The Sun Weekly

Gen Muhoozi Orders Shutdown of NTV Uganda, Daily Monitor, Spark TV

June 28, 2026

KAMPALA – Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has ordered the shutdown of Nation Media Group (NMG) outlets NTV Uganda, Spark TV, and the Daily Monitor, with armed security personnel sealing off the company's premises in an overnight operation.

The security crackdown began shortly after midnight at NMG's offices in Namuwongo and the Kampala Serena Hotel, with staff prevented from entering or leaving the compound. By 5:00 am local time on Sunday, NTV Uganda and Spark TV had gone off air, with viewers seeing blank screens displaying the message "video unavailable". Radio stations 93.3 KFM and 90.4 Dembe FM also appeared to have been taken off air.

Gen Muhoozi, who is the son of President Yoweri Museveni, announced the directive on his official social media account. "Mzee has approved my plan to close both NTV and Monitor. We are moving immediately," he wrote, adding that the outlets "will not re-open without my permission". In a separate post, he declared: "In Uganda, I DO NOT believe in a free press! The press should be guided by cadres of the revolution". He further stated that all stories portraying Uganda negatively must be cleared by his office.

The move has drawn swift condemnation from opposition leader Bobi Wine, who accused Gen Muhoozi of acting "with his father's full approval" to silence independent voices. "This is the harsh reality we now face, a country under open military rule, where fear replaces law and force replaces accountability," he said.

Neither the Uganda People's Defence Forces, the Uganda Police Force, nor the Uganda Communications Commission had issued a formal statement explaining the operation by Sunday morning. NMG Uganda, which employs more than 500 people in the country, had also not released an official statement.

The shutdown follows a series of public declarations by Gen Muhoozi over the past week in which he announced a long-term ban on the affected outlets from covering President Museveni. It is not the first time NMG outlets have faced closure. NTV Uganda was raided in 2007, and the Daily Monitor and Dembe FM were shut down in 2013 following a controversial story