Maravi

Don't be arrogant in your push for reforms, Mulongoti urges media

Don't be arrogant in your push for reforms, Mulongoti urges media
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sunday May 04, 2008 [04:00]

INFORMATION minister Mike Mulongoti yesterday urged the media not to be arrogant and confrontational in the manner they were pushing for law reforms. But Press Freedom Committee of The Post chairperson Chansa Kabwela said The Post will not beg for the enactment of freedom of information laws.

During the commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) which fell yesterday under the theme 'Freedom of the Press, Access to Information and Empowerment of People', Mulongoti said the confrontation by the media was not necessary because what was needed was dialogue.

Mulongoti accused the media of pushing an open door.

"I don't know why people are busy pushing an open door, you might falland break your bones. It is not necessary. I have spent this time going round seeking information on the benefits. I have gone round trying to learn from the best experiences that others have had over this piece of legislation," he said. "What I need to be comforted with is that we are moving together.

I have spent time studying this piece of legislation and I have looked at the British one and I have the question 'is this all there is to this law' and I was told 'yes' that was all there was to the law. I find that piece of legislation very comforting."

Mulongoti said at no time had the government said the freedom of information bill was for the press alone.

"Like our neighbours in Tanzania, they have a council which is responsible and if one of the media organisations transgresses, they can go to the council and appeal for regulation and that's all we say," he said.

"All we are saying is if I am abused, if my rights have been infringed, where do I go? Going to court may take me 10 years. In the meantime you have written about me having done something and I am divorced at home. Are you going to compensate me for being divorced?"

Mulongoti said people only wanted some consideration and that if one asks for an apology, it should be given.

"Apologise and my wife will reconsider that and we will reconcile. But if I am in court for 10 years, what is going to happen to me? All we are saying regulate yourselves; no one is imposing legislation on you," he said.

Mulongoti said the government only wanted media organisations to report responsibly.
"I have to go to Parliament to convince the other legislatures that it is a good piece but they have also had experiences. I heard Mr Chanda (Press Association of Zambia vice president Amos) the other day saying 'don't fear', surely once bitten, twice shy.

You expect those legislatures not to be scared if you reported something that had injured them? Comfort them that you don't intend to injure them. Comfort them not by insisting that you must put this piece of legislation whether you like it or not. That is not dialogue. We must move together," he said.

Mulongoti said if there were issues that the media organisations were not agreeable to, they should dialogue.

He warned that the beneficiaries of the information, the public, could take the law into their own hands when they get hurt if parties involved do not act together.

"We must provide remedies for each other. In this country we have got situations where we need to consult each other. Consensus does not mean agreeing on everything, consensus means we have been consulting each other. Sometimes you agree and disagree," he said.

Mulongoti said he had been accessible to everybody in the past one year he had worked in the information ministry.

Mulongoti also accused Post columnist Laura Miti-Banda of lacking humility.
"Last week when I was leaving somebody sent me a text that ‘have you talked to Laura Miti because she lacks humility.’ I have got that text in my cell phone.

She lacks humility, those of you who have read her articles, she writes so many things, as if those she is writing about are her age mates. But I believe I’m older than her and some of the things she writes about us, all us, is like our socialisation is meaningless," he said.

Mulongoti said people should have courtesy when they write about each other.
"We have no cause to write to her and say Dear Madame, eeh...you know in life there are people called termagants, they take advantage of freedoms to abuse others because by nature they are termagants. If you don't know that word, check it up," he said.
He said there was need to protect people from injury.

"There are others who suffer in pain quietly and silently and when they die, you can't say that you sat in the way of legislation, legislation empowered to abuse me more? The issue here is not the question of quarrelling, we are trying to put in laws that help," he said.
Mulongoti wondered whether journalists had taken time to read the freedom of information bill in Zambia as well as that of other countries.

"They were telling me that in England that in fact now the people asking for the law are not journalists because they read and found that what they thought, they had difficulties. So colleagues in the press, don't take it as if it is a fight, fight with who? I have given you an example, my office and phone is open to you, what more do you want? Are you not getting access and freedom of information from me?" he asked.

Mulongoti said he had agreed to have a workshop where he could meet with media organisations and sort out the issues.

"It's not me to comfort myself but to comfort other colleagues because they have fears and I must ensure that those fears must be put to rest. And we will not put those fears to rest as long as you intimidate me and insist ‘unless you give us this piece of legislation... we will...’ You don't do that, it's a process of legislation and negotiation," he said.

"And those of you fighting with yourselves, come on board, you are all part of the process.

As your minister, I can assure you I also want freedom of information but I am also mindful of the fact that because human beings are different, people are different. If you give them too much freedom, I don't know what they will do with that freedom."
He said there were people who wrote comforting things about others and people who made him feel like vomiting.

"Because we acknowledge that people are different we can't stop them but we want to implore them to consider that within our society we have respect for each other, we have customs," he said.

"Let us move the process together, we won't move if you insist and intimidate those who say they have another divergent view, consider those views as one opinion, Parliament, civil society, the church, government all have pieces of opinions that must be harmonized. Comfort me that what I am doing is right.

Don't insist from an arrogant position. Insist from a position you have a correct argument because you are making those people dig in and once they dig in, it becomes difficult."
He said media organisations would not have an ally in him if they insisted on positions that could not offer an opportunity for compromise.

"That is not right, democracy is about viewpoints. Respect other views. Help me but don't guide me with a stick. It's like a dog; if you can't call it with a stick it will not come," he said.

But Kabwela said enacting access to information laws was not a favour to the media, let alone The Post.

She said if this was the case then The Post would not ask for it because they were not in the business of seeking favours.

"We have never been favour seekers. We don't trade in favours. And it should not be a reward to us for doing certain things or behaving in a certain manner," she said
Kabwela said some politicians had even suggested that they would only support the access to information bill if the Post joined the Media Ethics Council of Zambia (MECOZ).

She said this would not happen.
"Certainly not for this reason. Membership to MECOZ is voluntary. And voluntary means voluntary; it does not mean mandatory. If they want it to be mandatory let them go ahead and make it so by legislating. However, this will be undesirable.

But if it is their wish, let it be. We are much better placed to deal with laws and courts. We have seventeen years of experience in this area. And we have demonstrated great and increasing capacity in defending ourselves and our rights in the courts of law," she said.

Kabwela said The Post would never seek favours from anyone over these issues because these matters were for the people of Zambia.

She said freedom of information and access to information laws were aimed at benefiting the people of Zambia.

However, Kabwela said The Post would always be willing to share knowledge and experience over these issues with the politicians and anyone else.

"For us, we have demonstrated that we know how to get the information we need. If we didn't, Mr Chiluba and his friends wouldn't be facing corruption charges in our courts of law today. So if you erroneously think that enacting access to information laws is a favour to The Post, please don't do it," she said.

"But the truth is, out of ignorance, you will only be doing yourselves a dis-favour; you will only be harming your own interests. And don't hold us, or the media in general, for the harm you will cause to yourselves."

Kabwela said a free press was non negotiable.
"Don't complain that the media is not informing you adequately. In short, what I am saying is that The Post will not beg for the enactment of these laws; it will not be coerced or blackmailed into joining MECOZ. It will only join MECOZ if it becomes a mandatory requirement," said Kabwela.

Women for Change (WfC) assistant programme officer for information and advocacy Mwaba Simfunkwe said as Zambians commemorated WPFD this year, they should not forget that rural communities were also part of Zambia and that they needed to know how they were being governed.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on societies to spare no effort in bringing to justice the perpetrators of attacks on journalist.
MISA Zambia chairperson Henry Kabwe said Zimbabwe was the lead country in the southern African region in terms of violations against journalists.

Kabwe said in the course of last year, MISA issued 181 alerts on violence against journalists and Zimbabwe had the highest at 57.

Kabwe also said linking freedom of information to media ethics was wrong.
Press Association of Zambia president Andrew Sakala urged members of parliament to support the bill once it is taken to Parliament.

World Press Freedom Day Organising Committee Chairperson Amos Chanda said the Bill was not meant for the media but for Zambians.

Labels: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, MIKE MULONGOTI, PRESS

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