AMDISS Snubs Withdrawal Of Media Bills From Government The Association for Media Development in South Sudan, (AMDISS) has rejected the withdrawal of the South Sudan media bills which are currently with the government pending legislation.15 October 2011 Dr. Hakim Moi during the lecture at AMDISS premises in Juba [©Gurtong]By Waakhe Simon Wudu JUBA, 14th October 2011 [Gurtong] - The Association for Media Development in South Sudan, (AMDISS) has rejected the withdrawal of the South Sudan media bills which are currently with the government pending legislation.
While delivering a lecture to media activists on the status of the bills today, Dr. Hakim Moi of AMDISS explained that, the bills are already examined by the South Sudan Ministry of Justice and forwarded to the Ministry of Information for consultation. The Ministry of Information will immediately forward it to the Council of Ministers for deliberation then be presented at the National Assembly for legislation. Last month, the Agency for Independent Media, (AIM) demanded for the withdrawal of the bills, saying it had not been well consulted in the public domain. However, AMDISS rejected the move, describing it as “misleading”. “We in AMDISS have no objection for anybody to consult on the media bill, however, for AIM to come and say that they want to withdraw the media bill in order for the media to consult on it is completely misleading,” Dr. Hakim stressed. He added that, “the media bill is available in the public domain. If anybody was interested to criticize it they can have access to it, write and make submissions about the bill to anybody including calling for public discussions to address the issues they think are contentious within the media bill.” Early this year, the government had assured that it will pass the three media bills; South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation Bill, Right to Access of Information Bill and the Media Council Bill before the country’s independence. The bills were withdrawn in 2009 while in deliberation process by the then Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly following allegations that, its contents were changed after the Council of Minister’s deliberations, hence prompting President Salva Kiir to order for the reverse of the bill to the then Ministry of Legal Affairs. Posted in: Home, Media News -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
