Maravi

VJ’s blinding dependence on govt

VJ’s blinding dependence on govt
Written by Editor

Vernon Johnson Mwaanga aka VJ has not ceased to amaze us. VJ’s dependence on government for survival is legendary. He needs a government job or else the consequences are too dire to contemplate. We understand his predicament and appreciate his need of livelihood. But VJ’s comments in Parliament yesterday have implications too far-reaching to be ignored.

We know that he needs to protect his friend Rupiah Banda but this is not the reason to use Parliament as a platform to issue threats to the media. Parliament is supposed to be a dignified place where the highest interests of our people are deliberated. The liberty that Parliament affords its members to debate issues is meant to be used to further the common good of all of us. Parliament belongs to all the citizens and all those who happen to find themselves living in Zambia. Parliament is supposed to legislate for the development of our country.

Using Parliament to legislate in order to fulfill narrow section interests is dangerous. It has a tendency to backfire. There are many examples where Parliament has been used to create laws meant to target specific individuals but those laws have ultimately victimised the people who enacted them.

It is not very long ago that Frederick Chiluba used Parliament to enact a law targeted at a man who he accused of having an inappropriate relationship with his wife. Chiluba wanted to find a way of keeping that man in jail and couldn’t find one. They created a law, which made theft of motor vehicles a non-bailable offence. This meant that anyone who was charged with the offence of theft of motor vehicle could not get bail once arrested. Having passed this law, the man Chiluba wanted punished was charged and the rest as they say is history.

Later on, this law came to haunt Chiluba’s inner circle. Large numbers of former Chiluba government officials were locked up for theft of motor vehicles and not able to get bail. A law that was designed to inconvenience one man haunted many.

The moral of the story is that legislation must never be used to target individuals. But this is what we see with the talk that is going on about the need for the regulation of the media. It is very clear that when people like VJ speak about media regulation, their comments are targeted at us. To them, regulating the media is equal to shutting up The Post.

This is what this issue is all about. Rupiah has made it no secret that he hates us. He has also let it be known that one day they will catch up with us. This is what is wrong with this talk about media regulation. It is being done in the context of trying to fix specific entities and specific individuals. This is why whatever they do is going to backfire.

Society is a complex entity and the interests that it represents can be intertwined in ways that may not be easily visible. You may manage to emasculate The Post and think that you have won and yet you may actually be defeating yourself. How many people have called us all sorts of names when they have been in government and had unlimited access to the state media apparatus and have come running to us when the government machinery has chucked them out?

We are not saying this as a way of looking for sympathy from anybody. We are merely stating a question of principle that needs to be understood by those who are getting excited and are now going about beating death drums for The Post. We fight our own battles. But our worry is that in trying to attack The Post, people like VJ will cause untold collateral damage to the media.

No one can deny that there is a lot that needs to be done to level the media playing field for our people. State media institutions that are supposed to be open to all our people are mostly reduced to the governing party’s mouthpiece. This is something that the government has failed to address.

Even when laws have been enacted, seeking to redress some of these anomalies, the government has made it abundantly clear that they will not allow the media to operate independently. They wish to retain residual oversight over the media. They have even resisted obeying written law in order to have hegemony over the media. Who does not know the problems that have remained unresolved on the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act and the ZNBC Amendment Act? The government has also resisted the enactment of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill. And yet they seem to have all the energy to pursue statutory regulation of the media.

As we said earlier, people like VJ himself have had to fall back on the independent media when they have fallen on hard times politically. But today, because they are enjoying full state facilitation in their political activities, they have forgotten the role that we play and have the audacity to threaten us.

Anyway, we are not surprised; VJ has a checkered history and no one should be surprised that he will sing whatever tune he believes is going to fill his stomach. The man needs the job. People like VJ claim to be experienced political strategists but their methods are questionable.

VJ’s outburst in Parliament yesterday demonstrates an increasing desperation amongst the rank and file of MMD. The language was calculated to intimidate. But how many people and how many groups are you going to intimidate? We ask this because it seems that Rupiah and his friends have declared war against all the voices of dissent in our country. There is a clear pattern that is emerging in the way they seem to want to intimidate.

It is clear that they have targeted the media and would like to emasculate it. This plan is quite transparent even from what VJ said in Parliament yesterday. They are not satisfied with emasculating the media. They would like to silence independent voices in the churches as well. This is why they have continued to attack the Church. Civil society and the non-governmental organisations (NGO) world have come under attack as well. These are not random assaults. They are a calculated assault on democracy and freedom in our country. This is what makes VJ’s attacks and threats unacceptable.

Attacking everybody and anyone who they think is not supportive of their position will not help them. They want to fight on every front. This is a strategy of the arrogant.

We noticed that VJ has the audacity to attack diplomats for expressing displeasure on the acquittal of Chiluba. Why is he so incensed by their comments? Why is VJ not incensed by their support? Anyway, we are not surprised. VJ enjoys full government facilities. When he is sick, the government flies him out to get specialist treatment; when he is jobless, the government creates a job for him. With this kind of pampering, VJ can afford to tell off the cooperating partners.

Even if they withdrew their support, he would not feel it. It is our people who can’t access medical care who are going to feel the heat. This is what explains the arrogance that people like VJ portray in dealing with matters that our people are unhappy about. If they felt the suffering of our people, they would not talk like they are talking.

It is this dependence on government that makes people like VJ blind to the needs of our people. Anyway, VJ has been at it for so long that we can’t expect anything new from him.

Talking about media regulation just to shut up The Post will not take them anywhere. They are not satisfied that they control most of the media in our country – they want to control all the media. This is what this debate is about. In trying to destroy us, they risk destroying themselves. We are ready for them!

Labels: PRESS FREEDOM, THE POST, VERNON MWAANGA

posted by MrK @ 5:19 PM