Entertainment

Bring Back Fabiola Activists Petition NTV Uganda Over Sack (Read Full Petition)

By Joseph Lubandi

Posted on May 30, 2015

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While some people are treating former NTV Uganda presenter Anita Fabiola with ridicule after her leaked nudes, a group of people led by Kimbugwe Mohamed have organised a campaign named Bring Back Fabiola and have gained alot of support on their Facebook page ‘Bring Back Fabiola’ from sympathisers.

The movement started as a joke but has grown into a serious campaign which could see Anita Fabiola reinstated. The activists have written a petition to NTV Uganda about Anita Kyarimpa Fabiola hoping to rescue from her troubles.

Here is the full petition written to NTV Uganda:

MANAGING DIRECTOR
NTV UGANDA
P.O.BOX 35933, KAMPALA
UGANDA
DEAR MADAM,

RE: PETITION TO NTV UGANDA MANAGEMENT ABOUT ANITA KYARIMPA A.K.A FABIOLA

We have learnt with deep pain about Ms. Anita Kyarimpa’s forceful resignation from her position as a Presenter of the Be My Date Program at NTV Uganda. This is contained in an email communication circulated to all NTV Uganda staff on 26.05.2015 at 15:13 by Solomon Muhirwa from the HR department. The reason for her forceful exit is given as ‘‘…a result of her nude pictures that have been doing rounds on social media circuit’.

We all know that sexualized violence against women is a soaring trend in Uganda, which is going unabated, yet women-who are our sisters, mothers, daughters, cousins, nieces,
granddaughters – and wives continue in cold silence!

By firing Ms. Kyarimpa, NTV Uganda management does nothing more than cast aspersions on a woman who has already undergone violence (resulting from abused trust by her jilted boyfriend who made her private photos public) at the alter of protecting its values and brand image.

Our intention is not in anyway to compromise your image and professional standards, but rather to beseech you to strike a balance between your valuable ethics and the protection of a human rights abuse victim. Forcing Ms. Kyarimpa to resign is an act of double victimization.

Regardless of the current state of affairs, this is not the time—or any other time, for that matter–for NTV Uganda to pass such a harsh sentence against Ms. Kyarimpa. Our society already stereotypes women celebrities as immoral, insatiable, perverse and initiators of all sexual contacts-abusive or otherwise. That is why, those women celebrities who publicly speak of these matters aren’t believed by even those in positions of authority. That is why their cases are not handled to a fair conclusion-like it was in the recent case of Desire Luzinda in which her angry boyfriend leaked her nude pictures.

Even if NTV Uganda was trying to protect its values and brand, there are far better ways it would have expressed this perspective without necessarily forcing Ms. Kyarimpa to resign. There are good cases from which NTV management should have borrowed a leaf.

In a recent case involving a news anchor Sanyu Robina Mweruka, The Vision Group professionally handled her case, protecting her marriage and the job at the same time. Yes! Your policy and code of conduct may be different from that of any other media house, but the underlying desire to have a support mechanism that protects employees who fall victim to any form of human rights abuse should be universal.

Dismissal of staff under these circumstances is not a solution. That way more of the celebrity staff will fall culprit and this will lead to a high female staff turnover, loss of young talent and a decline in revenues in the long run. NTV Uganda should aim at protecting the female celebrity staff who fall victim than condemn them at the joy of their abusers.
Ms. Kyarimpa is already going through a lot of psychological pain as a result of this experience.

As a matter of fact, her forceful resignation has a long term impact on her future relationships, profession, and, by extension, her credibility. This as a whole is a slap in the face of a group of people who are already being marginalized by the
society.

Henceforth therefore, we, the undersigned; who call women our kin, our friends, our co-workers and bosses, our colleagues, and our partners demand that NTV Uganda Management:

Reinstates Ms. Kyarimpa into her position as a presenter and supports her to grow further in the NTV Uganda ranks, like any other employee.
Revise its internal HR policies to protect its staff, especially female staff who may fall victim to jilted lovers, rather than force them to resign.
Based on the facts around Ms. Kyarimpa’s case, design and run a gender-sensitive campaign to eliminate all stereotypes against female celebrity staff at NTV.

We all love NTV Uganda and are ardent supporters of its programs. However, we also note with concern that Ms. Kyarimpa has a right to privacy (a personal life), employment, association, protection, fair hearing and a host of other rights as stipulated in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution-the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, which is the Supreme Law of the Land, as amended in 2005! Therefore, we should support her during these difficult times.

KIMBUGWE MOHAMED
Lead Petitioner
Concerned Citizens For The Protection Of Human
Rights Abuse Victims
0753 179 503
[email protected]
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY