Maravi

Magande sees dictatorship in Radio Lyambai closure

Magande sees dictatorship in Radio Lyambai closure
By Kombe Chimpinde and Ernest Chanda
Mon 09 May 2011, 04:01 CAT

NG’ANDU Magande says the decision by the government to shut down Radio Lyambai
is testimony that President Rupiah Banda harbours dictatorial tendencies. And Radio Lyambai board chairperson Muliokela Wamunyima says the government’s long closure of the Mongu-based station has deprived people of their right to information.

Information and broadcasting minister Ronnie Shikapwasha on May 3 maintained
that the government would not open Mongu’s Radio Lyambai until the necessary
screening of the operations and computers belonging to the station were done to
establish whether or not some programmes aired on the station had contributed to
the January 14 riots over the Barotse Agreement.

Magande, who is president of the National Movement for Progress (NMP), said in
an interview that President Banda’s move to close the station was meant to
deprive the people of Western Province of relevant information.

Magande, however, warned that the people of Western Province would find another
avenue to get information which the government of President Banda was depriving
them of.

“He (President Banda) is the man in control of government. That is why we are
all saying he is in full control of what is happening there but that should not
be the purpose of a leader. A leader of a country is supposed to embrace
everyone,” Magande said.

“We have law enforcement agencies which can scrutinise and see whether there is
something suspicious in the operations of Radio Lyambai and courts are there to
judge whether someone said something that incited people to riot.”

Magande said Radio Lyambai was not only vital in the development of the people
of Western Province but that it was also a platform on which issues of public
interest were shared around that community.

He said it was also through community radio stations that the societies were
enabled and empowered to make informed choices about their lives, a right that
President Banda was denying them.

“Whether it is Mazabuka Radio or Radio Breeze, it is not supposed to be used for
political expedience.

Community or public radio stations need to be used to be
informing people on issues of development such as farming activities, weather
patterns and so on, that is major politics of the people in communities,”
Magande said.
He urged the government to heed to calls for them to reopen the station.

“In fact, they are not only depriving the people of Western Province of
information but they are also depriving themselves of a channel of communicating
with the people in Western Province. This is what causes frustrations among
people,” he said.

Magande said abuse of the public media was raising a major concern.
“I’m concerned now as a leader of a political party that now President Banda is
campaigning on public media without giving us a hint of when elections will be
held,” Magande said.

He said President Banda had embarked on reverting the country to the UNIP days
where the media was used for propagating messages of the party in government.
“It’s for this reason that we opened up community radio stations. When we
became a multi-party state, now we even have private television stations
opening,” said Magande.

“The public media is supposed to be a vehicle for
collecting and spreading information and if this government deprives the public
of what they want to know, the public will also be skeptical about what they
will be telling them and find other avenues.”

And Wamunyima stated that the closure of Radio Lyambai had also kept out of
employment many youths who depended on the station for their livelihood.

“The closure of Radio Lyambai is unprecedented. It is the longest closure of a
radio station from the time the Zambian airwaves were liberalised in the early
nineties.

This has unnecessarily dented the image of the Zambian government as
it should have been avoided. The situation as it stands is unacceptable in a
democracy,” Wamunyima said in a statement yesterday.

“This closure of the station has deprived the residents of Mongu and surrounding
areas of the inalienable right to access to information and communication
services in line with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The continuous closure of the station has had adverse trickle down effects,
which started manifesting a long time ago.

Not only has it affected the members of the community but it has also rendered a
youthful team of staff unemployed.”

He stated that business houses had also lost out because they no longer had an
advertising platform for their goods and services.

Wamunyima has since called upon the government to reopen Radio Lyambai to enable
people access information, especially that it is an election year.

Labels: CENSORSHIP, MEDIA, NG'ANDU MAGANDE, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA

posted by MrK @ 5:07 PM