Keep public informed

ON MONDAY the National Executive Conference of the Movement opened at Kyankwanzi. The press were invited to cover the opening and keynote address by President Museveni but were unfortunately barred after a last minute change of mind by the organisers. This was a disappointment for the general public who were very interested in the proceedings at Kyankwanzi. In part this was because they were expecting the NEC meeting to launch some kind of debate on the pros and cons of a return to multi-partyism. However, according to a Movement spokesman, President Museveni in his speech said that NEC should not go into a discussion on pluralism but should instead resolve that people should forward their views to the Constitutional Review Commission. This is a very complex issue and one that demands great attention and concentration. The public need to know the views of the President in detail. The press did not expect to cover all the NEC proceedings but they did expect to hear the President’s keynote address and to report it exhaustively for the benefit of the general public. As it is both the media had to be satisfied with a cursory statement from the Movement Secretariat. Yet this has merely left the public hungry for more news. There will now inevitably be further uninformed speculation on the proceedings at Kyankwanzi. If journalists had been allowed to attend the opening of NEC, there would have been more comprehensive information, greater understanding of the proceedings and finally a more objective public attitude to the topic of whether to open up the issue of pluralism to popular debate.