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In the course of their duties, all journalists come across a lot of criminally very incriminating info but they don’t get excited and rush to pass judgement to condemn people, while branding them corrupt or murders etc.
They professionally refrain from doing that because they aren’t court. Yet in his case, the stinking rich Kampala blogger Dean Lubowa Sava, that is how he operates. Each time he comes across basic documents and hears one or two things about someone, he goes to record and post a youtube video.
In the process, he has harmed a lot of people and it’s those people who have finally wokened up to say enough is enough. As was the case with Cheeye’s Uganda confidential newspaper and more recently the red pepper, victims of such hate speech and disinformation by Saava have finally woken up and they have started piling pressure on Saava who all along thought he was above the law.
A multiplicity of civil defamation suits have been filed against him and his TV10 Mazima, which is why he is currently the most sued journalist and media operator in Uganda, if not in East Africa. He has to invest heavily in hiring lawyers to file defenses to rebutt such suits.
Because many of the cases are yet to be decided (for the wheels of justice sometimes spin slowly but they finally come full circle), Saava doesn’t seem to realize as yet what is awaiting him.
He had better study the many defamation cases the defunct red pepper lost in the last five years of it’s existence. At first people feared to sue it in court thinking it was a first family business. But when ex chief justice Wambuzi sued them and was awarded 850m, people began to realize that the tabloid was not above the law or politically connected the way they thought all along.
Wambuzi’s win encouraged others like Katuntu, Kadaga, Ayena Adongo, the former employees etc to begin suing and losing all these cases ended the company’s life.
It’s creditors attached property until when there was nothing left to attach. Otafiire had sued them earlier for defamation and bagged hundreds of millions. The case study of the defunct tabloid is something Saava needs to study as he prepares to invest in the countless defamation suits that continue to be filed against him.
He may also need to understand how the growing number of defamation cases had forced mainstream media houses like Nbs, Top radio, top tv, impact fm, Pearl fm, dream tv etc to stop hosting Tamale Mirundi.
He knows the reasons why he has many pending civil defamation cases in the high court where the prisons boss Emiku, Prof Badru Kateregga of Kampala University, LoP Ssenyonyi, MP Emily Kugonza and other victims of his hate speech and defamation have been running for protection after being relentlessly attacked by him.
Recently the high court had to issue a gag order against Saava after realizing that the defamation and hate speech had become too much. Violating the gag order will be contempt of court and will result in Saava being jailed in Luzira or Kitalya.
The youtube which he uses to do hate speech and unwarranted personal attacks on people, was also recently petitioned and asked to investigate his disinformation and hate speech. Such investigations can result in his TV10 content being banned on youtube.
UCC has also been getting complaints and they recently released a statement making it clear that they have never licenced Saava to operate any media business in Uganda. The executive director Tembo Nyombi revealed that they are investigating Saava’s activities relating to the spread of disinformation, hate speech, defamation etc.
The regulator also directed telecom companies to immediately block some of the online media platforms operated by Saava. Instead of responding to UCC summons to go and explain himself on things that had been reported against him, Saava resorted to attacking UCC boss Tembo and lawyer Meddie Kaggwa.
He threatened to show up with a panga and behead UCC officials and more so those they always send to deliver summons to him. He also accused UCC of corruption and threatened to go to state house and pressurise the president to fire Tembo. He claimed that Meddie Kaggwa had been facilitated by the corrupt people and murderers to summon him.
LIES TO GENERAL NALWEYISO: Saava this week got a chance to interview general Prossy Nalweyiso at her office near Sheraton hotel in Nakasero.
He lied to her that he was being investigated by UCC because he airs stories against corruption, which Nalweyiso found to be strange and shocking. Because she didn’t have full facts, Saava lied Nalweyiso that he was in problems and being investigated by courts of law and online media regulator UCC because they hate him for airing stories about corruption.
He never told her the truth that he is in court and UCC tribunal battling cases relating to defamation and hate speech because he has been calling people murderers and thieves on his channel-and when they report him to government authorities, he calls it persecution.
One of the defamation cases he is facing is about someone he called a murderer and said he has full facts to show that the person murdered another. Being taken to court is a very big chance for a good investigative journalist like Saava to prove his claims to the required standard.
And on that one, there is nothing general Nalweyiso can do to help Saava. She can’t even be prepared to risk being seen to be interfering in court work. By investigating is also doing their work and state house is supposed to be happy with them because many of its officials like Nalweyiso have been victims of hate speech and fake news too.
Even Nalweyiso’s boss Museveni can’t interfere in the work of court or even UCC because he is always telling his ministers and assistants like Nalweyiso to let courts and other government agencies like UCC to do their work without interference.
That’s why he kept telling senior civil servants who were complaining about Tamale Mirundi, to sue him in defamation because being his press secretary didn’t mean he was above the law.
The truth of the matter is that there is no way Nalweyiso can help Saava who is lawfully being investigated by the regulator UCC and the judges of the high court.
The UCC is on Saava for operating without a license and there is nothing Nalweyiso can do to stop them from doing their regulatory work. They are investigating Saava for hate speech and disinformation which he can only counter by hiring a lawyer to respond to those summons.
Saava just has to show up in court or even at UCC and defend himself against defamation claims and for operating without a license. There is no way general Nalweyiso can help him on any of these things.
Nalweyiso isn’t the one who told him to threaten violence by vowing to behead Nyombi Tembo if UCC doesn’t stop investigating him. Nalweyiso can not vacate the gag order which judge Douglas Singiza issued after Saava incited violence and threatened to harm lawyers hired to file defamation suits against him.
The moment she gets to know the full story beyond the lies rich man Saava told her during the youtube interview, general Nalweyiso will immediately keep her distance while advising him to simply hire a good lawyer and carry his cross.
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