Journalists seeking to cover parliament are ‘dying’ for transport from MPs- Obore

The Director, Communication and Public Affairs – Parliament of Uganda, Mr Chris Obore.  

The director of communication and public affairs at Parliament Mr Chris Obore has said the decision to lock out journalists without degrees from covering proceeding of the House seeks to “improve reporting on parliamentary affairs”.

Speaking in a televised interview on NBS Thursday Mr Obore said Parliament is complex and requires experience and it is only those with knowledge and experience that shall be allowed to cover the House.

“Many of the journalists insisting to cover Parliament are only seeking to associate with MPs to get transport. I feel angry that today, our profession (journalism) has been reduced to potato growing. Everyone is a journalist,” he said.

“Journalists set the agenda. We shouldn’t have less educated journalists setting the agenda on parliamentary matters,” he said.

Last year Parliament was caught at the centre of a controversy after it wrote to media houses decreeing that it would not accredit journalists who had covered Parliament for more than five years.

The two decisions – locking out journalists without degrees and those who have covered the House for more than five years – according to analysts, is part of the larger plan that seeks to kick out journalist critical of some members and proceeding at the legislative arm of government.

Ms Agnes Nandutu the president of Uganda Parliamentary Press Association (UPPA) and also a senior reporter at NTV, who was denied accreditation despite having required academic qualification and covering Parliament for 15 years, said Mr Obore had become a politician, whose views have been blared by the new found power.

“He was a journalist before he went to Parliament. Would he be where he is if he had been denied a chance to do journalism?” she asked.

“This whole thing is political. You ask him [Mr Obare] why he denied [Mr] Yasin Mugerwa [senior Parliament reporter at Daily Monitor] and [Mr] Sulaiman Kakaire [senior Parliament reporter at the Obsever] accreditation,” she said, adding: “We [UPPA] took a case in court and I would not to go into details of a matter before court.”

Last week Parliament accredited a new set of journalists – for one year – denying those thought to be critical but with required academic levels, permission to cover the House.

Parliament cited Rule 5 – sub rule 1, which demands that all applications challenging orders made by a commission are filed within a period not exceeding three months.