---

🔴 Claim

On March 1, the final edition of the phased-out Sunday Monitor carried an article titled “A Sunday Monitor farewell”, and in it, one paragraph stated:

The Sunday Monitor in 1997, when it was edited by Kyazze Simwogerere and the deputy editor Lois [Loy] Nabeta, struggled with one major limitation—the quality of newsprint.

🔴 Background

Monitor Publications Limited phased out the Sunday Monitor on March 1 and is shifting to what it calls a consolidated, one-issue weekend paper published on Saturday. It will be called Weekend Monitor. MPL has followed Vision Group, which publishes New Vision, and was the first to phase out its Sunday edition in 2024 amid reports of flagging sales and high distribution costs. The company says the focus will be on deeper, long-form journalism.

🔴 What OJ-UGANDA checked

• When Mr Kyazze was hired
• What he was doing in 1997

🔴 What we found

• A story announcing Mr Kyazze’s appointment as Sunday Monitor editor was published by Daily Monitor on August 6, 1998, and was archived by allAfrica.com. It was written by Henry Ochieng and was titled “Monitor names new editors”. Mr Kyazze was among those editors.
• Mr Kyazze had worked for Daily Monitor and quit in November 1995, along with other senior journalists, to start a weekly called the Crusader (defunct). He went on to pursue an advanced degree in journalism in New York. In 1997, he was still in the US and could not have simultaneously worked as editor at the Sunday Monitor.

🔴 Verdict

❌ False

🔴 Conclusion

• Available evidence does not support the claim that Mr Kyazze edited the Sunday Monitor in 1997. Contemporary records show that his appointment as Sunday Monitor editor occurred later, in August 1998, according to a report in Daily Monitor archived by allAfrica.com.
• Prior to that appointment, he had left the paper in 1995 and, in 1997, was in the United States pursuing further studies in journalism, making it highly unlikely that he simultaneously served as editor in Kampala.
• The reference in the March 1 farewell article therefore appears to be a memory-based error rather than a reflection of the documented record.
• This clarification is offered to ensure accuracy about the newspaper’s editorial history as the Sunday Monitor closes and transitions to the Weekend Monitor.

READ OUR PREVIOUS FACT CHECKS

• OJ Fact Checks

DISCLOSURE: Musaazi Namiti, who writes opinion essays for the Sunday Monitor, edited this fact-check.

---

🔴 We fact-check claims, speeches and trending topics with cold, hard evidence. If it is misleading and fact-checkable, we will bring it to your attention. Remember: We started this website to serve as a source of credible information, a trusted alternative to social media noise. We are the fruit and veg of discerning information consumers. Do not read junk.