Maravi

PFC complains to IG over Fr Bwalya’s harassment

PFC complains to IG over Fr Bwalya’s harassment
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe, Nicolas Mwale and Constance Matongo

THE Press Freedom Committee of The Post (PFC) has lodged a formal complaint to the Inspector General of Police over the continued harassment of journalists and other media workers. And Citizens Forum executive secretary Simon Kabanda has said the arrest and detention of Radio Icengelo station manager Fr Frank Bwalya is a demonstration of the lack of respect for freedom of the press.

In a letter of protest dated November 13, 2008 signed by committee chairperson Chansa Kabwela to former Inspector General of Police Ephraim Mateyo and copied to President Rupiah Banda, the PFC charged that police officers on the Copperbelt abused Fr Bwalya's freedoms of expression and movement by arresting and confining him for about 20 hours in the police cells on Wednesday.

PFC stated that freedom of expression and the press was fundamental to the survival of democracy and civilisation of the country. "Not only is this freedom a remedy against every abuse of authority, it is society's lifeblood and defending it is honouring our history and controlling our future," the committee stated. "It is, hence, extremely worrying and disturbing that your officers, whether acting on instructions or not, can incarcerate Fr Bwalya who is merely carrying out a noble civic duty of sensitising the public."

The committee stated that the continued harassment of journalists and other media workers did not only have the potential to brood dissent against the authorities but could lead to chaos as the general populace was fairly politically aware of their rights.

"The PFC of The Post strongly condemns and protests to your office over the action by the police," stated the committee.

The letter was also copied to The Nuncio of Lusaka, the MMD secretariat, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and all Catholic Diocese.

Others are Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Federation of Free Trade Unions in Zambia (FFTUZ) as well as various Ambassadors and High Commissioners accredited to Zambia.

And Kabanda called upon President Banda to come out and condemn the intimidation and harassment of the people of Zambia.

He said there was already tension in the nation arising from the just-ended presidential election and it was incumbent upon President Banda to diffuse the tension for the nation to move forward.

"We appeal to the Republican President to restrain his people from being overzealous in handling the current situation in the country. We are also appealing to the people of Zambia not to respond to this provocation negatively. But this does not mean that we should allow this to go on. We still have to continue to speak out and defend our rights," Kabanda said.

Meanwhile, Caritas Copperbelt University (CBU) chapter condemned Fr Bwalya's arrest.
According to a press statement signed by Caritas Chapter chairperson Christopher Kang'ombe and his secretary Alex Paito, the motive behind the arrest of the Catholic priest was aimed at intimidating Zambians not to speak their minds over the October 30 presidential election.

"We believe so many Zambians share our view that at a time when we are talking about the empowerment of the private media, the Zambia police decided to take actions that demonstrates that we are far from reaching media freedom. One of the tenets of democracy is a free and effective media which is empowered to cover issues and point out facts irrespective of government's stance and is against such a background that Radio Icengelo has been organizing programmes to provide listeners with information about the recent elections, and indeed the past elections we have had in Zambia," the organisation stated.

And Radio Phoenix proprietor Errol Hickey described the arrest of Fr Bwalya as unnecessary.

Hickey said it was shameful that a priest should end up in cells and that the riotous behaviour by some Kitwe residents was not in order.

"Father Bwalya has a right to say what he said because I'm meant to believe that Zambia enjoys democracy and the government should be tolerant to divergent views," Hickey said.

"It is not in order for Kitwe residents to react in a violent way, I liken this arrest to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ because men of the cloth should not end up in police cells."

Centre for Elections and Governance board trustee Gershom Musonda urged the government to be tolerant to divergent views.

"He was running an election programme where he was comparing election results from some polling stations and those from the Electoral Commission of Zambia and there appeared to be some differences," he said.

Musonda said the action by the police amounted to suppression of divergent views contrary to democratic principles.

"We need to express our views especially the media without influence. The police should instead work with the media, there are a lot of good things the media is doing and there are a lot of things that the police are going through that can be covered," said Musonda.

Fr Bwalya, who was arrested last Wednesday over a post-election live programme he conducted on Radio Icengelo, has since been charged with publishing materials intended to cause division in the community and will be appearing in court on November 27.

Labels: CITIZENS FORUM, FRANK BWALYA, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, PFC, SIMON KABANDA, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 8:42 AM