His Worship Akena (seated top left) sentences the three convicts Robert Taremwa, Benard Sseguya & Sula Ryan Kalema after finding them guilty of illegally installing broadcasting equipment and going on to broadcast (operating a radio, trading as Classic fm Kasanda) without being licensed by UCC which is the mandated regulator. Submitting (top R) is the UCC prosecutor Counsel Kagawa making closing arguments during the Wednesday 8th April Court session. By Mulengera ReportersSula Ryan Kalema, a 28-year-old Kisasi resident in Kampala, has been found guilty of installing radio broadcasting equipment and going on to broadcast/operate Classic fm in Kasanda without being licensed by Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), which is the mandated regulator. He was thrice confronted and ordered to comply but he never stopped. He remained defiant repeatedly connecting himself back on air, prompting UCC, the regulator, to crack the whip. These acts are unlawful and constitute an offence under the provisions of Uganda Communications Act. Kalema, who has been on trial since 2023, was jointly charged, prosecuted, tried, found guilty, convicted and sentenced along with Robert Taremwa (28) and Bernard Seguya (28). The latter two are residents of Kasanda Town Council. Kalema was the radio owner and employer of the other two who accepted employment and loyally worked at the radio station as presenters unaware of the legality or illegality of its operations. In case he can’t pay the Shs15m fine, Kalema was given the option of taking up a custodial sentence whereby he accepts to be caged at Luzira prison for three years (minus the period he has already served on remand). The other two co-convicts were asked to pay a fine of Shs1m each or serve a jail term of six months. His Worship Akena, who tried the trio, was more lenient to the two employees because they were first time offenders and mere agents of a disclosed Principal (Kalema). The Magistrate also put into consideration the fact that the duo first came around as interns and understandably didn’t know about the licensing requirements and the extent to which Kalema, their employer, had complied with them or not. And unlike their boss Kalema who, upon getting bail, absconded from Court attendance for six months and was only recovered back after Court had ordered the arrest of his surety (and in the process wasted plenty of Court’s time), the duo regularly attended Court whenever required to do so and demonstrated their remorse. In justifying the harsher sentence Kalema was given, the Magistrate observed that illegal broadcasting deprives government of revenue collection besides sabotaging those licensed to conduct legal broadcasting business, security and aviation-related operations. The same is lately on the rise and such offences are rampant hence the need to hand down harsh sentence to serve the deterrence purpose. The Magistrate also referenced onto the fact that Kalema never demonstrated any remorsefulness throughout the criminal trial. His two co-convicts promised to reform and even engage in sensitizing others against illegal broadcasting upon regaining their full freedom. The Magistrate also found it prudent to agree with the state prosecutors from UCC (whose case during the Wednesday Court session was submitted by Counsel Nasim Kagawa) that there was need for harsh sentencing to send out a strong message and deter others. The Magistrate agreed with the UCC prosecutors’ submission that perpetrators of unlicensed broadcasting activities engage in dissemination of disastrous content while constraining UCC’s efforts to regulate broadcasting operations in the country. Illegal broadcasting, with which even lawyer Male Mabirizi was recently charged after the state accused him of broadcasting via his Tik Tok platform without being licensed by UCC, is a growing problem and challenge for Uganda as a country, hence the determination by the UCC legal teams to always demand for maximum sentencing in order to achieve the deterrence objective. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).