Etukuri daylight abduction: A chilling moment for press freedom

Such brutal and chilling actions by state agents against journalists are things of the Amin era. Are they returning now that even a journalist working for a state-owned newspaper is dealt with like that?

They came and pitched camp outside Vision Group headquarters in the busy Industrial Area. Witnesses say they were even in military uniform. They baited him at lunch hour and grabbed him in full view of the public, bundled him into a waiting double carbin pick-up and sped off to unknown destination.

The New Vision, where Charles Etukuri works as a senior reporter attached to the weekend desk, suspects the abduction was done by ISO personnel and was triggered off by a story that revealed — or speculated too deeply too on — the circumstances under which an investor who had just arrived into the country had mysteriously died in a city hotel.

Etukuri is probably the least likable journalist in the country after Andrew Mwenda–if the reactions following his abduction on Tuesday are anything to go by. Like we are now used to seeing people celebrate the death of others, several Ugandans took to social media to weigh in on the predicament–the majority in not so flattering a manner. Some of the brittle words came from journalists. It’s a cold world.

Yes, humans react differently to issues, more so when the subject is about a person with whom they share different experiences. Suddenly, the whole country seems to now know that Etukuri was too close to security agents and the powerful people who headed these agencies. They are calling him a spy, that he has been on IGP Kale Kayihura’s chessboard–whichever piece one might place of him.

READ: Abducted Vision reporter received threats, accused of being ‘used by IGP’

But there is a very dark cloud hovering over the nation–and press freedom. Many pretend they are not seeing the cloud. Some are trying to cover that cloud with their palms, while others still are hoping it is just a passing cloud and we will be back to normal routine of rolex-work, rolex-yawning.

However, wasn’t it just yesterday that talks of soldiers openly whipping and drowning wanainchi at landing sites and islands were going about? Who didn’t see military men mete tear-jerking brutality on pupils, their teachers and parents at a school in Jinja over land?

And while still pretending that we can blink and the bitter realities will go away, now they have grabbed a journalist at noon. A Vision Group journalist at that.

There were days when journalists were served with summons to appear at CID to explain themselves over articles published. Journalists were beaten on duty and press freedom was abused. Media houses have been closed and so much more bad things to talk about.

But now the pendulum appears to have swung with such brute force back 40 years past that its thrust has hit everyone else into the sewer. Those who have landed in there and found themselves with solid mass of excreta are no different from the ones who have liquid waste in their mouth. It’s still the same sewer after all.

The New Vision is a government paper and has been, until Tuesday, considered ‘untouchable’ in many ways. It’s chief executive Robert Kabushenga is rumoured to have direct line to President Museveni. Etukuri was not abducted by loan sharks, Sobi and his gangs or members of Boda Boda 2010; he was grabbed by state operatives. Right from under the nose of Kabushenga.

And, without pretense, that is chilling. Sobi, Kitatta and others were not abducted. They were arrested and charged in court. Their accounts are well documented. But the whereabouts of a seemingly less dangerous journalist than Sobi or Kitatta remains unknown. As is the exact reason for his abduction. All that appears to be known is that a single text message using his phone was sent out to Vision Group. It read: ‘He is safe’.

Then the phone was switched off. Just like that.

If this is all about Etukuri’s alleged dealings with security operatives, they are probably humouring themselves in the the arena of ‘elephants fight.’ But there would still be an alarm: a humanbeing (I’m not sure he is a bona fide citizen of this country) has been arrested illegally in a manner reminiscent of the Amin ‘errors’. Even those with deep loathing for Etukuri would at least wince at this.

If they are now picking those who seem to have some element of cover within security, won’t they deploy tankers and jet fighters over the less ‘privileged’ journalists like us?

However, if the abduction was a result of a story he published with Saturday Vision, then the dark cloud has began to precipitate. As journalists, no umbrella is strong enough against this rain. The New Vision, in particular, has some serious responsibility to fold its sleeves for.

The New Vision has often been accused of acting nonchalant whenever there was a call on the media fraternity to stand up as one against state repression and abuse of press freedoms. There have been many times that journalists have tried to come together to blacklist or ban coverage of events of security agencies that have used strong hands on journalists.

Always, such attempts have been nothing but a whirlwind. Always, The New Vision is cited as a blase party to the effort.

Now Etukuri’s feathers are literally being plucked off right from under Kabushenga’s nose –like the chicken the reporter is renowned for ‘donating’ to colleagues and editors–, so what will the chief executive do?

This is where to set aside all prejudices and look at the blatant rape of press freedom. A reporter did a fine work of investigative journalism with his editors approving the story, deciding it even leads. It was not Etukuri that published the story but The New Vision. The smoky muzzle of the gun in the hands of that security agent is definitely pointing at Vision although Etukuri will take the fall.

Ideally, for such a potentially explosive story, The New Vision would have kept the byline anonymous. By Vision Reporter. It serves its purpose in many ways. It would have been up to the aggrieved to second guess–which they probably would have anyway. But Vision made it easier for them.

Etukuri did journalism proud, whether it was by virtue of his ties with security or not is irrelevant. If the story holds, then the media should be celebrating Etukuri and not beclouding the whole abduction to his ties with the security agencies.

For Kabushenga, the chilling abduction calls for reassurance of the many journalists he employs. It is that time to tell them that they should go on and get those good investigative stories and that Vision Group will stand by them and defend the very cardinal media freedoms it espouses.

The bell doesn’t just toll but really thuds for Vision and its editorial managers.

The story that was

The article that is believed to have led to Etukuri’s predicament was published by Saturday Vision. It said Police was investigating circumstances under which a Finnish tycoon, Tuomas Terasvuori Juha Patteri had died at a city hotel last week.

Quoting Suvi Linden, who travelled with the deceased, Etukuri indicated that while security agencies said Patteri had died from drugs-related issues, there was more than meets the eye.

The report indicated that Patteri had died a day after he was arrested on arrival at Entebbe by officers of Internal Security Organisation (ISO) led by the Director of Operations Joel Agaba.

The report also opened the lead for a possible motive, indicating that a number of ISO operatives had been implicated in “forgeries that led to the arrest of the tycoon,