Journalists Can Cover Elections With Company IDs Not Media Council Accreditation – Electoral Commission Says

Posted by: Eninu William in Uganda news January 11, 2021

The Uganda Electoral Commission has said in a statement that the only requirement for journalists to cover the elections will be their work IDs. This therefore stands in contrast to the earlier statement issued by the Uganda Media Council. The media Council had ordered that only accredited journalists will cover elections.

According to the commission, journalists who have not re-registered are now free to do their duties during the elections. This means they don’t have to fear arrest by law enforcement authorities

In a circular by the EC vice chairperson, Aisha Lubega to city and district returning officers, she advised them to proceed and register journalists. She said as long as they have IDs from their media houses, then there shouldn’t be any problem.

“Media personnel will only be required to present a valid identification/press cards issued by their media houses. This is in order to access the polling stations and respective district/city tally centers,” she said.

Why the last minute change;

EC’s statement however came after editors from various media houses challenged the legitimacy, timeliness, justification, and relevancy of the Uganda Media Council’s registration of the journalists.

The minister of ICT and National Guidance, Judith Nabakooba, encouraged up country journalists to reach out to RDCs for approval.

She also asked the EC to give guidance in case electoral process exceeds curfew time.

“These are few days but they are critical whereby one cannot say that let’s go to our beds and comeback tomorrow. Agents will not accept that so the EC should be able to plan accordingly and give directives”. She told the media yesterday during a press conference.

The question however, is that, will security authorities respect this authorization from electoral commission?

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