By; Jjunju Francis

22nd Jan. 2020

The anticipated dream by the 10th Parliament to have its own Radio and Television Station has to date failed to come to fulfillment according to the speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga.

In 2018, Parliament received over 350 million Shs from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to start the two mediums of communication with anticipation to complement private media houses in reporting parliamentary work.

They said that private stations cannot give parliament 24-hour coverage because they equally have obligations outside parliament that is why Parliament needs a platform which will enable it provide continuous coverage of proceedings in the chambers, committees and related field activities.

At the launch of a Public App called “BUNGENI” that will allow public participation in the formulation of bills Kadaga wondered why they have been denied a frequency to date to do national duties.

The Uganda Communications Commission UCC is the regulatory agency mandated to license any media company in Uganda.

In 2018, Dison Okumu, the Director Corporate Planning and Strategy at Parliament said Jowat Enterprises Uganda was awarded the contract to set up the Parliament Radio , done the feasibility and the procumbent of equipment.

In Africa, the Parliament of Zambia runs its own TV and Canada in Europe called the Cable Public Affairs Channel – CPAC which is devoted to coverage of public and government affairs including carrying full uninterrupted feed of proceedings of the House of Commons of Canada.

There are more than 100 radio stations in Uganda, most of which are based in Kampala.

According to the 2014 Population and Housing census, radio is the most popular form of mass media in Uganda.


Wednesday 22nd January 2020 11:53:58 AM