Expert advises on govt advertising wrangles

By Mike Sebalu

Economic experts have advised government and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to seek common ground for everybody to survive.

This comes in the wake of a contentious presidential directive that mandates all government advertising to be channeled solely through the state-owned Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) and the Vision Group.

The directive further threatened serious sanctions against any accounting officer who would deviate from the same.

Fred Muhumuza, a development consultant tells KFM that there is need for the government to clearly communicate what the directive is intended to achieve. This, he says, could help diffuse the tension and suspicion between the two parties.

“Governemnt needs other private companies to send its messages to the population but there should be a way of getting to a table for engagement because it looks like government did not communicate the intention,” Muhumuza said.

In protest of what they called an unconstitutional directive, the Uganda Editors’ Guild has since announced a boycott of all government press briefings and news events by private media houses

The meeting between government and media owners is scheduled for August, at Statehouse Entebbe to discuss the issue of fair competition and media rights,

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