Autonomy should drive the public broadcasting debate

There is an ongoing discussion in parliament on the draft law that seeks to transform the state-owned broadcaster Orinfor, into public broadcasting services with a new name, Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA).At one time the discussions were slowed by insufficient guarantees of RBA’s autonomy.As the debate is expected to go to the plenary this week, the most important thing is to pass a bill that streamlines the public broadcasting service.If the legislation is drafted in a manner that fails to acknowledge RBA’s status as a special agency that requires independence [as realised by lawmakers and stakeholders] it could mean Orinfor will not achieve its ambition to become a public broadcaster – one that serves the public as a whole and is accountable to the public.If it calls for reworking of the current draft bill, so be it. One alternative is that the Public broadcaster can register as a private company and operate as a private entity with the government as a shareholder, since the government is representative of the public. In the interest of the ORINFOR, the public and government, it is important that efforts to turn the institution into an autonomous public broadcasting service are not slowed down. Ends

Opinions

Autonomy should drive the public broadcasting debate