The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) has dismissed Frank Gashumba’s application to register a copyright for the works titled “Omalako Jajja Tova Ku Main Sigala Ku Ballot: Jajja We Command You to Stand Again in 2026 and Beyond: Bazzukulu ba Museveni.”
The works in question feature a silhouette of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni along with the phrases “Omalako Jajja Tova Ku Main Sigala Ku Ballot” and “Jajja, We command you to stand again in 2026 & beyond.” These are the subject of the current copyright dispute.
According to Gashumba’s signed application dated May 16, 2023, and filed on May 18, 2023, he claims to have authored the works on November 5, 2022, after conceiving the idea in September 2022.
However, on June 5, 2023, Hajjat Hadijah Uzeiye Namyalo filed an objection to the registration, asserting that she was the original creator of the works, having used them as early as October 19, 2022—predating Gashumba’s claimed date of authorship.
Further complicating the matter, on July 17, 2023, Kitatta Ibrahim Almalik also filed an objection. He claimed authorship of the disputed works through an article he wrote titled “Omalako; Jajja Tova Ku Main: The Ideology of Museveni’s Bazzukulu.” The article was registered under copyright number UG/C/2023/6 and published in the Daily Monitor on January 13, 2023, in the Opinions section.
Gashumba stated that the development of the artwork took place between October and November 4, 2022. During that period, he approached the Office of the National Chairman (ONC) of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) through his company, Sarafina Events Ltd., offering to print T-shirts and campaign materials.
He claims he presented his artistic works and proposed slogans for potential use on campaign materials, pending ONC approval. According to Gashumba, his company was awarded a tender to print campaign materials. He maintains that while he was paid for printing services, he was not commissioned or contracted by ONC to develop the artistic works, which he asserts were independently created.
In her statutory declaration filed on July 24, 2023, Namyalo, the head of the ONC, confirmed that Gashumba, through Sarafina Events Ltd., approached her office to assist with branding for awareness campaigns. She said she hired him to provide branding proposals and that the phrase “Omalako Jajja Tova Ku Main” was coined by her and her team as a result of collective brainstorming.
Namyalo added that Gashumba was fully compensated for his contributions, with payment receipts from his company provided as evidence.
The Assistant Registrar observed that no commissioning contract or sufficient evidence was presented to prove that Gashumba was specifically hired to develop the disputed artistic works.
“The receipts adduced indicate that Gashumba was paid to print T-shirts. Printing T-shirts is not the same as developing artistic works for incorporation on those T-shirts. In the absence of written contracts or other sufficient evidence, I am unable to find that Namyalo commissioned him to author the disputed work,” the registrar noted.
The registrar further observed that Gashumba’s silhouette of President Museveni is a transformation of a photo taken during the 2019 anti-corruption walk, as admitted by Namyalo. A side-by-side comparison reveals strong resemblance.
“The applicant has not provided any evidence to prove that the copyright holder of the original image authorized him to make adaptations, transformations, or modifications. Consequently, he cannot claim copyright in the silhouette, as doing so would constitute infringement,” the registrar ruled.
“Based on the analysis above, Gashumba is not the author and cannot apply for registration of the disputed works. There is also no evidence that Namyalo commissioned the applicant to develop the disputed works,” Registrar Burungi concluded.
Burungi ruled that the available evidence is insufficient to determine the true author of the disputed works.
