National Assembly majority leader, Aden Duale, on Tuesday, October 29, explained why journalists were having a hard time accessing Parliamentary sittings.
Speaking on Citizen TV, Duale claimed that the reason why the press was sometimes denied coverage of Parliamentary sittings was the lack of enough spaces for them.
"We have 15 seats available for journalists and that is where the problem is," Duale revealed while adding that legislators should not be blamed for it.
"I have seen journalists sitting down while covering news, it's not a new thing in Parliament so we should not be put on the spot," Duale disclosed.
Duale also advised that journalists needed to come up with a plan with Parliament to smoothen their coverage.
"When it comes to Parliament, they [reporters] choose to go where there is interest," Duale added alluding to the journalistic newsworthiness metric.
The leader of majority mentioned that journalists were used to covering news in war-torn areas and other places that were sometimes hazardous.
"I think you cannot pin it on us, you have to tell us when a sitting is important so that we increase the available seats for journalists," he added.
This came as Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi on June 7, defended Parliament over an incident that journalists were reportedly kicked out.
The Standard reported on June 7, that Muturi noted that the reports about journalists being kicked out of Parliament were false.
"The media should sympathise with Parliament because there is no space for committee meetings. The two rooms at the Media Centre can host two committee meetings concurrently," Muturi added even as reports indicated that a House Business Committee resolution settled on vacating journalists from the space in order to create soace for commitee meetings.
