The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has asked the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) to declare media an essential service in the COVID-19 fight.
NUSOJ made this request in anticipation of the impending curfew the government is set to declare over Mogadishu.
On Sunday April 12, Gen. Abdi Hassan Mohamed, the country’s Police Commissioner, said, “ FGS herby imposes a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Mogadishu to minimize the spread of COVID-19.”
Gen. Mohamed further said that the curfew that comes into effect from April 15, 2020 would remain in place until further notice.
According to the Police Commissioner, the curfew is likely to interfere with all businesses. All forms of transportation would also cease from 8pm to 5am each day, he added.
NUSOJ’s Secretary General, Omar Faruk Osman, asked the government to consider classifying media as one of the essential services that the curfew does not affect.
He asserted that members of the media fraternity offer a mission that is of vital interest to the public.
Without the media, citizens would have not enjoy their constitutional right to access information, added Secretary General Osman.