Kadaga castigates the executive for not implementing laws

May 22, 2019

“It is really bothersome that we make laws in good faith but so many things aren’t in place, for instance this tribunal. I am going to write to the President and remind him about the Media Tribunal,”

MEDIA                PARLIAMENT
 
KAMPALA-The Speaker of  Parliament Rebecca  Kadaga has castigated the executive for failing  to implement the laws passed by Parliament which paves way for some government entities to excessively exercise their mandate.
 
Kadaga said this recently while meeting the leadership of journalists covering parliament under their umbrella body Uganda Parliamentary Press Association (UPPA) led  by UPPA  president Moses Mulondo, who informed her that the failure by government to institute the Uganda Communications Tribunal (UCC) tribunal and the National Broadcasting council (NBC) has lead  UCC to issue directives that are not in its mandate.
 
Mulondo also  informed the Speaker on the general poor remuneration for journalists in the country and the need for Parliament and government generally, to do something about it.
 
"Apart from a few big media houses in the country, nearly all the other media houses in the country pay journalists very poorly. Even the big media houses are struggling and therefore unable to pay journalists what they deserve. A big number of big media houses have been in a cost cutting mode in the last four years." Mulonda narrated.
 
"Most of the journalists in the country are actually not staff but freelance journalists who are paid per story they publish/broadcast. This category of journalists is in the worst state, it is common  to find a journalist earning as low as 80,000 on his/her bank account as their monthly earning," added, Mulondo.
 
Kadaga said "Iam going to write to the President Yoweri Museveni who is the appointing authority to constitute the tribunal where the aggrieved parties in the media industry can complain. Am also going to write to the Minister of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)  Frank K. Tumwebaze to constitute the media council to allow stakeholders in the industry operate freely within the laws."
 
She explained "It is really bothersome that we make laws in good faith but so many things aren't in place, for instance this tribunal. I am going to write to the President and remind him about the Media Tribunal,"
 
She added : "There should be a place for dialogue so that you don't just go into a clash with other actors. On space, we still have a problem. I find it ironical that the World Press Freedom day came when there were so many problems happening to journalists and I do hope we shall continuously address them so these cases go down."
 
Kadaga pointed out:  "It is something we are going to continue discussing about I will  speak with one of our committees to see if we can come up with a motion to debate  and come up with a recommendation."
 
"Today it is journalists, another day it will be MPs among others. I think it is an important area which we need to address. I will not stop speaking out, much as   they threaten me, I am ready for anything," said Kadaga.
 
UCC Tribunal
 
 Article75 of the Uganda constitution outlines the Establishment of the tribunal and office of technical advisers.
 
"A tribunal to be known as the Uganda Communications Tribunal, consisting of a judge and two other persons appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Judicial Service commission. The judge shall be the chairperson of the tribunal."
 
Last months, Godfrey Mutabazi, the UCC executive director,   ordered for the immediate suspension of 39 producers, heads of programming and heads of news, accusing them of breaching the minimum broadcasting standards.
 
In the statement, Mutabazi threatened the dozen with sanctions including revoking operating licenses if they don't suspend the mentioned category of staff that he accused of airing misleading content and creating alarm to the public.
 
The warning followed media live broadcast of proceedings of the arrest of Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine and subsequent protests that broke out in Kampala and several of its suburbs.
 
"On media improvement allowances I am going to discuss with the commission because if we are able to do things for other people who aren't at Parliament, what about journalists who are here?
 
One of the areas I want you to improve, sometimes you meet MPs in the corridor and ask them something and it becomes Parliament's decision yet it is a personal opinion.
 
"I want you to differentiate between decisions of Parliament and opinion MPs, sometimes you pre-empt our reports even if a committee is seated and has taken a view, they should come back to us to debate and take a decision. So it is important you wait for the tail end of our decision before you come up with position that this is what Parliament is saying."
 
"There are other measures we are going to take because we don't even have our own media room, nobody is monitoring what is being said. Sometimes we expect your editors to call us and say there is this story that is coming but you just wake up and something is in the press in other countries, there is a better relationship, it isn't just of surprise. I hope we can work along those lines."
 
 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});