Maravi

Chishimba warns of media regulation law backfiring

Chishimba warns of media regulation law backfiring
Written by Ernest Chanda
Monday, September 28, 2009 8:33:26 AM

FORMER Kasama Central member of parliament Saviour Chishimba has said those advocating for statutory legislation of the media will be the first victims of the same law. In an interview, Chishimba said people should learn from history and begin to enact laws that could benefit them even after they left political office.

“In fact, African leaders don’t learn; if you remember very well, eleven years ago we had people who enacted a law on motor vehicle theft making it an unbailable offence.

Now if you recall, the same proponents of that law were the first victims of the same law, and others don’t want to learn from that. Equally, those itching to enact a law against the media will find themselves without a voice when they get to the other side of politics. This is so because they will not always be in government, and for those opposition parliamentarians who are in good books with the ruling party, may I remind them that it will not always be so. Let them consult those who not too long ago vilified the private media which has now become their only platform,” Chishimba said.

Asked if he would have supported the enactment of such a law if he were still in parliament, Chishimba responded in the negative.

“I was not going to; if you check my debates I was quite consistent. You do not run a country based on fixing some people; surely I was not going to support such a repressive law. In fact, Zambia must mature; to enact laws where you just target individuals, your enemies, that is not healthy because what will happen if your enemy today is tomorrow no longer your enemy but you have enacted a law? You cannot have a law that is just targeting one individual, Fred M’membe, that is retrogressive,” he said. “What it is, is that today you are in power, tomorrow you are not in power. If you are not in power, you need to court the private media for instance. That’s why I am saying this tendency should stop in Africa because the same people are going to be affected. I can assure you that come 2011 or any such earlier date, there will be change in this country and the same people who are in power are going to be affected. I’m saying such earlier date because we don’t know God’s plans. President Mwanawasa used to say he would stand in 2011, but God did not allow him to reach 2011. Equally, God in His wisdom can determine a situation where we have an early election.”

Chishimba said enacting such a law would be a reflection of the one party mentality that was embedded in some leaders’ minds.

“Instead of moving towards creating institutions that support democracy, we are moving backwards to the 1970s, to the one party mentality. The one party mentality is so much engraved on the minds of those who served under the UNIP era to the extent that what they want is to control everything because they know that a free press is one which will inform the citizens, a free press will also educate, a free press will also invite people to participate in the governance of their country. Now if you start intimidating the media to the extent of enacting a law which is going to regulate them, how are you going to expect that information to flow?” Chishimba asked.

And Chishimba has charged that the MMD government had crippled all institutions of governance.

“Our politics have become too small to the extent that a broader development agenda is no longer embraced. What we have seen in this country is that insults, hatred, tribalism among others, including corruption, especially under the current regime. All these ills have actually taken over the politics of our country. When you go by definition, politics is the art and science of government,” said Chishimba.

“Now what we have seen happening over the past especially 20 years of the MMD misrule, I am saying 20 years because by 2011, MMD will have clocked 20 years in power. And all we have seen is misrule in the sense that all the change the Zambians demanded, not only in terms of introducing multiparty democracy but also introducing institutions of governance that support multiparty democracy has made no sense. But we saw the MMD inheriting institutions of governance that support a one party dictatorship; and no wonder this country is not going anywhere.”

Labels: KASAMA, REGULATION, SAVIOUR CHISHIMBA

posted by MrK @ 7:33 AM