Enforcement of new Media Council Guidelines comes into effect on December 31st

All journalists and media practitioners without formal accreditation from the Uganda Media Council shall not be recognized by police and sister security agencies, during the coverage of political campaigns and other electoral events, the new Deputy IGP Maj Gen Paul Lokech has said.

The enforcement starts with effect from tomorrow Thursday 31.12.2020.

According to Lokech, the accreditation process which has been open to all media practitioners expires on the 31.12.2020.

“As we had indicated in our communication of 14.12.2020, the accreditation will help us distinguish journalists who are compliant from those who are holding out. The Media Council has generated a list of all journalists who have been accredited, registered and are compliant with valid Media Council press badges, which shall operate as a working tool by the bonafide journalists” he noted.

Gen. Lokech added that all accredited journalists and media practitioners, must visibly wear their press badges at all times, while covering the political campaigns and electoral events, and that they should also know that the media press badges are personalized and therefore, non-transferable.

“We would like to further remind all accredited journalists that our zonal and territorial commanders have been availed the list of all successfully accredited journalists for ease of verification.  This arrangement will help us accord journalists better protection over the remaining electoral process” Gen Lokech explained.

He urged all journalists who are subjected to any form of physical abuse and other forms of harassment in the course of their duties to report their cases to the Media Crimes Department at CID headquarters.