Tanzanian billionaire Rostam Aziz to reopen Ugandan outlets shut by Museveni's son

Yoweri Museveni has authorised Nation Media Group to resume operations in Uganda, roughly a month after the president's son ordered its outlets closed.

The decision was announced in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday by Taifa Group, the investment company owned by Tanzanian billionaire Rostam Aziz, which took majority control of NMG in March.

Aziz met Museveni at State House in Entebbe on July 17. He thanked the president for the authorisation and also thanked General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, chief of the Uganda People's Defence Forces, for what he described as support during the engagements that led to the decision.

Muhoozi is Museveni's son. He is also the man who shut the outlets down.

What was closed

Ugandan authorities took NTV Uganda, Spark TV and the Daily Monitor off air and off the newsstands in late June. Muhoozi, who commands the armed forces, was reported at the time as declaring that he does not believe in a free press.

The Daily Monitor is Uganda's most prominent independent newspaper. NTV Uganda and Spark TV are among the country's most watched broadcast channels. All three sit inside Nation Media Group.

Aziz did not address the circumstances of the closure in Tuesday's statement. He framed the reopening as a diplomatic achievement.

"This decision demonstrates the value of dialogue, mutual respect and regional cooperation," he said, adding that Taifa Group would keep investing in opportunities that create jobs and strengthen institutions across East Africa.

He also said the group supports NMG's commitment to fair, balanced, independent and responsible journalism, and that a strong media sector promotes national development and good governance.

How he came to own it

Aziz bought control of NMG in one of the largest media transactions in East African history.

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development announced on March 10 that it would sell its entire holding in NPRT Holdings Africa Limited to Taarifa Ltd, a vehicle wholly owned by Aziz. NPRT holds 92,618,177 ordinary shares in Nation Media Group, or 54.08% of issued share capital.

The sale ended a 66-year association. The Aga Khan IV founded East African Newspapers in 1959, launching the Kiswahili title Taifa Leo to give an independent voice to the African majority under colonial rule. The group grew into the largest independent media house in East and Central Africa, operating across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, reaching more than 62 million digital users and employing over 1,000 journalists and media staff.

Taarifa said at the time that it would not make a takeover offer for the remaining 45.92% and would not delist the company from the Nairobi Securities Exchange, where it has traded since 1973. Aziz pledged to uphold editorial independence while accelerating digital investment.

NMG held its first annual general meeting under the new ownership on June 26. Chairman Joe Muganda said on Tuesday the company would focus on rebuilding its presence in Uganda, restoring its platforms responsibly and strengthening local content.

Who Aziz is

Forbes named Aziz Tanzania's first dollar billionaire in 2013.

His Taifa Group holds interests across telecommunications, mining, energy, infrastructure, aviation, media, logistics, agriculture, real estate and industrial development. He partnered with Madagascar's Axian Group on the 2022 acquisition of Millicom's Tanzanian operations, Tigo and Zantel.

His largest single project outside Tanzania is Taifa Gas, which is building a liquefied petroleum gas terminal at the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone in Mombasa. The facility carries a cost of about $130 million and was commissioned by Kenyan President William Ruto in 2023, who described it as the largest private foreign direct investment in Kenya since 1977.

He is a former member of parliament for Tanzania's ruling CCM party and a longstanding party financier, and has maintained close relations with successive Tanzanian presidents including Samia Suluhu Hassan.

He has been here before

Media is not new territory for him. Aziz co-founded Mwananchi Communications Limited around the turn of the century and helped launch Mwananchi, The Citizen and Mwanaspoti. Nation Media Group later acquired those titles. He retains interests in Habari Corporation, another Tanzanian media house.

That history produces an unusual arrangement. Tuesday's statement was carried by The Citizen, a newspaper Aziz founded, published by Mwananchi Communications, the company he built and sold, now a subsidiary of the group he controls.

Neither Taifa Group nor Nation Media Group has said what conditions, if any, attach to the resumption of operations in Uganda, or when the closed outlets will return to air.