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Alan Kasujja, the newly appointed executive director of the Uganda Media Centre, has dismissed as “nonsense” a column questioning his decision to leave the BBC and take up a senior role in government communications.

Mr Kasujja did not elaborate or challenge any specific claims made in the article, titled “Alan Kasujja’s new role looks big, but it’s a real career descent,” published in Sunday Monitor on February 8.

His response, posted on X, read simply: “This is nonsense! Respectfully.” Comments on the post were disabled.

The column argued that the Uganda Media Centre is widely viewed as a government propaganda outlet and questioned whether the move marked a step down for a journalist who had spent more than a decade at one of the world’s most respected public broadcasters.

Mr Kasujja was appointed after the position fell vacant following the exit of Ofwono Opondo, who stepped down to join Parliament as a legislator representing elderly people in eastern Uganda.

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President Yoweri Museveni directed Information minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi to appoint Mr Kasujja, according to government officials. Mr Museveni is also reported to have discussed the appointment with his son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces.

Mr Kasujja worked at the BBC for 13 years, where he presented Newsday, a flagship news and current affairs programme, and later hosted Africa Daily, a podcast that the broadcaster discontinued in March last year as part of cost-cutting measures.

The Uganda Media Centre functions as the government’s primary communications hub, coordinating official messaging and responding to media inquiries on behalf of the state.

Its first executive director was Robert Kabushenga, who played a key role in building the institution and was later appointed chief executive officer of the state-controlled Vision Group by President Museveni.

Media analysts note that transitions from independent journalism into roles like Mr Kasujja’s often attract scrutiny, as they involve a shift from editorial independence to message discipline.

Ikebesi Omoding, a veteran journalist and former editor of Sunday Vision, told OJ-UGANDA that Mr Kasujja’s appointment should be viewed within the broader history of journalists aligning with political power in Uganda.

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Mr Omoding suggested that Mr Kasujja may not see the move as a contradiction, particularly if his political sympathies were already aligned with the ruling National Resistance Movement before he joined the BBC.

He drew parallels with William Pike, the founding editor-in-chief of New Vision, who had offered sympathetic coverage to Mr Museveni’s rebel movement in the 1980s and was later appointed to lead the state-owned newspaper after the NRM took power in 1986.

Before joining the BBC in 2012, Mr Kasujja worked as a presenter at Capital FM in Kampala and was not publicly known for overt political activism during that period.

Mr Kasujja has not made any further public comment beyond his brief post on X.

DISCLOSURE: The column referenced in this article was written by OJ-UGANDA’s founder and editorial director, Musaazi Namiti.

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