According to Article 18 of the law as amended suggests that Ministry of Information of the Federal Government to take over registration and issuing accreditation to journalists.

"There is no need for the Ministry of Information to register journalists. Journalists are independent and should only seek accreditation from the independent Press Council,” said the First Deputy Speaker of the Upper House, Senator Abshir Ahmed (Abshir Bukhari).

At the house floor, Senator Mohamud Ahmed Mohamud has also condemned the inclusion of such article that mandates the Ministry of Information to register journalists under the media law saying that journalists were already registered by their unions such as the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS).

"I think it is absolutely wrong the amendment of the Media Law to include such article. Journalists have their own unions who are already doing the registration. I therefore suggest this article be removed,” Senator Mohamud adds.

This article has also attracted the criticism of Somali journalists and their unions. Somali Journalists Syndicate, in a document submitted to the Upper House in December, called for the removal of article 18 which mandates the Ministry of Information to carry out journalists’ registration.

"Journalists are independent and therefore the Media Law shouldstateclearly thatregistration is the work of the journalists unions and accreditation be sought afterwards at the independent Press Council—not the Ministry of Information,” said Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the secretary general of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) which is a membership-based trade union based in Mogadishu.

Outspoken Senator Muse Sudi Yalahow did not hold his concerns after he said the main objective of the amendment law was to restrict access of information and to return Somalia into an era of dictatorship.

"You remember when the truck bomb killed about 100 people in Ex-Control in the weekend, the Police Chief was heard dictating the Mayor of Mogadishu to conceal the number of casualties and it was only the independent media which told us truth,” Senator Yalahow said "If this media law restricts the free press then we will end up in a state where nobody will have access to information.”

Article 26 (2), a new section has been included in the amendment version that recognizes social media as an established media platform and therefore will be addressed as a media house.

"Here they suggest that the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, WhatsApp and LinkedInn to be governed according to the media law and other laws in the country meaning that the law imposes restrictions on social media and the internet,” Senator Abshir Bukhari adds "We therefore tell the Ministry of Information which sponsored the Media Law to remove this section.”

"Only in dictatorship context is discussed about restricting and censoring social media,’ Senator Bukhari emphasizes.

Also in the amendment, the Minister of Information wants the Somali Press Council to be under his ministry but again lawmakers and journalist unions are calling the council to be independent body and its members distributed to all stakeholders for fair representation.

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