Statutory regulation of media is part of Banda’s dictatorial tendencies – HH

Statutory regulation of media is part of Banda’s dictatorial tendencies – HH
Written by George Chellah in Lusaka and Justine Kawisha in Mazabuka
Monday, August 24, 2009 6:41:55 AM

UPND president Hakainde Hichilema yesterday said statutory regulation of the media is part of the dictatorial tendencies President Rupiah Banda is bringing in the country so that journalists can easily be beaten and locked up on the basis of a false law. In an interview, Hichilema said statutory regulation of the media was an action in desperation by the ruling party.

"The MMD government has managed to control the Judiciary, we all know that. Where the President is interfering with the judicial process. Issuing statements ahead of critical judgments and he is not satisfied with that," Hichilema said. "It is absolutely wrong and he is really inciting anarchy, in the nation. He is not satisfied with that, he controls the Executive and now the intentions of this regulation is to control the fourth estate, the media."

He described the intentions to regulate the media as purely greedy.

"You can see what greed can do. When a political party becomes so greedy they want to control every aspect of the society. We need the media to remain free," Hichilema said. "We want our media to be free to remain free, we disagree with the approach being taken with regard to the regulation of the media. It is not well meant."

Hichilema said statutory regulation was meant to fully gag society.

"They now want to regulate so that they can easily beat journalists and easily lock up journalists on the basis of a false law. This is what they are trying to do now. I think it is unacceptable in a society for the people of Zambia to sit by and watch the greedy and corrupt government," Hichilema explained. "And I insist the MMD is a corrupt government. It is a group of selfish people and we have seen this in many aspects, what we saw in Chitambo, what we saw at the airport beating up journalists."

He said the MMD government wanted to support that violence with a regulation.

"This is unacceptable. We disagree with that and we ask the members of parliament to re-examine their souls, who are they serving? Are they serving the people that voted them into office or they are serving Rupiah Banda, George Kunda and the clan?" Hichilema asked. "I think that is my question but I can also emphasise with members of parliament because of the arrogance of numbers that the MMD government is using to disrupt our society. That's why there is only one way... to put the MMD to rest, let's put them to rest in 2011."

Hichilema said PF and UPND once favoured with chance to govern the country would re-do what the MMD was currently doing.

He said these were dictatorial tendencies that President Banda was bringing back in the country and urged Zambians to reject them.

And Hichilema asked information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha to apologise to the church and withdraw the statement which he gave in Parliament recently that the church's behaviour was inciting genocide.

Featuring on Live Wire programme on Radio Mazabuka last Saturday, Hichilema said remarks by Lt Gen Shikapwasha on the church were offensive and that every Christian was pierced.

Hichilema said the church was independent and neutral and that they were right to comment on bad governance in the country.

"I have no regard for a minister who insults the integrity of the church, I am a Seventh Day Adventist member but those remarks were not only made to the Catholic but to the rest of the Christians in Zambia," he said. "Shikapwasha should withdraw his statement and apologise to the entire Christian community for his ministerial statement that has offended the entire religion."

Hichilema said the strong fight against corruption, which was introduced and enforced by late president Levy Mwanawasa had been abandoned by the current government as exhibited in the recent appointments.

He explained that the MMD's campaign bordered on the continuity of the Mwanawasa legacy but that the goal had completely been shifted.

He said president Mwanawasa's fight against corruption was vibrant and that he did not spare any corrupt actions even among his family members contrary to the current happenings involving Zamtel and former communications minister Dora Siliya.

"Mwanawasa was a hero, may his soul rest in peace, he championed the fight to an extent of firing his relatives like Moses Muteteka who was deputy minister of lands and it is surprising that the current government has tolerated corrupt activities within the short period that it has governed," he said.

Hichilema said the appointment of Michael Mabenga as lands deputy minister and re-appointment of Siliya as education minister were questionable and undermined the fight against corruption.

He said the Zamtel deal was not transparent and that the money given to RP Capital Partners for valuating the telecommunications company would have been channelled to developmental programmes for the benefit of the people.

Hichilema said the proposed mobile hospitals deal was welcome because the current hospitals had no medicine and health workers were poorly remunerated.

On the acquittal of former president Frederick Chiluba, Hichilema said he was still studying the judgment because it was not clear as to why the co-accused persons were jailed while Chiluba was acquitted.

He said no Zambian accepted the acquittal of Chiluba and questioned the country's judicial system looking at what was happening in the country.

On the outcome of the recent by-elections, Hichilema said the pact performed very well and scored 73 per cent against MMD's 27 per cent.

"Out of the 22 by-elections, the pact won 16 seats against the MMD which only won five seats. We even managed to grab five seats from the MMD which shows that the Zambian people have accepted the pact, said Hichilema.

"Munkombwe cheated Rupiah that the MMD was popular in Maramba ward in Livingstone but we went there and beat Munkombwe on the face to prove his lies to Rupiah."