Thursday, March 28, 2024

Government summons Media Heads over Wikipedia entry

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Information Broadcasting and Tourism Minister Fackson Shamenda (r)

Government has taken seriously Internet publication insinuations that President Sata has been assassinated. To this effect government has summoned to meet all media heads.

Government spokesperson, Fackson Shamenda said that the decision to meet media heads is as a result that the President, assassination rumors were spread by the media.

He notes that government understands the importance of media freedom but was quick to add that this freedom should have limitations. Mr. Shamenda has also announced that law enforcement agencies have since launched investigations in to the rumor.

Online encyclopedia Wikipedia had an entry on Saturday saying that president Sata had been assassinated.

And the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has condemned people spreading rumours that Republican President Michael Sata was shot dead yesterday.

ZCTU director Public Relations and International Affairs Martin Chembe in a statement released to media said that such people are bent on causing confusion in the nation with such rumours in order to detract government from implementing its programme of work.

Mr Chembe said that it was unfortunate that people can resort to such methods of trying to shift attention from concentrating on improving the welfare of people, and that people pertrating such rumours to cause alarm in the nation should be exposed and dealt with.

He noted that the PF government had rolled out an impressive programme aimed at changing the lives of Zambians and people are geared to support such a programme in order for government plans to bring about positive change.

Mr Chembe said that the Congress is looking forward to supporting government efforts of making improvements in workers’ welfare and that it is saddening that some people want to derail government’s good intentions by shifting its focus.

Meanwhile the ZCTU is cheered by government’s announcewment that the intended reversal of the sale of Zamtel will not lead to job losses among workers.

Mr Chembe says it is important that workers are kept reassured constantly on what is happening to their company so that they have confidence in the whole process and their hopes kept alive.

QFM/MUVITV

44 COMMENTS

  1. Oh please , let it go ..it is Wikipedia for goodness sake, anyone can edit that content and I don’t see any reason why media heads should be summoned as if they are the door bouncers to Wikipedia in Zambia. What is Shamenda gonna tell them? This does not make sense.

    They should summon owners of Wikipedia and not harass ignorant heads of media houses in Zambia who are as clueless as the people summoning them. This is a waste of time and resources really. Is that how our leaders have remained in the past? So this digital divide is serious ka?

    I hear South African ANC youth leader Julius Malema threatened to shut down TWITTER after being impersonated.

    Africa Twasebana

  2. The alteration appears to have been done in the United Kingdom city of Crawley by unknown persons using the IP Address 82.11.64.177 through the domain name virginmedia.com with Virgin Media Limited as Internet Service Providers. 

     The falsified alteration was sent through a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Digital Subscriber Loop – a family of technologies that provide internet access by transmitting digital data over the wires of a local telephone network. 

     The coordinates for the altered post appeared to be 51°6’48?N -0°10’58?W while the weather station code for the alter was UKXX0816, signifying that it was done in the England region of the UK.

     The falsified death claim was available and accessed worldwide early hours of Sunday. 

  3. Honestly, let’s put an end to divisive comments and deal with the wrong- doers. Sadly, if you are supporting the MMD and did such an act, even they will want to distance themselves from such!

  4. @rude monk. You have done the investigations, please send this to Shamenda otherwise he will appoint a commission of enquiry….

  5. Okay now that every dog knows that it is wikipedia, let us forget about it. Anyone with an account on wikipedia can edit any information and hence any information on wikipedia is unreliable and must not be taken serious. Besides it is even easy to find the IP address from which the ***** edited the info and can easily be traced. Besides wikipedia is not a news forum and must not taken seriously! Oh the other solution is to bloke wikipedia in Zed as it is not useful, even this blog is better off!

  6. No doubt that was a wicked act to do. Spreading such malicious false rumours about the Head of State and alarming the entire citizenship is not a paccadillo at all. Heads will have to roll. Azakamba kusogolo uyo…

  7. Lecturing all media heads over something they had nothting to do with. What a dictatorship, so was the idea to threaten them in case they do something similar? Surely, did they not have more serious business to attend to?

  8. What has this got to do with media heads. This man should read stuff wrtten about Obama. And how many times have you head of Obama getting panicking? These common statments, all that government needs to do is to refute the rumar and move on.

  9. Aahaa, to counter the un verified wikipedia in Zambia let the president declare a state of emergency for ever. The summonimg of Media Heads reminds me of North Korea or Burma Junta Military govt hope we are not yet there. How does a death rumour make everyone dance in Zambia?. Will soon carry out a survey to assess how many ministers enjoy this heysteria type of work in govt.

  10. The alteration was done in the United Kingdom town of Crawley by unknown persons using the IP Address 82.11.64.177 through the domain name virginmedia.com with Virgin Media Limited as Internet Service Providers.
    The falsified alteration was sent through a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Digital Subscriber Loop – a family of technologies that provide internet access by transmitting digital data over the wires of a local telephone network.
    The coordinates for the altered post appeared to be 51°6’48?N -0°10’58?W while the weather station code for the alter was UKXX0816, signifying that it was done in the England region of the UK.
    Therefore there is no need to summon the local media unless the idea is to intimidate them.

  11. HOW I WISH WHOEVER DID THAT COULD BAD GOTTEN OF. FROM WISHING A HEAD OF STATE DEATH YOU GO TO PUBLISHING IT ON THE WORLD WIDE ENCYCLOPEDIA! THAT IS VERY SERIOUS. IT IS TIME ZAMBIANS STARTED DISCERNING BEFORE DOING ANYTHING. WHERE ON EARTH DID THIS HAPPEN?

  12. that’s not good to bring rumours in any country ,anyway who can tell me the meaning of :Africa Twasebana in english.i do know this language.thx

  13. The facts are very simple. Govt alarmed the nation with the media statement issued from State house and it is also a fact that the same Govt is making a meal of this. Is will also carry some weight in believing that very soon the opposition will be blamed for alarming the nation…well they already have despite this being the most trivial and petty issue. All the time its Investigative wings…we never even knew they existed until after the elections. The must be earning every penny of their salary nowadays!

  14. How about if this guys was sent by would be assassinators to publish that message after they had done the evil. But becuase they failed to assasinate our dear president the whole thing looks like the guy was just alarming the world. The government can find this guy within 24hrs. It is very possible. The US or British embassy can help it, will not cost much money for the gvt but instead it will bring alot of sanity to our dear country. If he is not arrested, he will post a more serious thing that this in future.The arrest will aslo deter other would be offeders.

  15. .
    This is silly coming from a Home Affairs Minister & Government Spokesperson who are supposed to be Spy Chiefs for the government. It shows that people holding positions in government are either simply dull or out of touch.
    To start with the chap needs to understand “Wikipedia” and how it publishes its articles.
    It’s a self edited site which means that anyone can seat in an Internet Café from all over the world and edit articles on the site. So who will the USA going to chase after?

  16. For yo guys who seem to look at this as a mere Wikipedia nonsense, do you guys remember what ignited the Rwanda Massacre? The death of their President by rebels shooting down his plane brought untold stories of the genocide. The person who spread this rumor was not merely politicking or playing, this person meant what he/she wrote and wanted the out come to be atrocious to the nation. In fact, these are works of some sympathizer of one the losing candidates in the September 20th. This kind of malicious behavior cannot come from a well meaning person. This is some work of hurt and hateful being who want Zambia to be ungovernable. and I am almost certain, someone within the nation, or their supporters is behind this kind of behavior. The earlier they get them, the better.

  17. Its very evil to wish your friend to die, c’mon guys in this regard we are talking about head of state, people need to be serious. security wings if you get them put them behind bar. All the best and long live president sata.

  18. I think we need another commission of inquiry to settle this issue; I am sure we wouldn’t mind parting away with another ten million dollars for that.

  19. Shamenda is exposing his ignorance on how the internet functions as well as inefficiencies in Zambian IT security. They can easily track down the person and just smoke them out the Russian way.

  20. This is a trivial issue. Death rumours hav bn circulated on alot of public figures. Ask Mandela, ask celebreties like Lady Gaga.

  21. Thanks “RudeMonk @#3.” for a well researched effort to reveal the origin of scaring news. Death by assination should not feature in a democratic state. However, the overzealous Shamenda should learn some Bemba idioms to appreciate the meaning of the adage: **ICIKUPEMPULA ECIKULYA**. A well known aggressive private news medium, well drilled in fermenting trouble just to condition the mind of Sata to vent more atrocities on perceived political and econolic enemies could be at work within State House corridors. This clique could include lawyers of doubtful stature, some NGOs and a prominent particular Church = that are all known to sow seeds of confusion.

  22. “Mr Chembe said that it was unfortunate that people can resort to such methods of trying to shift attention from concentrating on improving the welfare of people, and that people pertrating such rumours to cause alarm in the nation should be exposed and dealt with.”

    OK sure, but what is even more “unfortunate” is that Govt. can allow itself to be derailed by such a thing. Come on, guys – stop mucking about, concentrate, and get on with the real business of government. A simple statement on the matter would have been enough to calm any alarm in the nation and by making this into big, big deal you are only creating even more alarm and giving attention to the Wikipedia author… which is what I suspect he wanted in the first place.  

  23. I suspect ZWD is involved in the Wikipedia story. that story was posted by a disgruntled Tonga, they’re being misled by their UPND leader.

  24. i think the old man is dead, because he would have already have a say about the speculations. let him appear, come out in public shikulu and clear the rumour. RIP

  25. ‘me says’

    You are Foolish and Dull.where is it written that the article is question was authored by ZWD or Tonga? You are a Foolish ***** BEMBA DOG.

    • I’m not Bemba, I’m actually Tonga, only that I’m not misled by your tribal leader. your language just shows how low you & your leader have become, the story was written out of hatred, and we all know that the most hatred for MCS comes from misled tongas under the leadership of HH

  26. LMAO!!!! Clearly, our ministers have no work. Wikipedia???? Please!! We must be the laughing stock of the world!! Isnt there something better to do? My goodness? A President should have a thick skin. You just cant respond to anything thats written on blogs!! This is so backward. I am ashamed to even read this. Get to work PF. 100 days and more..still counting. If this is all you have to show for it, we are in trouble.

  27. Death rumours are part of our normal life, guys we need to move on and focus on developmental issues. This is not the first and will definately not be the last.

  28. How are media heads responsible for that publication which was not done in Zambia? Shamenda reminds me of his relative Shikapwasha- banakulibonesha ta. At this rate, he will end up with a reputation that will make him whish to evaporate and dissapear at the end of the PF reign like Ronnie. I think Sata realised that Given Lubinda was too smart and hence moved him to foreign affairs to deal with more intellectual and logical issues and let Shamenda deal with illogical issues- issues of patronage and propaganda.

  29. only *****s support such silly behavour of speculating death whether it is for the President or an ordinary person.

    Only unculture margots do such things.

  30. SATA HATER ……………I’m not Bemba, I’m actually Tonga, only that I’m not misled by your tribal leader. your language just shows how low you & your leader have become, the story was written out of hatred, and we all know that the most hatred for MCS comes from misled tongas under the leadership of HH

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