The 83 percent of the population living in rural areas do not know what is going on in the country and they should be empowered by the information.
Chairperson of War Disabled, Widows and Orphans Commission and MP Deng Dau said the citizens of the new nation need to be empowered with information because poverty comes from lack of information.He said the information gap poses a big problem because 83 percent of the population in the rural areas does not know why the oil was shut down and how the negotiations with Khartoum are progressing.
Mr Dau added that it was crucial that the free public discussion forum was extended to the counties so that people have access to information and address issues of poverty.
AU Ambassador Nakaha Stanislas said the public needs to know what the government is doing and journalists have the right to access the information to fulfil the duty of informing the public.
He cautioned journalists that the information communicated through radio is very powerful and sometimes can be misused.
Both officials were speaking at the launch of Free Public Discussion Forum by the Agency for Independent Media at the University of Juba.