Photo: Justus Tindyebwa (left) with Shaka Ssali at the Voice of Kigezi in Kabaare.

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“Ekodeu saved my job.” These words, spoken to me by Justus Tindyebwa, hint at the high-risk journey that this respected broadcast journalist has walked in nearly six decades. He has had several encounters that could have silenced his voice forever. He has been a victim of Uganda’s volatile politics, endemic malice, and the police and military’s indifference to justice. 

Not long after he started his job as an English news reader on Uganda Television and Radio Uganda in 1967, Tindyebwa was on holiday in Kizinga, Kigyezi, when he was falsely accused of having thrown stones at the house of the headmaster of Kizinga Primary School. This was a time when Kigyezi was in the throes of factional politics that pitted Ababoga (vegetarians) against Abanyama (carnivores.) These innocuous-sounding labels referred to factions within the ruling Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) that bubbled with hatred, false accusations, and violence.

The headmaster was a Muboga. Tindyebwa was presumed to be a Munyama. The latter’s innocence did not save him from arrest. He was taken to Kabale Police Station, charged, and released on bond. He promptly bolted to Kampala. When a famous Kabale police officer called Nyamugasira went to arrest him in Kampala, Tindyebwa asked that they go to see Peter William Ekodeu, the Controller of Programs at Radio Uganda. Ekodeu advised Tindyebwa to allow himself to be arrested. He was taken to Kabale under arrest. 

However, he was quickly released. Ekodeu, an Etesot, had called the Kigyezi District Police Commander, a fellow Etesot, to secure Tindyebwa’s freedom. It was an example of the Ugandan tribal paradox. A Mukiga had tried to destroy the career of a fellow Mukiga. Nyamugasira, the enthusiastic “executioner,” was a fellow Mukiga.  Tindyebwa was saved by an Etesot calling an Etesot. It was a test-dose of adventures ahead.   

Tindyebwa was falsely accused of assaulting a female colleague at Uganda Television in 1972. The Gikuyu woman was a sister of a girlfriend of Major Yusuf Gowon, a powerful military officer in the Uganda Army. Three police officers arrested him at his house in Nakasero at night, beat him, and locked him up in the basement of the Kampala Central Police Station. Tindyebwa was acquitted after a five-month trial and was reinstated to his job in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 

However, he remained fearful and paranoid. He had an acute psychotic episode during an evening news bulletin, witnessed live by thousands of television viewers, me among them. He announced that he was about to be killed, prompting the broadcast engineer to switch off the news bulletin. Tindyebwa bolted from the broadcasting booth, jumped over the fence and sprinted to a friend’s house in Kifumbira, Kamwokya, about five kilometres away. He hid there for some weeks, before he was transferred to Mbarara to work as an information officer.  

His stay in Mbarara quickly presented him with another risky encounter. When Gen. Idi Amin visited Simba Barracks, Tindyebwa, together with a Mbarara photographer, took their seats to report the proceedings. They were joined by an unknown man in plainclothes, triggering fear that compelled Tindyebwa and his colleague to leave the venue at about 9 pm. When Tindyebwa got home, he noticed a car parked near his house along Mbarara’s High Street. He shouted that “they” wanted to kill him. The car left. The next day, Tindyebwa left for his home in Kigyezi.

“Nkebinga (I fired myself)” Tindyebwa told me.  He stayed at home for a month, then returned to Kampala. Michael Emojong, the permanent secretary for information and broadcasting, granted him his request for transfer to Kabale in April 1974. However, being on home territory did not remove his occupational risks.  “It was a challenge to write news stories about commodity smuggling by Kabale businessmen,” Tindyebwa recalled. A military officer from Mbarara asked him to go to Kabanyonyi and write a story about paraffin smuggling to Rwanda. Accompanied by an armed military officer, Tindyebwa found a house full of jerricans loaded with paraffin. The military man claimed ownership of the paraffin and smuggled the loot to Rwanda himself.

In another incident, Bigura, a prominent Kabale businessman stole money from Runanisa, a gold-smuggling partner. When Runanisa (not his real name) repeatedly demanded payment, and alleged that Bigura (not his real name) had had an adulterous affair with Mrs. Runanisa, Bigura hired assassins to resolve the dispute. Runanisa was shot and critically wounded. He was taken to Kabale Hospital, but Bigura bribed the Uganda Electricity Board engineer to shut off power to the hospital. The doctors and nurses were unable to provide effective treatment to the patient. Runanisa died on the operating table. Bigura allegedly bribed the Kabale Police not to arrest him. However, Kampala policemen were dispatched to arrest Bigura. The high court found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to death.

Tindyebwa wrote the story, and it was broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation and Germany’s Deutsche Welle. Bigura’s younger brother put up a reward of Sh. 2 million on Tindyebwa’s head. Tindyebwa reported the matter to the district police commander, and Bigura’s brother was arrested. Bigura himself was released from prison after the 1979 invasion by the Tanzania People’s Defence Force. He died soon after his release.

The end of Amin’s regime did not spare Tindyebwa from further danger. When the National Resistance Army (NRA) captured Kabale in 1985, a Munyakigyezi businessman accused Tindyebwa of having a gun in his van. Fortunately, the NRA soldiers did not shoot first and investigate later. They took Tindyebwa and his van to Highland Hotel on the west side of town. Upon searching the van, the soldiers discovered that “the gun” was a fire extinguisher. 

A short while later, Tindyebwa was in trouble again, this time with the new rulers of Kabale. Musa Tibamanya mwene Mushanga, the National Resistance Movement Commissioner for Mass Communication, ordered Tindyebwa’s arrest on charges that he had not paid staff salaries. A disgruntled female worker had made the allegation. The matter was dismissed after Tindyebwa showed salary payment vouchers to the new authorities.

These and other dangerous encounters affirm Tindyebwa to be a complete journalist. Loved and hated. Free but always a potential prisoner. At once a patriot and an alleged enemy of the state. Purveyor of the truth and a danger to criminals and the unjust. Many journalists have been killed for doing their job. Tindyebwa has courageously carried on. And it has been worth it. Notwithstanding the dangers, Tindyebwa has upheld the standards of his profession, has mentored many, and has inspired others to excel in his profession. 

Dr. Shaka Ssali, the former host of the Voice of America’s Straight Talk Africa, is one of them. In a message to Tindyebwa, who celebrated his eightieth birthday this past weekend, Ssali wrote: “I owe you a huge debt of gratitude for having provided me with your remarkable broadcasting shoulders to climb on so that I could see a little bit further.  As you know, I am a product of a great pleasure in life, doing what others said could not be done. I thank you for having encouraged me and inspired me to go for it.” 

© Muniini K. Mulera