Ugnadan Parliament is set to launch its Radio station soon as studio setup nears complete.
Chris Obore, the Director for Communication and Public Affairs has defended the move by the institution to establish its own Radio and Television Station, claiming that parliament needs to complement what other private media houses do in reporting its business.
Obore further explains that private stations cannot give parliament 24-hour coverage because they equally have obligations outside parliament. He says parliament needs a platform which will enable it to provide continuous coverage of proceedings in the chambers, committees and related field activities.
He, however, noted that although in the pipeline, the proposed establishment of the Television stations is still sluggish due to lack of funding.
“The Television idea is there, but it is not active because we haven’t found a donor. As parliament we don’t have the money. Our television station is not to stop other TV stations, it is about complementing what those TVs do” Obore argued.
Parliament received funding from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to start up a Radio Station.
The much-awaited studio for the parliament radio station is being set up in the parliament building basement. Obore says that the Parliament Radio is to be launched immediately after procuring the necessary equipment and securing a frequency from Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).
"It has taken us five years to get to this stage. We began with a social-political study, followed by a technical feasibility study that ended with designing the studio; all which ended in November last year," Dison Okumu, the Director Corporate Planning and Strategy at Parliament said.
Parliament intends to roll out the radio station to 22 districts in Uganda according to Okumu.
The Television studio set up is reserved for a second phase that will be executed after the construction of the new Parliamentary Chambers has been completed.