Maravi

Exposes anger Rupiah camp

Exposes anger Rupiah camp
By Nyambe Muyumbana in Mongu
Friday October 03, 2008 [04:00]

INFORMATION minister Mike Mulongoti has threatened to close The Post if it does not cooperate with the government and the courts of law.

Featuring on Radio Lyambai's good governance program sponsored by Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia on Wednesday, Mulongoti said the government would use the already available laws in the statute books to revoke its license so that The Post could be stopped from operating.

"Let me say this, we must balance between freedom and protection of rights of others as well... for me as Minister of Information, I have public policy in considerations," Mulongoti said. "When there is a problem with any specific media, it must be addressed. Now, when you have part of the media which even when they are taken to court they still continue to act with impunity; what are you saying? What you are encouraging is that people should take the laws into their own hands. We cannot allow that."

Mulongoti hoped that the High Court would protect Vice-President Rupiah Banda since the case of contempt was before the court so that all citizens could be protected from harassment by those that used the pen as their weapon.

"If that is not done, we will have to use the laws that are in the statute books to sort out this kind of thing because we have got provisions. We can cancel the licence," Mulongoti threatened, and asked: "What will they do if we cancel their licence? They can only go to court. We shall follow each other in court. If they win at the High Court, we will appeal to the Supreme Court. In the meantime they would have been closed."

Mulongoti said it was unfair that anger had been created among citizens and that other people's rights were being abused by what he termed as arrogance from certain quarters of the media. He said if they owed on unremitted tax, it was not right for them to insult Vice-President Banda.

"Are you not expected, if you preach morality, to pay that money to government so that they can use that money for development?" Mulongoti asked. "You borrow money, you don't pay back and because you are scared that they will call those loans you want to attack government who are innocent.

We will tabulate all these things ultimately so that we can tell the public why there is all this pressure on us. Those lawyers who are running media institutions, who think because they are lawyers they can defend themselves, they are not the final arbiters. The decisions are made by the courts.

So even if I am a lawyer, I make a mistake, I cannot be a judge in my on matter. It's an independent person who will be able to say 'I think you are wrong or right'. But what we are seeing is the arrogance where the matter is in court, you continue and even say 'it is a foolish wishful thing'. What are you saying to the judge who is hearing the matter? You are saying that the judge by granting that injunction is a foolish person. That is leading to anarchy."

On Monday during a rally at Solwezi Showgrounds, Mulongoti threatened to sort out The Post.

In an apparent reference to The Post, Mulongoti said after the MMD wins the presidential election on October 30, they would ask Vice-President Banda to go out for a while so that on his return, Vice-President Banda would find all the problems sorted out.

Labels: MIKE MULONGOTI, MISA, RUPIAH BANDA, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 5:14 AM