Samasumo urges end to harassment of Post journalists

Samasumo urges end to harassment of Post journalists
Written by Margaret Habbuno
Tuesday, June 02, 2009 3:43:43 PM

ZAMBIA Episcopal Conference spokesperson Father Paul Samasumo has asked the government to put a stop to the continuous harassment of Post journalists.
Commenting on the recent harassments of Post journalists by MMD cadres, Fr Samasumo said it was sad that the government had not taken any measure to stop the vice.

“This issue of harassing journalists is a matter of urgency that the government should immediately address. The MMD government has the capacity to put an end to this problem because if not checked it will translate into a big thing,” Fr Samasumo said.

He said currently, freedom of expression was slowly deteriorating in the country because people were afraid of harassment from the MMD cadres.

“As a church, we stand for peace and the current harassment of journalists in the country especially from The Post newspaper is very worrying. A lot of stakeholders have asked the government to put a stop to it but nothing has been done. We urge the government to put a stop to it,” he said.

Fr Samasumo said the MMD cadres should understand that journalists were merely doing their job.

“These are innocent journalists and the MMD government should find a way of educating their cadres. For the police, I would like to tell them that they should not choose who to arrest and who not to arrest. The police are supposed to be professional in the way they execute their duties,” said Fr Samasumo.

And International Fellowship of Christian Churches (IFCC) president Bishop Simon Chihana has urged President Rupiah Banda to command the MMD cadres to stop harassing journalists in the country.

“If the President does not put an end to this problem, then we will conclude that he has endorsed that the MMD cadres should continue harassing the journalists. My word to Rupiah Banda is that he is the one in office and his word to the cadres is very important. If you remember in Kenya when the opposition was fighting, they only stopped after their president told them to stop,” he said.

Bishop Chihana said since Zambia was a democratic country, freedom of expression was cardinal.

“We live in a democratic country and we should not allow a few people to destroy it. We need to protect journalists in the country so that they don’t work in fear,” said Bishop Chihana.