Lawmakers ‘have no right’ to call for press conferences – spokesman

JUBA – The chairperson of the information committee and spokesman at South Sudan’s Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) John Agany Deng has claimed that lawmakers are not allowed by the transitional constitution to call for press conferences without prior approval from his committee.

This comes after members of National Security Service (NSS) detained eight journalists in Juba on Tuesday for turning up to cover a press conference called upon in the parliament’s premise by opposition lawmakers mostly from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny.

The lawmakers had called for the press conference to address issues to do with the lack of progress in the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement, as well as the conditions that the lawmakers are living in since the formation of the revitalized parliament.

Immediately as they start covering the press conference, members of the national security turned up, disrupted the presser, expelled the lawmakers, and then arrested eight journalists and a prominent activist who told the security men that they were doing their work and have done nothing wrong.

Speaking to the VOA’s South Sudan In Focus, Hon. Agany said the detained journalists have done mistake for turning up for a press conference that was called without his prior approval and stated that lawmakers do not have the right to call for press conferences in South Sudan.

“The honorable members of this national legislative assembly have no right to call for [press] conference before they manifested it to the leadership of the assembly. That is not part of the law so this is done after me because I have gone for a workshop and I was not informed of any conference and if they did it after me, it is their answerable responsibility. I have nothing to answer,” he told VOA’s John Tanza.

“The journalists are not there to respond to any honorable member of parliament without making prior confirmation to the leadership. It is not part of the law. So for me I have no knowledge because I have been to a workshop,” the angry lawmaker stated.

He said though he was not presence at the premise of the press conference, he said the press conference was an illegal activity which he said was done without the prior approval of the leadership of the assembly and said it was a crime for the journalists to turn up to cover it.

“I only heard about that incident and it is an illegal activity by the way, it was not part of the parliamentary procedure. So, any member of parliament has no right to summon any person in South Sudan so as to cover a press conference without a prior consultation,” he said.

“It is a crime because the information is not clarified to me. The information is not legal because the information as to why a press conference should be held must first be clarified to me. In this country there is a rule of law and they must be followed by everyone like elsewhere in the world. You cannot hold a press conference which can cause anarchy in the country,” he added.

According to the Media Authority Act of 2018 accredited Journalists, shall have the right to attend briefings, press conference, press releases by the government or public sector organizations and others events organized for the press, and inclusion in official visits by the state and government officials.