𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐕𝐔𝐆𝐀

Recently, I was glad to join Ugandans living in Ethiopia at the invitation of the @UgaEmbassyAddis. This is part of the @GovUganda efforts to keep the diaspora updated on developments at home and how they can support. Thanks to @NIRA_Ug & @nssfug for their informative briefs!

Just 64 years free! A young nation with so much to offer and a promising future! Happy Independence Day, Uganda. 🎨by @UgandaMediaCent

𝐈𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐦𝐮𝐣𝐣𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠 Monday, 3 Aug marked one year since Uganda’s journalism and academic community lost one of its brightest and most original minds. Dr Brian Semujju, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Communication at Makerere University, passed on at only 44. For us who encountered him, Dr Semujju was never loud. He did not seek the spotlight. He carried himself with a quiet intensity - dark, bespectacled, and almost always with his distinctive afro hair. Behind that calm demeanor was one of the sharpest and most productive intellects Uganda’s media scholarship has produced in recent years. Semujju’s academic journey was both rapid and remarkable. He graduated with a Bachelor of Mass Communication from Uganda Christian University in 2006 and was immediately retained as one of the founding editorial staff of The Standard, the university’s community newspaper. He later rose to Managing Editor before fully embracing academia. He earned his Master’s degree from Makerere University and completed his PhD at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa in a record three years, a feat that still inspires many. When he joined Makerere as a full-time lecturer, in less than a decade, he published approximately 22 peer-reviewed journal articles. His work consistently pushed for what he called the 'southernisation' of media research. He insisted that African realities should not be forced into Western theoretical boxes. He developed the Small Systems Dependency Theory and wrote extensively on community media (particularly Community Audio Towers), climate change communication, gender and media, and digital media literacy. His research was rigorous, grounded, and unapologetically African. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐧 Semujju was never content to remain only in the lecture hall or the pages of academic journals. Under the stage name Don Zamo, he wrote and recorded socially conscious music. Songs such as “Ekitaffeeri” (on HIV/AIDS) and “Totema Miti” (against deforestation) revealed another side of him. He was an artist who believed theory must speak to ordinary people. He once used VJs on Bukedde TV to popularise some research findings, proving that scholarship and popular culture need not live in separate worlds. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫 Those who studied under him remember a meticulous and generous mentor. He challenged lazy thinking. He encouraged intellectual courage. He was strict about the minimum standards he expected from students, yet a warm and dedicated mentor to those who showed determination. At Makerere, I was fortunate to have him as my Master’s research supervisor. Despite his tight schedule, he always made time to explain complex technicalities. On weekends, he would even drive to a hangout near my home just to meet me. Imagine a senior lecturer seeking out his student to support their research! Shouldn’t it be the other way around? After my graduation, I invited him to a celebratory party. “Congratulations. I can’t make it due to other commitments, but make sure you look for me. We still have a lot to do,” he said over the phone. He always insisted that his students must be overachievers. Even when weak, he continued teaching, supervising dissertations, and requesting to be included on the teaching timetable for a new semester that began just days before his death. He was a Fulbright African Research Scholar and later served as President of the Fulbright Association of Uganda. Dr Semujju’s departure left a painful gap in Uganda’s media scholarship. In a field still struggling to produce enough PhD holders and original African theory, his loss was heavy. His work remains. His students remain. The ideas he planted, about community media, climate justice, gender, and the need for African intellectual independence, will continue to grow. In the end, Dr Semujju did what the best scholars do: he expanded the conversation and then stepped aside, leaving others with richer tools and higher standards. 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞!

At the ongoing Ministerial Session of the Specialised Technical Committee on Social Development, Labour and Employment in Windhoek, I was pleased to meet 🇺🇬 Minister of State for Gender, Labour & Social Development (Labour, Employment & Industrial Relations), @simonmulongo Together with other Ministers from across Africa, he will review and adopt key frameworks, including the African Union Toolkit for the Collection and Utilisation of Quality Administrative Data for Labour Migration Statistics in Africa, the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, and the Model Law on Child Online Safety / Online Child Abuse and Exploitation. #STC_SDLE_6