Only 50 journalists OF 250 accredited to cover Parliament will access Parliament in the next 30 days following a move by Parliament to suspend non critical staff and ban visit.
Journalists stage at the parliament main lobby as legislators move out of the chambers after the Speaker's ruling.
Journalists have been restricted from accessing Parliament
for the next thirty days.
This is part of the measure Parliament is undertaking to minimize the risks of
the coronavirus pandemic.
Although a total of 250 journalists are accredited to cover Journalists, with
large media houses like Nation Media Group and Vision Group having over 15
journalists accredited for print, radio and online, the number has been reduced
to 50.
In a communication to Journalists who cover Parliament, Moses Bwalatum a Public
Affairs Officer at parliament indicated that following the new guidelines
put in place to decongest Parliament to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the
Public Affairs department in consultation with Editors has trimmed the numbers
of reporters that cover Parliament.
Access to journalists has been restricted to journalists whose names appear on
the list. This will stay in place for the next 30 days until guided otherwise.
“Media houses allotted four reporters should ensure that they shouldn’t have
more than two Reporters at Parliament at any given time. Please note that
journalists accessing Parliament MUST have and WEAR press tags at all times.”
Bwalatum says in the Statement.
He, however, says the Department of Communications and Public Affairs is at
hand to facilitate all information requests/needs should journalists need any
at this period.
Several journalists have raised concern that they have been left out.
Many will, however, cover plenary on a live broadcast on Uganda Broadcasting Corporation
(UBC).