South Sudan agrees to enact media law in the first parliamentary sittings

By Ngor Arol Garang

May 18, 2010 (WUNROK)-The regional government of Southern Sudan has officially confirmed giving priority to some of the laws in the first parliamentary sittings once the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly is opened including media act.

Caretaker minister of information and broadcasting service in the southern Sudan government, Paul Mayom Akech, told Sudan Tribune from Juba that administration of his government has made it a position to include media law as one of the first laws to be enacted into law in the first parliamentary sittings.

It has been a desire of the government of southern Sudan to enact media act into law since last year but the ministry of legal affairs and constitutional development was still reviewing it, referring to the media act. It has finished and it is ready to be tabled before the members of the parliaments to deliberate it for approval, he said.

The minister’s remark came following number of calls from different media houses in the regional capital Juba and states on government to fulfill its commitment to protect press freedom by enacting the media act into law and take disciplinary actions against violators.

The media have also in many occasions called on political party and their affiliated organizations to show commitment requesting them to direct their cadres not to attack and arbitrary arrest media persons.

I don’t suppose we can have complete press freedom in our country. To protect the press freedom, the culture of impunity must come to an end and the government with its agents must implement commitments to respecting individual rights to freedom of speech, expression and assemble as enshrined in the constitution of South Sudan compatible with central constitution, said Ezekiel Ajang, a freelance journalist in the regional capital of Juba.

Ajang said journalists are consistently attacked mostly by agitating political activists and security personnel who do not observe provision of the constitution.

I think press freedom will continue to be challenged in our country particularly in Southern Sudan. Because one big problem is that government is not demarcating boundaries of rights. They have slept on media law to pass it into law since formation of the government of southern five years ago and the same government is regularly accusing media of not following traditional journalism, he said.

The government since came to existence has not passed any media law and it is the same government expressing concern showing signs of being unhappy with our coverage. We have become victims of our coverage all the time without justifications, he said.

However, an official from the government of southern Sudan who asked not to be named said acknowledge media concern but media sector should first and foremost remain free from indulging in sectional and regional politics which do not allow professional reporting. Journalists are no longer exercising ethnics of journalism. They are too biased, sectional and always susceptible to influential coverage that does not show neutral and professional reporting.

Media as mouth piece of the general public as well as leg and eye to the ordinary people should not accept to be influenced by any political leaders whatsoever. They must work independently while covering government or private activities all the times regardless of political relationship that existence between them and political leaders.

They must do their work in more respected and balanced way. If they adopt this position and show consistency, I think nobody including the government will ever attempt to deny them right to access information as part of press freedom if there are no empty spaces that attracts criticism and allegations of arrest with impunity of some media members.

Journalists or reporters are therefore being targeted because they are not law abiding groups. They think they are journalists to write and publish whatever that comes their way, he explained.

(ST)