Maravi

Regulate investors and not media, Shamenda urges govt

Regulate investors and not media, Shamenda urges govt
By Mwila Chansa and Zumani Katasefa in Kitwe
Mon 04 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

FORMER Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Fackson Shamenda has advised the government to shift its energy towards regulating exploitative foreign investors instead of quarrelling about media regulation.

And UPND vice-president Richard Kapita has urged Zambians to stand up and protest against the statutory regulation of the media. In an interview, Shamenda observed that if the government exerted the same type of energy in regulating investors as it was doing to the media, the country could see a very good work environment.

"We could see a very good work environment that is conducive for productivity. So regulating investors that are not abiding by the country’s laws should be more of a priority to government. With this, we could see a clean and safe work environment and not a situation where some people lack protective clothing and look as though they are going to catch caterpillars," he said.

Shamenda added that quarrelling about media regulation was a waste of time in today's age because with internet, people would still access the kind of information they wanted.

“Even if The Post is closed today, things will still come out and they can even be more exaggerated and embarrassing to those that are exposed. Look at Zimbabwe, the regime there tried to stifle media freedom but whatever they tried to hide still came out. It’s not just possible to silence the media,” said Shamenda.

And Kapita, in an interview, said Vice-President George Kunda was pushing for statutory regulation of the media with intention of trying to muzzle the press in the country.

"...what Mr Kunda is trying to do is to muzzle the press. They will not allow Zambians to make informed decisions, they are only trying to intimidate them...now they want to bring to parliament a law that would stop you (journalists) from being independent...,” he said.

Kapita said Vice-President Kunda had resorted to trying to stifle the press in the country because he had failed to address important national issues.

Labels: CORRUPTION, FACKSON SHAMENDA, FDI, MEDIA, REGULATION, RICHARD KAPITA, ZCTU

posted by MrK @ 9:40 AM