By Our Editorial Team

The Constitutional Court of Uganda last week struck out sections 39 and 40 of the Penal Code that allowed the State to charge people with the offence of sedition.

Before the two sections were expunged from our statute books, the offence of sedition was committed when a person utters or publishes statements aimed at bringing hatred, contempt, or disaffection against the President, Government, or the Judiciary.

Andrew Mwenda, supported by the East Africa Media Institute, challenged the constitutionality of the sedition law arguing that it contravenes the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution.  The Constitutional Court has now unanimously ruled in their favour.

This is a great triumph for Uganda’s nascent democracy.  Sedition has for a long time been one of the offences that Museveni’s government has used to harass critical journalists as well as its political opponents; keeping them tied to court appearances while the NRM traverses the countryside looking for votes.

Secondly, it is an un-contestable fact that Uganda’s opposition parties are still too weak to effectively check government excesses.  Nineteen years of Museveni’s no party “individual merit” system of governance is partly to blame for the opposition’s incapacity.

That role of checking government excesses over the “individual merit” years fell to the few independent media houses like the Daily Monitor that were operating in Uganda.  So for that reason alone, there is absolutely no doubt in our minds that the government’s previous use of the law of sedition to intimidate critical journalists like Andrew Mwenda amounted to a direct assault on our right to express ourselves and be informed; both being fundamental tenets of democracy.

As we proudly say at Uganda Correspondent, “it’s your right to know”.  We mean every word of it.  Democracy is totally meaningless if people do not have the crucial policy information that journalists and political parties give them to help them make informed choices.

So as new entrants into the Ugandan media fraternity, we salute our veteran colleagues like Charles Onyango Obbo, Wafula Oguttu, Andrew Mwenda, and many others who have fought hard under very difficult circumstances to bring about the death of sedition that we celebrate today.  Sedition was a dark stain on our democracy and we are happy it is gone.

But as Andrew Mwenda suggested, the struggle must continue.  The death of sedition is only one, albeit significant battlefield victory.  The war for democracy is not yet won and it must be fought tirelessly on all fronts and using whatever means possible.  It is that important!  END. If it’s Monday, it’s Uganda Correspondent.  Never miss out again.