Daily Monitor published my first article when I was 16. I miss it dearly

Reporters in the newsroom of Daily Monitor at Namuwongo

The year was, I think, 1996, when my first article appeared in the Daily Monitor newspaper.

I could not believe it. I was sixteen years old, a student in boarding school. I could not believe it. I stared at that page with my name under the children’s story I had written for hours. That publication was what convinced me that other people might want to read what I was writing.

In the 1990s, the Daily Monitor ran an attractive programme that rewarded those whose work was published in the children’s pages with recognition.

At that time, my parents did not have a car for me to expect them to drive me to the Monitor offices to pick up my reward. The business of boda bodas had not yet reached Kampala. Goodness, there were probably more special hire taxis than commuter ones plying the different routes at the time. Not that that was going to stop me from getting to the Daily Monitor offices.

I was a great walker those days, eager to explore as many of Kampala’s streets as I could when allowed to leave home, so the trek from Nakulabye to Dewinton Road was no big deal for me.

I probably appeared at the Monitor front desk, drenched with dry lips and dusty shoes, but when I mentioned who I was there to see, I was let into their squashed Dewinton Road office without much ceremony.

I kept the white T-shirt that the Daily Monitor editor gave me for more than 15 years, long past when it could no longer fit me nor was wearable because it was so tattered and turning a creamy brown from white due to age. That T-shirt meant a lot to me because of what Daily Monitor had done for me.

Today, July 16, 2026, the Daily Monitor is closed. The Daily Monitor, now a subsidiary of the Nation Media Group, was ordered to cease printing and publishing its legendary red masthead paper on June 28, 2026, by the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. The Ugandan Nation Media Group outlets were actually all halted.

This closure, which Muhoozi and his father, President Museveni, accuse the Daily Monitor of opposition bias, is scarier than the last two shutterings from 2002 and 2013.

The 2002 closure, which Museveni ordered, seemed to be a tiff between two antagonists who realised ultimately that they both wanted what was best for Uganda: only the approach differed.

The Monitor wanted to report truthfully about the mysterious downing of an army helicopter in Gulu, while Museveni believed that was a national security matter that should not be disclosed immediately.

The 2013 closure over the publication of the now-famous General David Tinyefuza/Sejusa letter about the Muhoozi project similarly seemed to be about boundary crossing.

Daily Monitor believed Ugandans were entitled to know if the first son was being groomed to one day take over from his father, while Museveni protested that the press had broken a pact he had with it since his 1986 ascension to power: “Leave my family out of the news.”

Few people at the time seriously believed that Museveni could actually mean to have his son one day rule Uganda, as he was doing.

The 2026 closure, seemingly instigated by first son General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, is more worrisome as it seems less driven by ideological differences than by personal animus. Muhoozi has repeatedly accused the Daily Monitor and NTV-Uganda of “abusing him” and his family.

Ideological differences can be narrowed or accommodated; personal antipathy is much harder and takes longer to overcome, if at all. We are sitting at two weeks, coming to three, since NMG-Uganda was closed. Will it ever be reopened? Many expect it to. I’m not so sure.

During his May 12 swearing-in for the seventh time, Museveni code-named this presidential run “Term No More Sleep.”

Museveni is 81 years old. He is not a young man anymore. Although Museveni comes from hardy stock, his father, Amos Kaguta, lived up to 97 years while his mother, Esteri Kokundeka Nganzi, made it to 83 years of age; he can expect to effectively hold the levers of power for at most ten more years. 2036. If all goes well.

Allies and those who have since fallen out with Museveni, from Amama Mbabazi to Dr. Kizza Besigye, reveal that Museveni plans in 10-year cycles.

I would not be surprised if it were slowly unveiled that Museveni already set in motion a succession plan that should come to pass before those 10 years are done. General Muhoozi’s X (former Twitter) utterances and actions and the founding of the Patriotic League of Uganda suggest as much.

We are, therefore, I believe, living in an active transition in Uganda.

Truth-tellers are not so welcome in a transition period when the stakes are so high, and you do not want your opponent to guess at your next move. Daily Monitor flies its flag by “Truth Every Day.”

All I know for sure right now is that our world is so much poorer without Daily Monitor, NTV-U, KFM, and Dembe FM in it. I fear, as you do, that they may not come back. I hope I’m wrong. I pray I’m wrong. I have never wanted more to be wrong in my life.