The name was President Yoweri Museveni’s idea. He and those with whom he waged the bush war against Milton Obote’s government in the 1980s wanted a new vision for Africa, after seizing power.
In those days, says William Pike, a British journalist who covered the armed rebellion for South magazine, Mr Museveni thought the NRM revolution was going to change the whole of Africa.
That vision was brought to life in March 1986 with the launch of the New Vision, which soon became Uganda’s dominant daily newspaper.
The paper is marking 40 years in the news industry this month. It is a remarkable feat given the near-insurmountable challenges that have forced many newspapers to close altogether or to switch to digital-only operations.
Mr Pike became the New Vision’s editor-in-chief/managing director just months after the NRM captured power and was appointed largely because of his role in covering the rebellion. He effectively pitched the movement to the Foreign Office in London after interviewing Mr Museveni in Luweero in 1984.
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The paper started humbly. The government gave it just $25,000 (shs94m) and a pickup truck to kickstart editorial operations. The Russians “contributed something like a million-dollar loan” in the form of original printing equipment, according to Mr Pike, but the government failed to repay the loan.
The newsroom—located in the Industrial Area, where it still is—looked a bit like a warehouse. Journalists used clunky manual typewriters well into the early 2000s. Some editions in that period ran to just 12 pages.
But Mr Pike, who was deputised by James Tumusiime, was making steady progress. And, luckily for him, competition was far from stiff. One English-language daily, the Star, was no match for the New Vision. The other dailies, Munno and Ngabo (the Star’s sister paper), were published in Luganda.
Mr Pike opened regional bureaus, increased pages and in 1994, he launched the Sunday Vision, with Ikebesi Omoding as its founding editor. The New Vision was on course to become a household name.
On any given day, the front page would have some of these bylines: Alfred Wasike, Yunus Abbey (deceased), Michael Ssentongo, Sam Mukalazi (deceased), Caroline Lamwaka, Didas Bakunzi, Vivian Asedri, John Baptist Wasswa, Nathan Etengu, John Kakande, Ndyakira Amooti (deceased), James Kigozi, Sheila Kawamara, Moses Sserwanga, etc.
“It was a government newspaper, but I tried to run it like the BBC, not like Radio Moscow or the Voice of America,” Mr Pike boasted, referring to Russian and US news outlets whose coverage toes the government line.
“I did a very good job on the newspaper because the New Vision was the most popular newspaper in Uganda by far. Even after the Nation bought the Monitor, the New Vision still used to beat the Monitor.”
Was he right? The numbers suggest he largely was. The New Vision, then a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, almost always outsold the Daily Monitor. The difference was visible in the page count: the New Vision routinely ran far more pages.
Under Mr Pike’s tenure, the paper led the way in introducing new products. Editors added Education Vision, Women’s Vision, Have You Heard, a gossip column in the weekend editions, among other sections.
In 1998, Mr Pike hired British newspaper designer David Billington to redesign the New Vision and Sunday Vision, changing the staid mastheads that readers had become accustomed to to clean, exotic, attention-grabbing ones. A year later, he redesigned the New Vision’s sister papers: Bukedde, Etop, Orumuri and Rupiny. (Some of these papers have been phased out.)
I did a very good job on the newspaper because the New Vision was the most popular newspaper in Uganda by far. Even after the Nation bought the Monitor, the New Vision still used to beat the Monitor—William Pike
In 2004, the company unveiled new premises and started to look like the market leader it was. The following year, it began trading on the stock exchange, offering 40% of its shares in the Initial Public Offering.
But, as the Baganda say, “Even the best dancers leave the stage”, and so Mr Pike had to leave the company after 20 years at the top.
Then Robert Kabushenga—who had previously worked for the New Vision as legal officer and then corporation secretary before quitting to launch the Media Centre—returned as chief executive after being appointed by Mr Museveni.
The naysayers said Mr Pike’s shoes were too big for him. He, after all, had spent years writing fawning articles in the Sunday Vision about the NRM and Mr Museveni. Many viewed him as a bootlicker with limited capacity to take a company to greater heights.
But Mr Kabushenga’s detractors were wrong. He expanded the company’s portfolio, introducing Bukedde TV, among others, whose Agataliiko Nfuufu news became wildly popular, even among corporate TV viewers.
He also took the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility to a higher level, leading a national campaign that raised shs300m as a thank-you to Olympic gold medallist Stephen Kiprotich. (Uganda had not won gold at the Olympics in 40 years.)
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“I am proud of the success we achieved and the impact we have had in society,” he posted on X in 2021 after being informed that his contract would not be renewed. “This was possible because we worked together as a team. For me, it was an absolute honor and pleasure to have done so.”
Mr Kabushenga, who held the position for 15 years, had also hired Els De Temmerman, a Belgian journalist, as the editor-in-chief, to streamline editorial operations—but after being in the job for only two years, she quit, citing editorial interference.
The current chief executive, Don Wanyama, is a journalist, like Mr Pike. He assumed the role after stints at the New Vision (subeditor), the Daily Monitor (managing editor) and at the State House where he worked as Mr Museveni’s press secretary. His problems have been compounded by the fact that when he embarked on the job, Covid-19 had taken its toll on the business, which was already struggling to make money.
Copy sales have continued to decline significantly. Worse, readers view the New Vision as a pro-Museveni paper. What is more, advertising is no longer at the wow-level it was when Mr Pike was in charge. The upshot of it all is that the company has lurched from financial loss to financial loss.
In his 2013 interview, Mr Pike said: “The New Vision now is probably worth $30m.” That figure should by now be far higher. But the losses suggest otherwise.
🔴 Musaazi Namiti is the Founder and Editorial Director of OJ-UGANDA. He previously led the Africa Desk at Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar, worked for Globe Media Asia in Cambodia and writes a widely read column for Uganda’s Sunday Monitor. His work has been quoted by The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Jeune Afrique, The Africa Report—not for playing it safe, but for saying what others will not.
