Building Capacity for Effective Use of Government Public Education Airtime

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Act, under Licensing Condition No. 5, legally mandates all licensed radio and television stations to allocate a minimum of one hour of free airtime every week to the Government for public education on national policies, programmes, and services. It is within this framework that the Government of Uganda implements the Government Public Education Airtime Programme to enhance citizen access to information on government initiatives and service delivery. In line with this mandate, the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance successfully conducted a sensitization exercise across districts in the Buganda Sub-region from 25 May to 2 June 2026 on the effective utilization of the programme. The exercise focused on strengthening skills in media scheduling, strategic communication, and report writing to enhance public awareness of government programmes and services. The sensitization exercise was a follow-up to a series of earlier engagements during which districts were provided with guidelines on the proper utilization of the Government Public Education Airtime Programme. The exercise covered the districts of Buikwe, Mukono, Nakaseke, Luweero, Nakasongola, Kayunga, and Mityana, bringing together both political and technical leaders, including Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs), District Internal Security Officers (DISOs), and Communications Officers. During the engagements, participants were encouraged to apply the skills acquired to effectively utilize the free government airtime programme in promoting the Government's development agenda, including the Ten-Fold Growth Strategy, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Manifesto (2026–2031), and the National Development Plan (NDP) IV. Speaking to the officials from Buikwe District Local Government during the exercise, Ms. Sylvia Biraahwa, the Assistant Commissioner Communication and Information Dissemination at the Ministry, urged the officials to schedule the programmes in a way that all technical departments benefit. “This airtime is meant for communicating Government services so the Communications Officer, the RDC and the CAO should ensure that a comprehensive schedule is developed where all technical departments are represented,” she added. Ms. Biraahwa also urged the officials to polish their communication skills and package information in a way that ordinary citizens could relate with as the technical jargons would confuse the citizens and defeat the Programme’s purpose. The initiative received positive feedback from officials across the participating Local Governments, including Mr. Ddamba Henry, the Chief Administrative Officer of Mukono District, who applauded the Ministry for the training. “I would like to thank the Ministry for equipping us with these skills. We have had instances of technical officers using jargons but we pledge to improve from today,” he remarked. These sentiments were re-echoed by Mr. Bandeba Festus, the RDC of Nakasongola District who also requested that the free goverment airtime programme be allocated more time. “In Nakasongola, we have been utilizing this airtime well but the only challenge is that the one hour is not enough to communicate all the good things that the Government is doing,” he said. Just like the Local Governments, the radio stations waxed lyrical about the impact that the Government programme had brought to their stations. Mr. Malamwa Nuuh, the Assistant Manager of Mboona FM based in Mityana district painted a picture about this in black and white. “Since we started hosting the free airtime programme at Mboona FM, the number of people that listen to us has increased significantly. We can tell this from the feedback we get and the citizens that come here physically so that we guide them to offices to access these services,” he stated.