Parliament hands over its radio to Orinfor

Barely a year after its launch, Radio Inteko has been handed over to public broadcaster, the Rwanda Bureau of Information and Broadcasting (Orinfor), in a ceremony held in the Senate Plenary Hall yesterday. Radio Inteko was established by Parliament in March last year.Local Government Minister James Musoni, who was at the ceremony, said the decision was prompted by the President’s concerns over whether government institutions should own radios.President Paul Kagame, at a recent media briefing, castigated government institutions owning radio stations while responding to questions about the matter. Musoni said, “That was the trigger, but initially, other institutions had requested and we refused.”The minister said there is no need to create more government radios, adding that Orinfor will cater for institutions that deserve coverage. “It is not only Radio Inteko that is going to be under Radio Rwanda. What we are going to do is make sure that Radio Rwanda has different FMs that serve institutions that deserve airtime,” Musoni said.He said the takeover was in the spirit of good governance and hoped Parliament would be served better under ‘one-stop centre’ Radio Rwanda. Radio Inteko also serves the Ombudsman’s office, the Office of the Auditor General, and other parastatals affiliated to Parliament.The Rwanda National Police and the Rwanda Revenue Authority, Musoni said, are two other institutions that had expressed interest to start own radio stations. The ggovernment is assessing the requests.Orinfor boss, Willy Rukundo, told reporters that the move will help the public broadcaster fulfill its mandate even better.“Radio Inteko will now be a branch of Radio Rwanda with special focus on parliamentary activities. Its funding will continue to be drawn from the Parliament budget in the interim,” he said.The radio’s employees will relocate to Radio Rwanda premises.