With the upcoming campaigns for senatorial polls scheduled in a fortnight, public media houses stand warned against taking sides by providing equal coverage to all candidates without fear or favour in respect of the media ethics.
According to the Media High Council Executive Secretary Patrice Mulama, it’s the constitutional obligation for the government media outlets to give equal airtime and space to all contestants to ensure free and fair elections.
“On behalf of the MHC, I appear to all public media houses to provide equal airtime and space to all candidates and to avoid giving publicity to some candidates to the detriment of others as this would be unconstitutional” He underscored.
Mulama observed that in the last presidential elections, all public media outlets under the Umbrella of ORINFOR, now Rwanda Broadcasting Agency, gave equal publicity to all candidates and argued the agency to replicate the same fairness during the senatorial polls.
He pointed out that the MHC has it among her other mandates to monitor the coverage of all forms elections by public media organs in the country to ensure free and fair competition for public office by all candidates who qualify through the National Electoral Commission guidelines.
The elections for the 12 senators to represent all provinces and the City of Kigali are scheduled to take place on September 26, while government and private institutions of higher learning will pick their representatives the following day.
According to Article 82 of the Rwandan constitution, the senate is composed of 26 Senators elected for a term of eight years not renewable meaning the tenure of service for the Senate President Vincent Biruta and colleagues definitively ends soon.
The elections for the 12 senators to represent all provinces and the City of Kigali are scheduled to take place on September 26, while government and private institutions of higher learning will pick their representatives the following day.
Pursuant to article 82 paragraph 2, eight are appointed by the President, four are designated by the Consultative Forum of Political Parties, and two come from the private and government institutions of higher learning
Rwanda political pundits believe that Dr. Vincent Biruta who has been heading the legislature for more than a decade and is a President of main opposition party Social Democratic Party (PSD) is likely to get another high profile posting to ensure amicable relations between the ruling RPF and the entire democratic opposition parties.
In fact an insider who preferred anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, predicts a major cabinet reshuffle soon after the senatorial elections to accommodate bigwigs outside the RPF arena.
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