The Government yesterday summoned Italian Ambassador to Zambia, Giovanni Ceruti for undiplomatic conduct over a newspaper report attributed to him that the Government should not kill Zambian Airways.
Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Tens Kapoma confirmed in an interview in Lusaka that he had summoned Dr Ceruti to his office over the statement, which was published in Monday’s edition of The Post newspaper.
In its Monday edition, The Post carried the story headlined, “Government has responsibility to keep Zambian Airways – envoy Ceruti”, quoting Dr Ceruti as having implored the Government not to “kill” Zambian Airways through unnecessary measures.
“The issue of the airline is a domestic issue which has assumed political dimensions and it would be undiplomatic for the ambassador to comment on it. He, however, profusely denied having said so and he has written to the paper to that effect,” Mr Kapoma said.
Mr Kapoma said although Dr Ceruti denied having made such comments attributed to him, he still apologised to the Government for having talked about the subject with a reporter.
He said that the comments attributed to the ambassador were undiplomatic, hence his decision to summon him.
When contacted for a comment Dr Ceruti confirmed that he had written to The Post on the matter, adding that he did not say what the paper reported.
“First of all, I would like to underline that when he (the reporter) asked me about the problem of Zambian Airways, immediately I answered that this is not a problem of my competence and that in any case it was not in my style to say what the Zambian Government must do or not do.
“Because of his insistence I said I could just speak of the general problem existing all over the world and first of all also in my country about the great difficulties airlines face at the moment.
“Always referring first of all to Italy, where you know the problem of Alitalia is a sensitive subject at this moment, I commented that there are two different schools of thought,” a copy of Dr Ceruti’s letter to The Post reads.
Dr Ceruti said the first school of thought was that the State must leave it up to the market to decide and the second one was that the Government could support the airline, in some ways, but still abiding by the rules of the market.
“But of course it is up to any government to make its own decisions,” Dr Ceruti said.
Zambian Airways has been going through turbulent times leading to its owing the National Airports Corporation Limited (NACL) US$1.6 million.
Times of Zambia
You see, Ba post babufi. Batampa nokubepesha abana babene.
Anonymous or bms9 whats your view?
The Post is now attacking MMD because of RB, Fred & Co are personalising issues. If Fred and Co aren’t careful, they are going to ruin all the work they’ve put in by attacking people. It really is a shame. RB was diplomatic and never attcked the Post in his speech.
Fred, Maureen and Darlington Mwape are really irritating us!!
Ba Post stop soliciting for interviews supporting Zambian Airways mwalaletelela abantu!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry Ceruti but that might be a lesson on yo part
Nkani yalula Ba POST!
Fred Mmembe should retire and POST himself to the village. Enough is enough.
Awe sure i love the POST but on these elections i think they have lost direction because they have publicaly taken it too personal to save there own agenda
viva post go go fward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
The post are getting desparate!
gvt stop the rot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! U HV MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN SURMONS…. SHAME ON U
while it may not matter to the post so much,i have put my buying of the post on hold till after the election. the post is not objective anymore. i fell so bad about how the post has sunk so long that they cant see any more
I do not stick to one newspaper. I read more than ten online news sources. The Post are out of the picture.
Right on the Post is heading for doom. They are losing all they worked hard for, their editorial line nowadays is sickening. Every day RB this RB that like kena ka Fred kali kwatapo na character iyamano. Mwe mbushi bonse pamo na Maureen.
corner bar uliwa ku kwacha te?
you have resorted to underhand methods LT. I will find my way wether you like it or not.
So the chap you have dispatched here is to block us eh.
Don ceruti, I have surmoned the FAMILIES we are ready to do your bidding.
The Post – on September 01, 2008 – reported that agriculture minister Sara Sayifwanda said first lady Maureen had rightly stated that President Levy Mwanawasa preferred finance minister Ng’andu Magande for a successor.
In the Daily Mail Sara Sayifwanda said she was misquoted by the Post – and also that it was against her culture to talk about succession before burial.
The Post lies keeps coming what a shame. Levy asiya mabvuto Ku Post wina alilakale indeed.
Post newspaper is no longer that name but POST LYINGPAPER. What a shameful act ba Fred!!!!!!!!!
The post is very useless.
Why should buy Mmembe’s unwaranted thoughts at K3000, honestly?
There are better thoughts in Zambia than those coming from Mmembe.
Mmember lacks logic and psycology in his analysis, in alamost every issue, I dont know why.
You dont need much psycology to know that if you over strech matters over issue, people will think twice about your agenda over the same.
Mmembe has no advisor over his paper, and his editors have no ability to apply psycology. Mmembe, why cant you differentiate over issues that are of national interest and those of your private interest. You need to learn to clean up your own clothes when you mess them up. What kind of thinking is this?
bush where are you buddy,we got campaigning to do man. vote on the boat, pa bwato
Im sure I represent all my colleagues at the post when I say that being a journalist at the post has really become very taxing on our professional ethics as we have to dance to the tune of the paper’s owner. We find ourselves compromising our professionalism everyday as we continue to be enlisted to fight the owner’s personal battles. As a young journalist I kinda worried for my career and I wish I could jump ship real soon. This is not what I hoped for when I joined this paper
Don Ceruti, we go to the mattresses before election day!!!
The problem is that Mmembe is not only a non-journalist personality but also one who lacks thinking, logic, and psycology. If he has the capacity to apply thinking, logic and psycology then i guess he fears to apply them because he thinks they have side effects.
Mr Mmembe, i will tell you the truth; Thinking, applying logic and psycology have no negative side effects.
and if you want to continue fearing to apply thinking, logic and psycology then you need to employ an editor, at least one; even if he is not a qualified journalist he can still help you to apply thinking, logic and psycology because you dont need to be a journalist to have the capacity to utilise the above.
Yaba
#22 I understand poverty could have led you to work for the post but you don’t have to work for people that don’t pay you for three months or more. Why should you be working for people who have stopped reporting and only insult people every single day.
Leave Mmembe alone. remember if it wasnt him the ciruption cases were going to be very difficult. Discuss issues and not FRED. Sata for president
The Post has now really stooped to the lowest level and scrapped the bottom of the barrel! In its unbridled desire to defend the indefensible, it has lost all credibility and it the myth that it is the paper that “digs deeper” has finally exploded in its face!! This is gutter journalism at its best! From the day it was founded, the Post and M’eembe have gone out of their way to re-define journalism and made the profession in their own image by “creating” news instead of gathering and reporting news as is the practice everywhere else in the world.
I have always maintained that this rug masquerading as a newspaper is nothing more than a megaphone for the personal clarification of its owner. There are no ethics – journalistic or otherwise, that the paper practices. None! It’s time Zambians woke up and stopped throwing their hard-earned money into the pockets of this sycophant and their lying cohorts.
The POst is The PAST! It is clear now that this paper is only being used as a parachute by the corrupt Mmembe and Nchito and their tentacles to the family tree.
u pipo post is going down,,elo ba M’membe banakwatila ka mwana ka mazoka,the money went ku zambian airways and na ku wedding.why implicate the italian man over what he did not say,,atase ifya bupuba ba keleka imwe,,waya sana iwe ayi,,tulekumona,,u r finished
# 27,
So you mean saying “Sata for president.” is the issue we need to discuss?
BA LT, Muli ba KACHENJELA! U r bringing us news that we pa Diaspora would have never heard of! Hats off to you. A BIG STANDING OVATION TO YOU!
The time has come for Micheal C Sata to rule, and this time around please don’t allow another vinditive man like mwanawasa to rule.
LT, let me know when you are done censsoring my comments so that I can resume posting.
Ask that chap over Ittalia Airline which got liquidated three days ago before his advice to the Govt over ZA.
We have seen with great amazement at how this Membe chap has manipulated the opinion of trusting Zambians who at one time rightly supported his ‘rag’ in the promotion of free press as a tool of democracy, unknown to them is he was always in it for his own gain – using ‘seek and destroy’ strategies to bring down anyone who was a potential leader, thus being a major contributor to the leadership vacuum we now face. He generally and subtly also did the same to anyone threatening his long term ‘self serving agenda’ and as is evident in the last couple of months started believing his and his cohorts ‘dellusions of grandeur’ as self made ‘kingmakers’ now as his ‘plan’ bites the dust,’afunta’
The post reporters and editors are serious clowns. How can you honestly put our Italian friend in such trouble. Do you know what image that story is going to bring to this nation? Lets get serious guys. Fred, Whats your problem? Do you want us to also start eating the dust like you. Solution is for you to leave the paper to me to run. What do you think fellow bloggers…………….
DONT WORRY BA POST:MULI CHE!!VIVA POST!!!!!!!!!
Zimandola what do you know? Do you take drugs or you are just pretending to be alucinated? Get real bro……. These are national issues and not a topic in primary school…………..
Membe is like someone suffering from syphillis of the brain. He needs pyschological healing. For a long time now, he has been stealing other pipoz works by plagiarising editorial comments from other pipoz works. I hear someone is suing him over that. His paper is now supported by mahtani who has been paying post workers salaries after they went for 4 months without pay. Membes day has finally come. Let him face the music.
#14, Miss Bootsy, U rock, u know how to name them and call them right.
#41, I didn’t know that kwaliba ‘Akaswende’ of the brain. lol!
ba Post/m’membe u shud think twice..do not 4get that Zambians have got an elephant’s memory…we r counting ur mistakes and sury yo downfall is at hand..AMOS just liv that boy(fred)-sorry ni ba lawyer manje ba kkula na mutu….4 me u wont be seeing my k3000,so u can continu depending on ads as AMOS once said on MUVI TV………mind u no sales no ads..
coz mulabeja siteleki bana nwebo.. liv the Italian alone,y puting yo words into his mouth..atase!!!!!!!!!!
Fred Maureen the Nchitos. You guys hiding something and using the Post for personal gain. Shame on you chaps. Fred acting like a dog trapped in a corner.
Fred you’ve lost the plot man…your paper not worth buying no more
Mmembe seems to have lost it. The problem is that he thinks he is very clever.
# 27, we can not leave the post alone just because they helped unearth corruption cases. Besides, those are some of the duties of the press. My dear, you can be a hero by serving a lot of people’s lives but once you commit one crime, justice will not let you free because of your past heroics. Even in mathematics, when you multiply huge trillions by a zero, the trillions will have a zero for an answer – Nothing for short.
Finally the true colours of one fred mmembe are coming out.Any way what do you expect from a homo trying to live a staight life? That guy has no morals at all! His group (Mtembo,Nchima,Maureen and Darlington)are desperate
Whoever that reporter is must be FIRED!
The issue is Mmembe is part of Zambian Airs hence his campaign for Mangande. RB probaly is a threat.