongole did his journalism studies at UMCAT in Kampala where he achieved a diploma.
“I joined UBC as an intern but I was retained and enrolled as a retainer,” Katongole says.
Working with UBC offered Katongole an opportunity to be the first journalist in Uganda to broadcast the first live coverage of basketball match in Uganda.
Katongole is borne to Dr. James Henry Kaggwa Kaluma Nakana who was the chief executive officer of Mulago Hospital during Obote’s regime.
Katongole’s entry into politics is perhaps not only inspired by his desire for human rights activism but also his family roots.
“My auntie Christine Nabakooza Kaluma was the first Woman MP of Kampala under the NRm regime in the early 90s.
The former minister of internal affairs doctor Luwuliza Kiruda during Obote’s regime was my uncle. These people inspired my political journey,” Katongole says.
He is one of the key journalists who covered the September 2009 Buganda riots when he was a reporter of UBC.
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