Maravi

Rupiah’s abuse of public media worries Fr Mwela

Rupiah’s abuse of public media worries Fr Mwela
By Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Thu 05 May 2011, 04:00 CAT

IT is unfortunate that President Rupiah Banda has continued to abuse the public media and looks at private media institutions as his enemy number one, says Fr Patrick Mwela.

Commenting on the World Press Freedom Day which was commemorated on Tuesday, Fr Mwela who is Caritas director of social programmes under the Catholic Diocese of Ndola said media independence was still a dream in Zambia because the government did not regard it as a fundamental principle of democracy.

He said despite the Republican constitution and the United Nations (UN) declaration of human rights emphasising the importance of press freedom and freedom of expression, the government’s approach towards the media in Zambia was generally dismal. “We wonder sometimes how important private media institutions like The Post survive when government has created a hostile environment for it.

It is distressing to note that government has failed to appreciate that private media institutions play a vital role of questioning government policies for the enhancement of the country’s democracy and good governance,” Fr Mwela said. He said it was sad that President Banda’s government had turned the public media as a campaign and propaganda tool for the MMD forgetting that such institutions had an obligation of balanced coverage and objective reporting.

Fr Mwela said majority Zambians who were the taxpayers were not happy with the manner President Banda was abusing the Zambia National Broadcasting Cooperation (ZNBC), the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail which were public media institutions. He said Minister of Information and Broadcasting Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha was a bad minister who needed a lot of education on the importance of press freedom in a democratic country like Zambia.

Fr Mwela also said the continued closure of Radio Lyambai and the intimidation of private media institutions by Lt Gen Shikapwasha ahead of the elections spoke volumes of how the government wanted to silence divergent and critical views of the people ahead of the polls.

He said Lt Gen Shikapwasha must refrain from intimidating and closing media institutions but work towards ensuring that he creates an objective public media that would give people balanced coverage.

Labels: MEDIA, PATRICK MWELA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 2:04 PM