Parliamentary business resumes tomorrow (Tuesday) and one of the key items on the agenda will be the discussion of the much-awaited report on the alleged negative coverage of parliament by the media.
Sources within the committee told The Observer last week that the report, compiled by the committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges, is likely to recommend stern action against some media houses whose coverage is perceived to be hostile to parliament.
The actions could include suspension of their journalists from covering parliament. Last year, the committee was directed by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to investigate what she termed negative reporting on parliament by some media houses.
Kadaga and some MPs were angered by the media’s persistent focus on the issue of their perks and benefits such as the then proposed Shs 200m car grant, a planned expenditure of Shs 68m in burial expenses per legislator, and the trip by both speakers and several legislators to the Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) convention in Boston, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles, California.
During the committee investigations, the MPs thrice summoned editors of The Observer, New Vision, Uganda Radio Network (URN) and Red Pepper but only the editors of New Vision appeared before it.
The committee received letters from the lawyers representing The Observer and URN indicating that they had advised their clients not to honour the summons.
“Functions of Parliament are spelt out in Article 79(1) and (3) of the constitution. Committees of Parliament are supposed to act in furtherance of these functions and nothing else. Superintending [over the] editorials of media houses is not related to the functions of Parliament,” read Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi’s letter to the committee, dated October 12, 2016. Rwakafuuzi represented URN.
In their closed-door meeting last week, MPs on the committee chaired by Clement Ongalo Obote noted that their report also handled the proposed amendments to parliament’s rules of procedure as well as proposals on how the Ugandan representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) will be elected so that all shades of opinion in parliament are represented at this regional body.
Currently, Uganda’s nine MPs to EALA are elected on the basis of their party’s numerical strength in the local parliament. But this formula has been sharply criticized by the opposition, who say it largely benefits the NRM.
For instance, of the nine representatives from Uganda, six belong to the NRM, two are members of the opposition while one person is an independent.
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