Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi has said regulating the media in coverage of State House functions is an infringement on press freedom.
Speaking in an interview, Ms. Nawakwi said the media is the fourth estate of government and that it must be allowed to carry out its mandate of informing the general populous efficiently.
She has since called for the enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill stating that this will allow for an effective media in the country.
And Former Information and Broadcasting Minister Mike Mulongoti said the move is untenable as it will not work in the best interest of Zambians.
Their comments come in a wake of an attempt by Permanent Secretary in-charge of administration at Cabinet office Annie Sinyangwe to restrict the coverage of state house functions to the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS), a move that has received wide condemnation.
According to Ms. Sinyangwe, State House has become too small to accommodate all the journalists.
QFM
 Post journalists in Statehouse who feel Statehouse is personal to holder and they want to control the Zambian media together with Mmembe.Whoever is perceived as MMD in the media are being silently eliminated.
Private media covered MCS more than zanis before he became president,so they should be the ones to go to state house!After all H.E doesnt evn like public media nakudala!
Its true i dont know what is happening with this government of Mr UKWA . PF has started behaving like MMD to me it has lost its direction, the party that can even go to the extend of fighting HH at the funeral who just went to pay the last respect to the late Nakatindi. This is disappointing and Unzambian. I dont know why Mr Sata cant respect the dead, telling the Pf cadres to harass one individual at funeral !!!!!!
Actually, it had no direction from the start.
So is this a new decree and has the president endorsed it?
Sata is Sata and no amount of window dressing will stop him from expressing his rants and I can understand why people around him realise how he is embarrassing them and just want censor all reports from Statehouse to remove his rants and this will not fly and am sure the president will override it.
Looks like this directive is coming from somebody junior who has no clue of what is actually happening on the ground. Every press secretary at every Zambian embassy knows that ZANIS under PF is dead and non functional and I wonder why they are still being kept on Government payroll and what they actually do.
ZANIS is supposed to informs citizens about what government is doing
To be continued
Continued from #4
ZANIS is supposed to inform citizens about what the government is doing. Under MMD, we used to receive reports on a daily basis about what was happening in Zambia and distribute to those people here who are on our mailing list.
Since PF takeover, we don’t receive anything from ZANIS and we have asked colleagues at embassies around the globe and they say the same. All we get is events diary which does not make sense to people in diaspora because none can attend those events.
Clearly ZANIS is broken and a check on their website will give you a good picture of how that institution has been caderised, they don’t even know how to update a simple website. Still German President Story since Feb
To be continued..
Continued from #5
So giving ZANIS exclusive rights to covering State House is just a joke and reports will NEVER get out and it is just the way this government wants to hide its inefficiencies playing out in public, and thanks to private media.
Private media should be allowed to cover events at Statehouse and frankly speaking some of us are enjoying the entertainment coming from State House and please don’t stop this show. I have popcons stoked up for the whole year.
ZANIS is non functional and dead under PF, and yes thanks to the POST newspaper which is trying to be the only media in Zambia. How late and shameful. Zambians have discovered broadband and know that they can access news on their cell phones than buy some gutter tabloid.
Nazo nkani bati. Freedom of Information Bill (FIB) is easy to implement when you are in opposition no when in Government. Sata did his part of talking about its implementation, its the turn of the opposition to do the talking now. Welcome mama edith!
Nice to hear from Mulongoti, God bless Zambia
Edith! Long time no see! I even forgot about her.
Going round and round and round and round in circles.Same issues PF sung about when in opposition are still yet to be implemented,if they will ever be.Zambia is always chasing the wind
Ba Nawakwi….bushe tababa fye beka in her party?
my question as well
The problem in this country is the lack of respect for othe people’s professions, especially the journalism one. The PS wanted to lecture the owners of the profession which she can fail to do to the medical or legal profession. I, therefore, urge all journalists to join hands in condemning whosover wants to bellitle the profession by bringing suggestions that they, themselves, do not have professional understanding about. Let this serve as a lesson to all those who pretend to know a lot about professions where they do not belong.
#3 – PF Mutale or any body else; please enlighten me as to how the name UKWA came about, I would be interested to know.
No need to explain, just watch one nigerian movie which has ukwa as a main character and you willl make you own conclusions.
#12
A lot of Zambians watch Nigerian movies & comedies and there is a comedian who plays the role called UKWA and many Zambians think he looks like President Sata, hence the name and if you want to get under the skin of PF cadres, that is the name you use, especially if you are UPND and it works wonders,…and it is the reaction of PF cadres when their leader is called UKWA which is making the name stick and well on its way to becoming a household name for Sata and relegating King Cobra to the dustbin
Mmembes post was very vocal over such issues but now he has gone into low tones. Even the beating of hh if it were rb’s time post could have condemned rupiah for not condeming his cadres but now he is very soft on ukwa.
@13 boot licker you are wrong ma bro. its hh who likened sata to ukwa as a retaliation for being called an under 5. facts man, facts!
MMD Chief Bootlicker, you and I are redundant and do not deserve to be privileged to receive information in a special package about what is going on in Zambia. If you are going to sit in RSA and I in the UK, you might as well know as much as possible what is happening to Malema, or what ever the guy is call, or ZUMA and I am better off knowing what David Cameron is doing with the house-arrested lady in Burma, Su Yi whatever. For you to have been receiving information from Zambia when MMD was in office, while you sit on your ar.se in RSA was wrong and a waste of Zambian merger human resources, it was actually corruption and you need to be warned and cautioned. Stop talking nonsense for once and be objective, Zambia has moved on!!
Shame! That was supposed to be in UNIP time and not now. Even the late Kafupi and RB never restrained the media from covering them regardless of the criticisms they received from the private media. Please never take us back in the unip era.
What are you people complaining about? Annie Sinyangwe is right, State House is too small. You knew what you were voting for and that is what you are getting now. Stop complaining and live with it. This is the whole problem of tribalism. So apa nzelu zapela mumutundu uli mu State House. Bring in other tribes to help you think. You are failing to think. How can you claim that State House is too small? That is a first and have never heard it since independence. Ngati mwapela, chokani poni chabe benangu bangene mo. If you are failing to arrange room in State House, what more running the whole economy?????? No wonder we haven’t heard a single policy strategy pronouncement since September 2011. Chokani chabe mwalepela, nzelu palibe!
Madam Edith sure, are you not just a waste of space in politics? Is FDD still alive? Why is the party not active? Edith and General Miyanda have no strategy, they are not heard, not active and they want to be trusted with running the affairs of the country.
USELESS MOVE, NO BRIANS BA PF, I have given you Zero, what a S.T.U.P.I.D excuse. State house too small?? She sounds MMD, President Sata be careful with some of these Leaders you appointed, still have MMD minds. They will trick you the way they did to Banda.
The idea is that if there are no independent journalists to cover the president, people will not see how incompetent he is! Mr Ukwa you fought hard to be president, do your job or move over. The presidency is a serious job and requires interaction with stakeholders. You can not hide yourself behind ZANIS or other players who have their own agenda.
PS – Cabinet Office is drunk with power, I knew her as a journalist under ZANIS, she should know better. State media 98 % of the time their equipment is not functioning they have no transport etc! let all media houses cover issues at State house not thru ZANIS
PS cabinet office is not a Govt Spokesperson, her statement does not represent Govt’s position, thats the problem when you have cadres in high offices, schopet maningi