Media Services Bill 2016 hits more snags

LYDIA SHEKIGHENDA in Dodoma

IN a dramatic turn of events, media stakeholders yesterday shunned the meeting scheduled for airing their views on the Media Services Bill, 2016 as the committee Chairman said they will go on with their job.

The stakeholders’ hearing was earlier scheduled for October 19, this year, but the Parliamentary Committee on Social Services and Community Development had to extend the meeting for ten more days to allow the stakeholders to study the document.
The Committee’s Chairman, Mr Peter Serukamba, however, told journalists here that, the unwillingness by media stakeholders to air their views on the bill will not stop the lawmakers from doing their job.
“This has been a trend since 1993, whenever the bill is tabled in the National Assembly the media stakeholders have been demanding the document to be withdrawn and given more time. We cannot continue like this,” Mr Serukamba said.
He said that all the stakeholders were given official invitation for the hearing but the majority of those who confirmed to have received it, demanded for the bill to be pushed forward while others didn’t either respond or show up for the hearing.
The lawmaker named the organisations which confirmed to have received the invitation but demanded more time as Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), Union of Tanzania Press Clubs (UTPC), Media Institute of Southern Africa-Tanzania (MISA- TAN) and Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC).
He, however, noted that the committee has received written views from the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) and a few individuals.
“We are going to work on the views presented to us by TLS and some other individuals… the committee is scheduled to meet with the Minister of Information, Arts, Sports and Culture, Mr Nape Nnauye on Monday (tomorrow) to go through the document before it is tabled in the National Assembly.”
He further explained that when the bill is tabled in Parliament for the first reading, it becomes a public document thus it was upon the stakeholders to go through it and share their concerns with the committee members.
Mr Serukamba added that according to Parliamentary regulations, the Office of the National Assembly was only responsible for notifying the stakeholders about the hearing and not otherwise.
He faulted the media stakeholders for deliberately delaying the tabling of the bill which is crucial for both stakeholders and the country.
“The hearing was scheduled for October 19th, this year, but the stakeholders decided to reserve their views, they did the same last year when the bill was tabled for the first reading and pushed for it to be withdrawn,” Mr Serukamba observed.
He added: “The government has been listening to the stakeholders for about 23 years now; we cannot continue with this trend, I believe that the stakeholders concede with the document thus why they didn’t show up for hearing.”
Last week, the Parliamentary Committee on Social Services and Community Development Chairman, Mr Serukamba, gave the stakeholders until October 29 to appear before the committee to air their views, although the stakeholders had earlier requested to be given three months to work on the document.
The media organisations which appeared before the committee on October 19, this year, included representatives from the Media Owners Association (MOAT), Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), Union of Tanzania Press Clubs (UTPC), Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF), Media Institute of Southern Africa- Tanzania (MISA- TAN), Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) and National Organisation for Legal Assistance (NOLA).
According to stakeholders, they were not against the Bill but they wanted it improved for the benefit of all journalists in the country.