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'Shikapwasha should make public Auditor-General’s findings on ZNBC’

'Shikapwasha should make public Auditor-General’s findings on ZNBC’
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 4:18:41 AM

THE media liaison committee (MLC) has demanded that information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha make public the full findings of the Auditor-General on the ZNBC audit without any further delay and take administrative action as recommended by the Auditor General. The media bodies, which sat on September 22, 2009, discussed among other matters of broadcasting development in Zambia, the deepening crisis at the state broadcaster Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC).

The media bodies stated that any further delay of administrative action on ZNBC leaves them with serious doubts on the sincerity of the ministry in dealing with this matter.

They stated that the delay in concluding the mater further raised questions that perhaps there were attempts to doctor the findings of the Auditor General.

The committee noted that it had now been more than five months since the director general was sent on forced leave to facilitate for an audit and it had been about four months since the audit report on the operations of the corporation was released.

“Yet there has been no action on the matter and no reasonable response has come from the Minister of Information on the direction the company should take. We are concerned that even as it has been illegal for ZNBC to run under a board whose mandate expired a long time ago, it is worse that an atmosphere of suspense has been created with serious consequences on the operations of the corporation,” they stated. “As media watch groups, we pledge full solidarity with the workers’ union at ZNBC in whatever action they will resort if the matter is not resolved as soon as possible.”

They demanded that the corporation be run in line with the provisions of the ZNBC (Amendment) Act 0f 2002 without any further delay.

The media bodies stated that it was bad governance on the part of the minister that more than three years since the Supreme Court settled the matter, he had not implemented the provisions of the law but continued to sustain an illegal board that only serves its own selfish interests.

They stated that the patience that ZNBC employees had demonstrated was in the hope that the government was interested in the affairs of the corporation regarding the resolution of the maladministration workers protested against.

”But we get an impression that the government wants to participate in a cover-up. We shall not tolerate that because the truth is in the public domain. We have remained quiet on the matter only to give the government the respect to deal with the matter conclusively but this does not seem to be the case. We fear that the silence on this matter will be as long as it has taken to implement the ZNBC Act,” they stated.

This media liaison committee consists of members from the Press Association of Zambia (PAZA), Catholic Media Services (CMS), Zambia Media Women Association (ZAMWA), Media Institute for Southern Africa - (MISA) Zambia, Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ), Zambia Union of Broadcasters and other Information Disseminators (ZUBID), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services (MIBS) and The Press Freedom Committee (PFC) of The Post Newspapers.

Labels: AUDITOR GENERAL, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA, ZNBC

posted by MrK @ 3:18 AM