Maravi

Mambo advises Rupiah to stop demonising The Post

Mambo advises Rupiah to stop demonising The Post
Written by Margaret Habbuno
Thursday, July 09, 2009 5:04:32 PM

CHIKONDI Foundation president Bishop John Mambo has advised President Rupiah Banda to stop viewing The Post as the devil's newspaper. Featuring on Radio Yatsani on Monday, Bishop Mambo said it was sad that President Banda's advisers were demonising the good works of the newspaper.

"Let's not demonise the good and make it the devil's language. The paper was trying to catch the attention of the authority about those pictures. Anyone who has done lobbing will do the same. You come out crying that orphans of Nyampande do not have shoes, you take a picture to the donors that shows that the orphans do not have shoes," Bishop Mambo said.

He advised the Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde and those that were determined to take the matter to the courts of law to reconsider their position.

"I have seen women delivering on a wheelbarrow and that's very painful for a country that is 45 years of independence. We are turning the clock backwards. Now the role of the media, this is why we need a strong media presence," he said.

Bishop Mambo said the media was the voice of the voiceless and its role was to inform the public on the happenings in the country.

"In a country that has got political parties in the opposition some that are not even fit to be called a pressure group who else is going to help our politicians to set up?" he asked.

"It is the press. By so doing we are not politicking, that doesn't mean you want to go to the corridors of powers. We need checks and balances. Let our politicians understand that ... you have the voice of the voiceless outside the church which is the press."

He said even in developed countries such as America the media were there to keep people informed.

"It is normal. We have CNN in America when there is a crisis even in Iran it all came out using all sorts of methods [to inform the public using], cell phones and so forth. So I am a believer and I don't take it that when one speaks out it means evil. The danger that is in this country is, and I have told my elder brother the President Rupiah Banda, please you must examine anyone who comes to you in the name of good advice," Bishop Mambo said.

"Because many of them to keep their jobs they have become liars as they are armed with lies. it appears as if they are professional liars.

"These people who are busy advising the President they sound so real that one believes and tends to hurt everybody. The President must be careful even from me when I am giving him advice he should examine it, because when people want favours they become blind. They demonising a good thing, a good paper becomes an enemy forever and forever because here we are talking about The Post newspaper."

Bishop Mambo noted that The Post played a big role in the introduction of the multiparty democratic dispensation in the country in 1991.

"What helped remove [first president Dr Kenneth] Kaunda in 1991? The Post was in the forefront when Kaunda was a bad boy, the same Post helped to bring changes and today because they are standing as a separate entity, they have their own stance The Post has become the devil's newspaper," said Bishop Mambo.

"Who hasn't The Post written about? Bishop Mambo? He [Post editor Fred M'membe] has written about me and all I do is to understand that the paper is simply doing its job. This country has lost direction."

Bishop Mambo's comments come in the wake of investigations by police and a warn and caution statement taken from Post news editor Chansa Kabwela last week in connection with pictures of a woman in labour that were taken during the period of the protracted strike by health workers. President Banda recently ordered the arrest of the person who took the said photographs on grounds that they were pornographic.

Labels: JOHN MAMBO, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 4:07 PM