Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini has asked the Vice President Inonge Wina to issue a Ministerial statement in Parliament during the course of the week to address the allegation that President Edgar Lungu’s speech to Parliament last Friday was leaked.
Dr Matibini said that the Vice President should clarify the matter in the public domain.
The Speaker was ruling on a point of order raised by Chadiza MP Allan Mbewe.
Mr. Mbewe rose on a point of order asking if the Vice President was in order to state why the President’s speech appeared in some newspaper before it was delivered to the House.
And the Criminal investigations have been commenced against the Post Newspaper for being in possession of President Edgar Lungu’s speech to the 5th session of the 11th National Assembly which was a classified Government document until delivery.
State House has charged that it was criminal for the Post Newspaper to have been in possession of the presidential speech two days before the President could deliver it to the nation.
Special assistant to the President for Press and public relations Amos Chanda told the Daily Nation that although the Post version of the presidential speech was not the final document, it was a breach of the law for the newspaper to have gained access to it and cause its publication.
Mr Chanda told the Daily Nation that the President’s inaugural speech to the National Assembly could have been shipped to the Post Newspaper by public workers either at State House or from Cabinet Office.
Mr Chanda ruled out Government Printers as the institution that could have leaked the President’s speech to the Post, stating that he had personally camped in the Government Printing Department and closely supervised and monitored the printing of the speech.
He said the State was going to investigate public officers and the Post Newspaper to establish how a classified Government document could have landed in the hands of a media house before it could be delivered.
Mr Chanda told the Daily Nation that Post Newspaper owner Fred M’membe had a strange desire to commit crime in the spirit of self-induced martyrdom so that Zambians could see him as a victim of political persecution was well known as the act had been used before.
He said Mr M’membe was flagrantly tempting the State to take the law to his door step so that he could be arrested to gain unwarranted public sympathy.
The Post newspaper on Friday published part of President Lungu’s speech particularly where the Head of State had decided to reorganize and realign ministries for smooth administration.
“Let me inform you that criminal investigations have been commenced against the Post newspaper for being in possession of a classified Government document which is President Lungu’s speech to the 5th session of the 11th National Assembly. We are going to investigate the public officers in Government and the Post Newspaper because we know there is a desire by the newspaper to induce self-martyrdom.
It is criminal for the Post to have gained access to the President’s speech (which was embargoed until Friday 10:00 hours) and we will have to find out how that happened. We know that the version of the speech they got was not the final one but nevertheless, they were not supposed to have the document or cause its publication,” Mr Chanda said.
Mr Chanda said it was his suspicion that the President’s speech could have been leaked to the Post newspaper two days before its release and that was why part of what was published in the newspaper was not accurate.
Mr Chanda said State House was happy that President Lungu’s speech had received both local and international accolades and appealed to Zambians to ignore the propaganda that was being manufactured by the Post.
He disclosed that a number of diplomats accredited to Zambia had hailed President Lungu’s comprehensive national address because the speech had boldly addressed most of the challenging and daunting issues facing the country.
He however said although State House was going to ignore the nihilistic malice against President Lungu from the Post newspaper, that did not mean that criminal activities would not be investigated, warning that should there be evidence that the document was stolen and leaked to the newspaper, the police would move in.
Just thinking LT, if it was not the final doc, then it is not the one that was printed. Meaning the authors and the Mr Chanda are the prime suspects. I hope police can see through this.
Amos is a joker, what accolades did the useless speech Edgar read earn. A speech that went wants to consume more money by creating new ministries rather than create industry that will create employment and sustainable jobs. Amos is in fact suspect number 1. it is frightening that he narrows down the source for the leakage to State House and Cabinet Office. It shows that the levels of discontent with this Edgar led regime have reach alarming levels
“should there be any evidence that the speech was stolen & leaked”, what’s the alternative, that the speech walked out of where ever it was.
Seriously why not get civilized & issue an advance copy to selected media & opposition & place them under oath to deliver a reaction immediately after the President is done with his.
And that’s the norm the world-over. Speeches are released to media houses before they are delivered. An embargo is put on them for public release until they have been delivered. When journalists know they can be treated with respect like that, they will have no reason to try and “steal” a public document.
It would be good to cite what law was broken, instead of simply saying the president’s “speech was classified information” before delivery. Because as a matter of fact, this was not confidential information, it was actually meant for public consumption. Except the leak took out the steam from what the presido want to use as a killer-punch.
It is stealing classified information iwe – what is difficult to understand?
We need to redefine what criminal really means. The Zambian statutes are misusing the privilege to be st.upid! Look, not having st.upid stickers on your car also renders you a criminal as much as the armed robber who enters your premises and guns you down as he makes off with your possessions. Really Zambia? Add to that the fact that there was nothing particularly classified about that speech. Matter of fact it was just a regurgitation of political double speak that does not offer real solutions to what the general public are going through!
Ba Observer, please quote the exact law! Cap? Section?
Just arrest and torture the culprits abit…….they will be able to reveal.Leaking of information from state house is criminal and the trend should come to an end.