Parliament adopts new media bill

PARLIAMENT - The Lower Chamber of Parliament yesterday unanimously passed the law governing the media after agreeing to all amendments made by a joint ad hoc committee. Media practitioners’ watched expectantly from the public gallery of the Kimihurura-based parliament, as the lawmakers calmly voted for the motion endorsing the media bill from the first article to the last. “The law we are going to endorse has taken so long  we are going to make our final decision because media practitioners and the government have for long waited for this law,” Speaker Rose Mukantabana, told the lawmakers before they started casting their votes. The law was voted unanimously by the lawmakers by calling their names and according to Bernadette Kanzayire, the chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on political affairs, all articles in the bill were thoroughly studied in various consultations.