Uganda Newspaper Apologizes to, Retracts Claims about First Lady Janet Muse

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(Credit: Sunday Monitor, screenshot)

Facing a libel lawsuit, The Sunday Monitor apologized and retracted  “defamatory statements connecting [Uganda’s First Lady Janet Museveni ] to land grabbing,” Ugandan newspaper New Vision reported.

The Monitor is a local Kampala, Uganda newspaper, according to Mondo Times.

The Sept. 23 apology is published on the Monitor’s website. According to the apology, the Monitor wanted to “fully retract” a May 27 “comment, in the parliamentary column, which claimed that the MPs had accused” Janet Musevani “of hiding behind front companies to grab land in the area.”

The Monitor called those claims “wholly inaccurate” and that its report was “based on a flawed premise” with “regrettable” wording.  The newspaper explained: “The MPs from the area did not accuse the First Lady during their press conference. None of them named her; neither did we find any evidence to link her to the said companies.”

The newspaper must “pay costs of the case” as well, according to New Vision.

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Uganda Newspaper Apologizes to, Retracts Claims about First Lady Janet Museveni in Libel Settlement

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