Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia – Speaker Bhofal Chambers has denied ordering the revocation of accreditations for dozens of reporters assigned at the House of Representatives, terming as disingenuous, assertions made by some of the affected journalists that the Speaker ordered the cancellation of their accreditations.
At a press conference at the Capitol last Thursday, the leadership of assigned journalists at the Legislature, under the banner LEGISLATIVE PRESS POOL (LEGISPOOL), alarmed that House Speaker Chambers is ‘muzzling the press’, accusing the Speaker of unilaterally ordering the revocation of accreditations of dozens of reporters assigned at the House of Representatives.
LEGISPOOL’s leadership said it has come to its attention that upon direct order from Speaker Chambers, the office of the House Press Bureau has revoked the accreditations of several members of the press pool, including LEGISPOOL’s president Musa Kenneh.
But a statement issued late Sunday by Speaker Chambers’ Political Affairs Officer, George Watkins, says the workings of the House of Representatives are institutional; and coordination is the hallmark to match out positive deliverables in the best interest of the government and people of Liberia, adding that departments at the Legislature are guided by standard administrative procedures, some of which are discretional given the circumstance(s) in an instance.
Clarifying LEGISPOOL’s assertions that some 18 reporters’ accreditations were ordered revoked by the House Press Bureau upon the directive of Speaker Chambers, the Speaker’s Office disclosed that it is the independent responsibility of the House of Representatives Press Bureau to accredit media institutions and their assigned journalists to the Capitol Building, adding, “so it is left with the same Press Bureau to revoke an accreditation of any news medium and its assigned Journalist the Bureau deemed “redundant and repetitive” in the discharged of functions of their privileged assignment(s).”
Although the statement from the Speaker’s office maintains that Speaker Chambers has nothing to do with the revocation of the accreditations of the reporters, the Speaker’s office insists that the House Press Bureau’s recent action to annul the journalists’ accreditations will be upheld based on what it calls “the spirit of synergism and constructive reasonableness.”
The Speaker’s Office says it is praying that all journalists assigned at the Capitol Building will always conduct themselves patriotically in line with their code of professional standards.
Howbeit, LEGISPOOL has given Speaker Chambers up until Tuesday to with immediate effect reinstate the accreditation of the 18 reporters, noting that failure on his part to do so, it will take series of appropriate actions to compel the Speaker to comply.
