The website of The Independent Magazine briefly went offline due to a delay in renewing its domain name registration. A check on Uganda’s domain registry at whois.co.ug on Tuesday morning showed that the website was inaccessible.
However, a subsequent check later in the day confirmed that the website’s registration had been renewed, extending its validity until October 3, 2024. Despite this renewal, the website’s content remained unavailable.
The domain name, independent.co.ug, has been active since its initial registration on October 2, 2007, and its most recent renewal date was October 3, 2023. The registrant of the domain is David Hamya, representing Independent Publications Ltd, located in Kampala, Uganda, with a street address on Kanjokya Street.
It is noteworthy that such an incident occurred for one of the country’s prominent news websites, which is owned and managed by the well-respected global journalist Andrew Mwenda. The issue at hand pertained to the renewal of the domain name, which costs only 120,000 Ugandan shillings annually through Computer Frontiers International.
The Independent Magazine was founded in 2007 by Andrew Mwenda, who serves as the owner, editor, and publisher of the news magazine. The website’s domain was originally registered on October 2, 2007, marking its longstanding presence in the online sphere.
