Somalia Media Women Association (SOMWA) is strongly condemning the move by the federal government to banning the independent journalists from covering the federal parliament session on 6 June, 2020 as undemocratic act.
According to journalists in Mogadishu, the parliament top officials have issued a letter informing all independent media that they could not have access to coverage of the Saturday’s session with the justification of COVID-19.
The state-run media has only the permission of reporting the news of the parliament. The government is upholding the article of 32 in the constitution which gives a protection of the journalists’ rights to have a full access to information.
“We see that the government of Somalia is behaving like dictator by ruling out the democratic system and this is absolutely in breach of the country’s constitution.” Maryan Seylac, the executive director of SOMWA said.
SOMWA is asking for the federal government to lift the ban and allow the independent media to the information of the parliament.
