Maravi

Chifuwe calls for free press

Chifuwe calls for free press
By Moses Kuwema
Fri 02 Apr. 2010, 04:01 CAT

WORLD Press Freedom Day organising committee chairperson Sheikh Chifuwe has called on people in the country to start demanding for a free press and free speech, without which there can never be justice in any society.

Addressing the press yesterday at Tecla Lodge ahead of the World Press Freedom Day, which falls on May 3, Chifuwe said the challenge was also on the media industry to ensure that people understood the need for a free press.

”If we successfully meet this challenge, and our citizens understand that freedom of expression and that of the media form the foundation of their freedom and wellbeing, then they will defend it, and enjoy the fruits of a just and a free society,” he said.

“Our conviction is that developing democracies such as ours should allow people to choose between good and bad. And such choices can only be guaranteed if our people are allowed to choose between ignorance under a legal regime that allows free access to information. We do believe that the enactment of the freedom of information law and our efforts to uphold media freedom shall re-enforce the need for public accountability.”

Chifuwe said media freedom had been a constant topic for discussion in the country because its existence was under threat either by statutory impositions, physical violations, social, political and economic challenges.

Chifuwe said this year's World Press Freedom Day celebrations under the theme Access to Information: Right to Know, befit the local situation.

”We believe this will afford us an opportunity to climax our advocacy efforts for the re-introduction of the Freedom of Information Bill to Parliament during this sitting as promised by the minister," he said.

Chifuwe also said the World Press Freedom Day provincial organising committees had already been set up and media organisations in the provinces would commemorate the day in their respective areas.

”Let me reiterate our commitment to the introduction of a national media freedom prize which honours a person, organisation or institution that has made an outstanding and courageous contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedom in Zambia. We hope this will motivate local media personnel to perform to the public's expectation in the media reforms," he said.

Chifuwe said the organising committee had also received overwhelming response from organisations that wanted to participate in the media freedom soccer tournament slated for April 24 and 25 at the Barclays Sports Complex.

He thanked organisations that had offered financial support to the committee such as Zambezi Airlines, Zambeef Zambia, Zain, Zambian Breweries, Manzi, Hotel Intercontinental and LASF among others.

Meanwhile, Chifuwe who is also Press Freedom Committee of The Post general secretary said the process towards media self regulation had taken shape and was hopeful that the mechanism would be launched on May 3 this year.

He said media bodies would hold a stakeholders conference on April 12 to 13.

”We have invited people from South Africa, we shall have Joe Thloe from the South African Press Council and Linus Gitali who is the chief executive officer of the Nation Group from east Africa, so you can see how rich this conference will be in terms of sharing ideas,” Chifuwe said.

Chifuwe urged media personnel to look at the draft code of ethics, which he said had been distributed to all media outlets, so that they could acquaint themselves with its provisions.

Labels: PRESS FREEDOM, SHEIKH CHIFUWE, WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY

posted by MrK @ 4:45 AM