Maravi

Shikapwasha wants every journalist to ‘kiss his boots’, charges Lubinda

Shikapwasha wants every journalist to ‘kiss his boots’, charges Lubinda
By Ernest Chanda
Thu 14 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

RONNIE Shikapwasha wants every journalist in the country to ‘kiss his boots’, Kabwata member of parliament Given Lubinda has charged.

Reacting to information minister Lt Gen Shikapwasha’s statement in the Zambia Daily Mail yesterday where he called for the immediate dissolution of the Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) executive for allegedly compromising the status of the association through its MoU with the Press Freedom Committee of The Post, Lubinda questioned Lt Gen Shikapwasha's legal backing for his call.

He said it was now clear that the government had not truly backed out of their resolve to regulate the media.

"This goes to show you that they're still determined to control the media. They're still determined to employ editors even of private media. This is because as far as the MMD government is concerned, a free press is not good for them. They want to hide all their dubious activities, and so a press that exposes them is not favourable. Shikapwasha wants a media that can kiss his boots all the time. They want to ensure that they gag the press and tell them what to write and publish," Lubinda said. "The dictatorial tendencies of the MMD are showing their ugly head at a very, very fast rate.

Unless Zambians are careful, very soon ministers such as Ronnie Shikapwasha will start calling for the dissolution of associations such as Edusport, Chilenje Sport for All. PAZA is not statutory body which is under the control of the minister. This is a body of journalists, and journalists should be left to decide how to manage their affairs without the interference of the government. When PAZA decided that they are going to partner with the Press Freedom Committee of The Post that shouldn't have raised any eyebrows because if they have a common issue that they are propagating, they must be together and nobody should stop them."

Lubinda said Lt Gen Shikapwasha wanted to divide journalists so that he could propagate his dictatorial ideas.

"The reason why the Minister of Information has acted the way he has is because he knows that journalists have power in numbers. He wants to employ the dictum of divide and rule. He wants to separate journalists employed by government-controlled media who are members of PAZA from those in the private media, particularly The Post because he knows that if these two groups of journalists work together he will not be able to break them. And doesn't this also prove the fact that the fight for statutory regulation from this government has not ended?" he asked.

He reminded Lt Gen Shikapwasha that PAZA was not a government department that he could interfere with any time.

"What is wrong with a partner supporting another partner financially for a common cause? Why should Shikapwasha say PAZA should have gone to government? PAZA is not part of government and if Shikapwasha wants to give them money he can as well give to the PFC. PAZA is just an association of journalists, and those journalists don't belong to government. The fact that they're employed by government media does not mean that they belong to government. PAZA is not a government department, it runs its affairs based on the arrangement of its members," said Lubinda.

"Shikapwasha is a man known to be very quick at turning around at the behest of his boss George Kunda and his boss Rupiah Banda. And ultimately it is his integrity that is being brought into disrepute. You saw how they vehemently fought the issue of self-regulation of the media. They kept issuing threats that they would go ahead and make a law to regulate the media. When you journalists fought he decided to withdraw because his Vice-President told him to do so. And George Kunda was very smart on that matter because he remained mute and asked Shikapwasha to go and make a statement. The one who lost was not George Kunda, it is Shikapwasha. Let me also advise uncle Ronnie not to make threats that he knows are not backed by any law. I say so because when the time comes for him to implement those threats, he will find that there is no legal support."

Labels: GIVEN LUBINDA, PAZA, PRESS FREEDOM, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA

posted by MrK @ 5:12 AM