How political neglect and interference and internal mismanagement brought UBC to the verge of collapse
The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) review committee recently submitted its report, four months since it was set up by ICT and national guidance minister Frank Tumwebaze.
The seven-member committee was chaired by Dr Peter Mwesige, the African Centre for Media Excellence executive director, with lawyer Andrew Kibaya as secretary. Other members were journalism lecturer Adolf Mbaine, President Museveni’s son-in-law Odrek Rwabwogo, William Kato Bitarabeho, Peter Okello Jabweli and Peace Piwang.
SAMUEL KAMUGISHA has studied the report and now summarises its major findings.
Titled “Securing the Future of Public Broadcasting in Uganda”, the 162-page report details findings from a three-month review of documents and interaction with stakeholders, including UBC management, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), and government.
It lays bare the gross mismanagement, political interference, disregard of human resources and the lack of equipment that have seen the corporation become “unprofitable” and get “on a steady march to financial oblivion”.
FINANCIAL WOES
Although the corporation runs 15 broadcasting stations, the review committee notes that financial support from government is poor. UBC runs four TV stations—UBC TV, Star TV, Magic TV and U-Gospel—and 11 radio channels: Kampala-based UBC Red, UBC West, Butebo, Magic FM 100, Star FM and West Nile channel; and the regional stations of Voice of Bundibugyo, Ngeya FM in Kasese, Buruli FM in Nakasongola, Mega FM in Gulu, and Totore FM in Moroto.
However, government provides a paltry Shs 1bn for the corporation’s operations. UBC gets its funds from government grants, adverts, rental income from leased assets, and income from carrying the digital signals of private broadcasters. Government has on some occasions given grants above Shs 1bn.
The report cites the 2014/15 financial year when government gave UBC a grant of Shs 4bn to clear electricity bill arrears. The committee’s findings indicate that the corporation is “on the verge of financial insolvency.”
The auditor general has in recent years issued a disclaimer of opinion because he was unable to obtain enough audit evidence and could not trust the estimates in the financial statements.
Currently, the corporation is choking on a Shs 33bn debt which it is unable to settle because of its huge administrative expenses amounting to about Shs 12bn (way above its revenue base of about Shs 10bn) as of June 2016.
The corporation has also registered dwindling revenues, from about Shs 17bn in 2014 to about Shs 10bn in 2016. The revenue from TV and radio has also shrunk from about Shs 10bn in 2014 to about Shs 5bn in 2015 and to about Shs 4bn this year.
The committee blamed UBC’s financial woes on lack of strategic plans and failure to implement existing ones; absence of a monitoring unit; and unrealistic annual budgets. Financial troubles were also attributed to the ceding of assets such as land, masts and transmitters to the “poorly managed and funded” Signet, the corporation’s signal-distributing subsidiary; financial leakages and mismanagement of creditors; lack of innovation; and failure to manage corporation assets.
The report notes that UBC has grossly flouted procurement procedures and laws. The corporation managers had not followed procurement plans and had issued bids to firms that never qualified; they also awarded and terminated contracts as they wished. For example, in 2014, the acting managing director “recommended the disqualification of a law firm on grounds that a partner in the firm was related to individuals who, in his opinion, did not support government”.
To help breathe life into the corporation, the committee recommends that government clears UBC’s debts to “allow it to resume on a clear and firm financial footing”.
It is further suggested that government increases its subvention “to cater for at least half of the salaries of UBC staff and all of the utility bills”; considers starting a Public Broadcasting Fund to secure future funding for UBC; and that government compels ministries, departments and agencies to offer at least 20 per cent of their advertising to the corporation.
To UBC, the committee advises that the corporation invests in real estate and other ventures.
HUMAN RESOURCES
The handling of the corporation’s employees is flawed, the report says. Many of the employees’ contracts had expired but the staff continued to work under unclear terms. Only seven employees had valid employment contracts.
When asked about the number of employees in the corporation, the board chairman, finance manager and human resource manager each gave a figure different from that on the staff list.
The findings reveal lack of a clear recruitment policy, whereby jobs were taken without being advertised.
“The Review Committee learnt that like many processes at UBC, the recruitment process was highly politicised and lacked transparency. Some employees joined UBC by virtue of their political connections while others are relatives of senior staff.”
The human resource manager also reportedly punished employees by withholding their salaries. In terms of employee benefits, the corporation has failed to remit both company and employee NSSF contributions over the past five years.
As a result, the NSSF arrears burden had amounted to about Shs 16bn by June 2016. It is UBC’s failure to meet such obligations that has kept in the system, employees due for retirement.
The committee also learnt that UBC had deducted Pay as You Earn (Paye) tax from its employees’ salaries but had not remitted the same to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). In 2011, for example, a sum of Shs 700m worth of Paye was never paid to URA although it was deducted from salaries.
POLITICS, MISMANAGEMENT
A closer look at the report indicates that politics eroded the corporation’s editorial independence, and how it relates to regulators, the board and management.
For editorial independence, the committee learnt that government officials have reprimanded some UBC senior managers and journalists for airing stories or programmes that these officials considered harmful to the government’s image or flattered the political opposition. With piling political interference, the staff had reportedly taken to self-censorship.
Footage from the Presidential Press Unit (PPU), for example, was never edited. The committee also argues that “the presence of a holder of a political office (Mr Jan Kyeyune, Resident District Commissioner for Wakiso) and a civil servant (Ms Biraahwa, assistant commissioner, Ministry of ICT) doesn’t augur well for the Board’s ability to reinforce UBC’s independence at least as far as perceptions go.”
The review committee learnt that the appointment process was not transparent as some members were handpicked by ministers.
“… in one case, a Cabinet minister asked an individual from his constituency to submit a CV and academic documents. That person was soon after (without being subjected to any further processes) appointed to the Board of UBC by the then Minister responsible for Information,” the report reads in part.
The committee has recommended that professional bodies such as those for journalists, lawyers, engineers and accountants be consulted for suitable recommendations. They also suggest that appointments be vetted by parliament.
On regulation, the committee felt that UCC had treated UBC with kid gloves. The report suggests that the regulator’s hands were tied – politically. UCC Executive Director Godfrey Mutabazi is quoted as saying that “UBC had been diverted from its primary obligation” and that it “was like any other broadcaster trying to make money” yet he did not take disciplinary action against the broadcaster for the diversion.
“We have written to them so many times. But we are also mindful of their problems [low funding and poor management, etc],” he told the review committee. With some of the corporation’s radio stations operating without licences and properly allocated frequencies, Mutabazi also described UBC as having “huge compliance issues”.
On the role of government in UBC’s operations, the corporation’s staff accused line ministers of neglect. They cited the lack of a board of directors between 2011 and 2014 and the appointment of Paul Kihika who served as acting managing director for three years.
Equally worrying, the board members lacked requisite skills, were not given performance targets and no evaluation of the same has been done after two years in office.
The membership of audit, finance, human resource and disciplinary committees was found “somewhat lacking in qualifications specific to those fields.” There were also no smooth transitions from old to new board members and management – and no induction for new members. The committee also recommended an assessment of “the fitness” of senior managers.
UBC has, for a long time, had no policies to guide its operations such as editorial, finance, human resources and debt management. The ones in place were either in draft form or their implementation was weak.
The committee learnt that the relationship between management and the board was “strained”, with the former disregarding the latter’s decisions such as those on recruitment and reporting.
ASSETS
Findings from the UBC review indicate an absence of proper records of the corporation’s assets and their value, with most of them undervalued. Some had been lost; others had become obsolete in the face of changes in technology while all of them remained uninsured. The corporation had also failed to protect its land assets.
“Some of the moveable property [and archives] is said to have been lost as a result of the forcible eviction of the then UTV from its former premises on Nakasero Hill Kampala to pave way for the construction of a hotel,” the committee was told.
FACILITIES
Staff members complained of lack of equipment. The committee found out that UBC TV had only five cameras, all outdated, that were shared between production and news coverage. They also reported a lack of enough computers, recorders and transport vans. The report also notes that the corporation’s only outside broadcasting van is archaic.
“Conditions are even worse at [upcountry] stations, most of which receive little or no support from the headquarters.”
UBC’s studio equipment and sound proofing, the findings indicate, were either obsolete or inadequate. Unreliable power and internet connections, lack of proper shelters for transmission equipment, and music libraries were also recorded.
The status of UBC’s 28 transmission nodes, the report indicates, is distressing: only four are operational, four others are obsolete and have been shut down, while 20 operate with faulty equipment.
Overall, although the findings by the review committee paint a grim picture of UBC, they must be taken as a bitter pill that could cure the chronic failures at the public broadcaster.
Although the revamping of the corporation will largely require government intervention, all stakeholders ought to take responsibility and work on the recommendations with honesty. If this is not done, this thorough report could join the list of those gathering dust on government shelves.
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