Investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja, who is of Ugandan descent, won the 2019 BBC World News Komla Dumor award. He received the news when he was in Uganda.
A three-month training at the BBC in London is part of the package in winning the prestigious award.

I visited him at the BBC on 18 October, 2019 and had a mini-tour.

His TV career began at the age of 23 and he has also worked as a freelance reporter for newspapers in Uganda. He worked two years for a radio station as a presenter and later joined Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. Solomon worked three years for NTV, which is part of the Nation Media Group, the biggest media group in East Africa. Moreover, he has worked for KTN in Nairobi, which is part of the Standard Group. Currently, he works as a news anchor at NBS Television.

He developed his desire for investigative journalism when he was working for NTV. At the time, he wrote a story about how Ugandan children were adopted by people from the U.S. and Europe. Babies were sold. The investigation caused a lot of debate and led to the amendment of the Children’s Act in Uganda. 

BBC Africa Eye worked on an investigation with Solomon Serwanjja to expose one of the reasons why there is shortage of life saving drugs – medicine theft by some medical professionals. The anti-malaria drugs, which are free in Uganda, were sold on the black market in different countries in Africa.

The BBC Africa Eye won the 2019 AIB (Association for International Broadcasting) Investigative Television award for the ‘Stealing from the Sick’ documentary in London on 6 November.

Below is Solomon Serwanjja’s interview with me which was conducted on 5 October, 2019.