Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: In response to a damages ruling for defaming a senior government official over a case regarding mega corruption, an independent Ugandan media house said Sunday it is appealing against it in the country’s Supreme Court.
Monitor Publications was last week ordered by the judges of the Court of Appeal to pay $120,000 as damages to Pius Bigirimana. The lawsuit pertains to a series of articles that were published from 2015 to 2015. The monetary award is thought to be the biggest in financial terms against a media company in Uganda.
Uganda media outlet appeals defamation ruling
The stories against which the damages were awarded focused on the theft of $40 million of funds from a project whose aim was to rehabilitate northern Uganda. The region had been beset by an insurgency waged by Joseph Kony against President Yoweri Museveni. Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
According to an appeal court judge, the monitor had described Bigirimana as an untouchable civil servant who was both deceitful and corrupt.
However, President Museveni has described Bigirimana as a whistleblower instead of a culprit. The civil servant has never been charged.
