Two reporters of The New Times were over the weekend forcibly driven out of a public lecture in Duha training centre, Rwamagana District. The incident happened on Saturday when Johnston Busingye, the President of the High Court was briefing more than 160 Prisons Cadet trainees about the collaboration between prisons and the judiciary. Busingye had invited the reporters to accompany him to the lecture. The photographer and a reporter were called out of the briefing room after several minutes of the lecture, and were told they had no right to cover such stories. ``We cannot allow you to write anything from here without a written permission from the Minister of Internal Security, `` one of the trainers told the reporters, adding that the Minister himself had given such a lecture but did not bring any reporter with him. Efforts by Busingye to intervene proved futile as the officers clad in National Police uniforms were adamant saying they didn’t want to reveal their trainees` identities before they pass-out. They threatened the photographer and forced him to delete all the pictures he had taken on the spot and warned the reporter to write anything regarding the lecture. ``This is unbelievable, `` said George Barya, the photographer, adding that this was a public lecture given in the public’s interest and there should be no boundaries for journalists to report on such issues. ``They should at least reduce that kind of tightness to allow journalists access to information,” he said. Efforts to talk to both the Ministers of Internal security and of Information for comment were futile by press time as they did not pick their phones. After the three months training, the trainees are expected to work in National Prison Services, currently changed to Rwanda Correctional Services to match their work with the government goals. The Saturday lecture was meant to emphasize that prisoners should be treated as people with individual rights Ends
