Bunge begins session on Tuesday, broadcasts under control

FAUSTINE KAPAMA in Dodoma

National Assembly Deputy Speaker, Dr Tulia Ackson.

PARLIAMENT begins its session here on Tuesday by controlling broadcasts of its sessions using Clean Feed programme before being aired by other radio and television stations It also begins using a biometric system to identify all persons in order to enhance security.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker, Dr Tulia Ackson, visited the debating chamber on Monday, where she was briefed, among other issues, the new sitting arrangement for Members of the Parliament (MPs) and renovations made.

Accompanied by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Dr Thomas Kashilila and other parliamentary officials, Dr Ackson was also taken to the control room, where she was briefed on how the Clean Feed programme that would be used to disseminate frequencies to other television stations would operate.

Under the new system, if independent radio and television stations would need to broadcast live Bunge sessions, they would need to hook frequencies of the Parliament, which start effective this budget session to process information on its own before circulating the same to other media organs.

For that matter, radio and television stations would not be necessitated to install broadcast systems inside the debating chamber and, instead, they would receive the signals through the satellite for public consumption.

After such brief visit, Dr Kashilila told journalists that the registration for all MPs would be conducted using the new biometric system by being finger printed instead of using papers. “This will help us to know the exact number of Members of Parliament attending sessions each day.

This system will also ease the voting process where needed, as opposed to previous days,” he said, adding that all the MPs would be fully educated on the new system.

Dr Kashilila disclosed further that even other guests, including journalists, would be registered using the same system to improve security considering the fact that between 1,000 and 2,000 people visit the parliament grounds every day.

A biometric system is a technological system that uses information about a person, or other biological organism, to identify that person. Biometric systems rely on specific data about unique biological traits in order to work effectively.