The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) is battling five people, including a Muslim Cleric, a Resident District Commissioner and two former employees for the ownership of the Gulu-based Mega FM radio.
The radio is listed as one of the 11 radio stations that the national broadcaster runs across the country. The dispute has seen at least 17 members of staff sacked amid accusations that they had taken sides with the national broadcaster.
The members of staff were shown the door on November 5. This followed an altercation that saw the radio go off air for close to half an hour, with some of them dragged to the police station on charges of trespass.
The sacked staff are demanding more than Shs55 million in unremitted contributions to the National Social Security Fund (Nssf); Shs178 million in unpaid gratuity; Shs32 million in unpaid health allowances; and Shs66 million in personal savings with an internal savings scheme.
Who are the parties involved in the dispute?
The ownership dispute for the station that broadcasts on the frequencies 102.1 FM and 103.1 FM, has been raging on since 2019. It has pitted the Corporation on the one hand, as well as Ms Irene Jovia Atek and four others on the other hand.
It took shape after it emerged that Ms Atek and four others had registered the station as a company limited by guarantee and not shares.
The four others in Ms Atek’s corner are Sheikh Musa Khalil, the Assistant Mufti in-charge of Northern Uganda; Mr Stephen Odong, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Kabong; Mr Nicky Afa-ei, who is also the Programmes Officer at the station; and Mr Ahmed Kato, a businessman based in Gulu.
The dispute has since ended up in court, with Ms Atek and her associates demanding that court orders that the Mega FM bank account with Stanbic Bank, Gulu branch, be unfrozen.
They are also seeking orders to the effect that UBC refunds all the money that it had ‘illegally taken’ from the said account; that it stops ‘intermeddling with the affairs of’ Mega FM; ceases ‘interrupting the management and operation’ of the radio; and that it ceases ‘threatening to deregister’ Mega FM from the companies registry.
Monitor understands that the last hearing of the case was two Wednesday ago. Ms Atek declined to discuss matters related to the dispute when we contacted her last week. She said: ‘The matter is before the courts so I cannot comment about it. You could maybe talk to our lawyers.’
What’s the background to the dispute?
The discovery that Ms Atek and her associates had registered the station as a company limited by guarantee and not by shares prompted UBC to relieve her of her duties as the station manager. Ms Atek had held the post since 2011.
She was also stripped of her powers as one of the principal signatories to the station’s bank account with Stanbic Bank.
Prior to the contested registration by the four, the radio was registered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) as Mega FM on February 27, 2002 by Ms Jennifer Gales, the wife of Mr Huub Gales, who was the second manager of the station. Ms Gales was given the registration number 132886. However, on October 2, 2023, Ms Gales deregistered the company, opening the door for Ms Atek and her associates to register it as their own.
The motive behind the decision to register could not be established, but questions regarding the ownership of the station have been raging on since about 2006. Back then, Mr James Nsaba Buturo, who was the Information minister at the time, signed Statutory Instrument Number 18 of 2006. This effectively placed the station under UBC.
The decision drew strong protests from sections of the community, who insisted that the radio belonged to the Acholi community. The feeling is driven by the circumstances under which the radio was established. The radio was-thanks to the Anglican Kitgum Bishop Emeritus McLeod Baker Ochola II-named Mega, a Luo word that translates to ‘mine.’
What has been UBC’s response, if any?
In February 2024, the Board of Directors of UBC suspended Ms Atek amid accusations of forgery, abuse of office, uttering false documents and financial impropriety. The matter was later referred to police and the Inspector General of Government. On April 12, 2024, Detective Senior Superintendent of Police (D/SSPP), Topher Gomei Nakoko, the Aswa West Regional CID officer, summoned Ms Atek to appear before him to answer the allegations levelled against her. The matter was first reported at the Police CID Headquarters in Kampala.
Sources in the police in Gulu indicate that the investigation did not take off. In a letter dated April 19, 2024, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the Minister for Information Communication, Technology and National Guidance, asked Ms Atek to step aside to allow for investigations to take place undeterred. ‘In order to facilitate an impartial investigation of this matter, this is to direct that you vacate the office of Mega FM with immediate effect. You are required to hand over office to Mr Olara L. Lamara, who has been appointed by the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance to oversee the operation of the radio during the investigations,’ the letter reads.
The letter was copied to, among others, the Attorney General, the managing director of UBC, the chairman of the Board of Directors of UBC and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of ICT.
Sources at the station told Saturday Monitor that Ms Atek did not leave office, with one disclosing that ‘she did not handover. She instead changed locks to several offices and chased the accountant, the Human Resource officer, sub-editors, journalists, reporters, marketers and news anchors. She also called a meeting on July 17, 2024 where she reportedly told the staff that the radio does not belong to [the] government.’
Have there been any other attempts to defuse the situation?
On October 16, 2024, a team of officials, including those from the Ministry of ICT, the offices of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General and some from Operation Wealth creation, met the staff in an effort to defuse the situation, but the effort failed. UBC subsequently issued a statement in which it announced that it had relieved Ms Atek of her duties.
‘Dear esteemed public, UBC hereby informs the public that Ms Jovia Atek Irene, who until recently was the station manager, Mega FM Radio, a portfolio of UBC, has been relieved of her duties effectively immediately. Ms Irene Atek Jovia has served in the same capacity since 2011. As of this notice, therefore, Ms Irene Atek Jovia, no longer represents UBC in any capacity, officially or otherwise,’ the statement reads. The statement, which was complete with a photograph of her, added: ‘UBC-Mega FM management will not be responsible for any dealings involving her. The public is hereby advised to exercise great caution in matters regarding UBC. Any engagement with her concerning UBC is undertaken at your own risk.’
Has there been any pushback from Atek?
Yes. Ms Atek, through her lawyers, pushed back, challenging UBC’ ownership of the station. While she did not want to speak to us last week, a March 20-letter indicates that she stated that the radio belongs to the Acholi Community. ‘Mega FM is established and seated on its land, donated by Gulu District Local Government and UBC/Radio Uganda, which was established way back and had its own broadcasting/transmission equipment installed at Bobi at Oyiteoliye in and UBC radio Uganda-Gulu FM, was established in the year 2005 and yet radio Mega FM was established in the year 2002, a span of three years. And our client is not claiming any of the broadcasting equipment of UBC Radio Uganda Gulu FM if at all it exists,’ the letter reads.
HOW WAS THE RADIO ESTABLISHED
The radio was established with funding from the British government, which through the defunct Department for International Development (DFID), a former UK government department that was responsible for administering overseas aid and promoting sustainable development and poverty elimination in mostly the under developed world, provided £800,000 (about Shs3.2 billion).
The British also funded the construction of the Independence House, which houses the radio. The funding was in response to a request made by sections of the Acholi community living in the diaspora after the first Kacoke Madit conference held in the United Kingdom in April 1997. The idea was to create a radio that could be used to reach out to rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Movement/Army and encourage them to end the war that was raging on in Acholi land at the time.
After the 2019 registration, on October 31, 2023, the radio was registered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) as Mega FM Limited and issued with a registration number 80034251180797. Documents that Saturday Monitor has seen indicate that it was registered as a company limited by guarantee without share capital.