The Executive Director of African Center for Media Excellence, Dr. Peter Mwesige has been appointed to chair the Committee tasked to review the operations of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Television.
Mr. Mwesige’s appointment was announced on Monday by the minister of Information, Communication and Telecommunication and National Guidance, Frank Tumwebaze who constituted the commission in a bid to revamp the nearly feeble national broadcaster.
According to Mr. Tumwebaze, UBC TV already has the infrastructure and great amount of required resources to make the broadcaster and its sister stations the number one choice for audience in the country and beyond.
“We have the infrastructure, we have the people, we have the ideas and we have the drive to make UBC and all affiliated stations the best,” Mr. Tumwebaze said.
The minister stated that the commission consists of the team of only experts who have self-proven their abilities in various fields and expectations from their new task are already high.
“I am privileged today to commission a team of experts who have proven themselves in different fields and task them to spend some time and effort doing a review and assessment of UBC and its respective
channels.”
The committee according Tumwebaze will liaise very closely with the Board of UBC and with the ministry of ICT and National Guidance.
Peter Mwesige and his team are expected to finish the assignment in one month and report back to the minister.
Dr. Mwesige is a recognized leader in the journalism and media sector in Uganda. He is a co-founder and executive director of the African Centre for Media Excellence, and has extensive experience in the newsroom and the journalism classroom.
He sits on the advisory boards of the International Journalism Fellowships of the International Centre for Journalists (Sub-Saharan Africa) and the international journal, African Journalism Studies. He was until July 2009 the Group Training Editor of the Nation Media Group, East Africa’s biggest multi-media company, where he was in charge of newsroom training at the company’s nearly dozen print and electronic media outlets in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
He holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communications from Indiana University, U.S.A., and a Master’s degree in Journalism & Mass Communication from the American University in Cairo. Dr. Mwesige was until November 2007 the head of the Department of Journalism & Communication at Makerere University, Kampala, where he was also a senior lecturer.
Dr. Mwesige has previously worked as a reporter, news editor, political editor, and political columnist. He was until March 2006 the Executive Editor of the Nation Media Group’s Kampala-based Monitor
Publications Ltd, publishers of the Daily and Sunday Monitor.
Other Commission members include Ms. Peace Piwang, a renowned human resource professional, Mr. Adolf Mbaine described in the ministers brief as a seasoned journalist, a media manager and academician.
President Yoweri Museveni’s son in-law, Mr. Odrek Rwabogo who was described as senior journalist, a public relations and communications professional and a famer is also among the seven man team.
Engineer and ICT expert, Kato Bitarabeho and Mr. Peter Okello Jabwelliare also in the Commission.
The Secretary and the Legal Counsel of the Committee is Mr. Andrew Kibaya, an advocate of the high court with experience in corporate and commercial law.