President Yoweri Museveni on Friday held talks with Tanzanian businessman Rostam Aziz, the incoming majority shareholder of Nation Media Group (NMG), in the clearest sign yet that Uganda’s highest political leadership is directly involved in efforts to resolve the closure of the Daily Monitor and NTV Uganda.
Museveni announced the meeting in a post on X, saying: “Today at State House Entebbe, I met Mr. Rostam Azizi, Chairman of the Taifa Group of Companies.”
Photographs released by the Presidency showed Aziz accompanied by Georgia Mutagaywa, Chief of Staff at Taarifa Limited, the company through which Aziz is acquiring a controlling stake in Nation Media Group. Also present was a senior company representative.
The meeting comes weeks after security agencies shut down Nation Media Group-Uganda’s operations, disrupting the printing of the Daily Monitor newspaper and taking NTV Uganda, Spark TV, KFM, and Dembe FM off air. The government has said the shutdown stemmed from a security-led inquiry instituted by Museveni involving the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), the Criminal Investigations Directorate, and other security agencies.
Earlier, Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba held separate discussions with Aziz, his son Saam Aziz, and other company executives at the Special Forces Command headquarters in Entebbe as the government sought assurances over the future editorial direction of the media house.
In March, Aziz’s Taarifa Limited reached an agreement to acquire the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development’s 54.08% controlling stake in Nation Media Group, comprising about 92.6 million shares. The transaction would make Aziz the controlling shareholder of East and Central Africa’s largest independent media company, which owns the Daily Nation in Kenya and the Daily Monitor, NTV Uganda, and several other outlets in Uganda.
Aziz informed Ugandan officials he had not yet assumed full control of Nation Media Group because his acquisition of the company’s controlling stake remains subject to regulatory approvals in Kenya, Uganda, and other regional jurisdictions.
Sources familiar with the negotiations have said the government wants commitments discussed with Aziz, including greater emphasis on balanced and objective reporting and adherence to professional journalistic standards, to be implemented once he formally assumes control of the company. Those discussions have also reportedly included possible changes to Nation Media Group-Uganda’s management and editorial structure, although neither the company nor the government has publicly confirmed any decisions.
Minority shareholder and co-founder of Daily Monitor, Wafula Oguttu, recently said the publication has always been professional. He further said any pressures from government to sack their staff would be resisted. “We would rather close,” said Oguttu.
Friday’s meeting with Museveni is expected to further shape the negotiations over the future of Nation Media Group’s Ugandan operations, though neither the Presidency nor the company immediately disclosed details of what was discussed or indicated when the affected outlets might resume operations.
