Ms. Lily Adhieu Martin Manyiel, the Press Secretary in the Office of the President speaking to Journalists after meeting managers of media houses in Juba - April 20, 2023 - Credit: Koang Pal/Eye Radio

The Press Secretary in the Office of the President has said accredited journalists from media houses will soon be granted access to the Presidential Palace including interviews with the Head of State.

This came after the Press Secretary in the Office of the President Lily Adhieu Martin Manyiel held a meeting with managers of the media houses in South Sudan at her office in Juba, Thursday, April 20, 2023.

During the meeting, Lily stated that her office and media houses agreed on several issues including conducting annual media interviews with President Salva Kiir.

She also requested that media houses nominate two accredited professional journalists covering activities at the Presidential Palace.

“The Office of the Press Secretary had a meeting with the head of the media houses. The purpose of the meeting is to streamline the working relationship between the office of the Press Secretary and media houses, regarding how the news will be sent out to the citizens of this country,” Lily told journalists at her office.

“We have agreed on a few things that we will work with media houses in order for the news to go out.”

For his part, the President of the Union of Journalists in South Sudan, Oyet Patrick welcomed the initiative from the Office of the Press Secretary.

“We are very grateful that this meeting took place and all media houses are represented. We are grateful to the Office of the Press Secretary for organizing this meeting,” said Oyet.

“Our work as journalists is to give information to the public and this is an initiative by the Press Secretary to make sure that journalists and media houses have access to the Office of the President to get information,

“This is very good for us as journalists, and we want to build a very good working relationship with all government, now we have started with the Office of the President. We are very grateful this is happening,

“We want access to information to be very easy for our journalists and therefore very easy for the people of South Sudan because many things are happening in this country.”