SPECIAL ASSISTANT to the President for Press and Public Relations Mr. Amos Chanda has bemoaned the rampant fake news that has continued to flood the nation noting that the false propaganda is costing the nation millions.
Speaking at the 2019, ZAPRA Conference in Livingstone Mr. Chanda said the pervasive threat of disinformation has threatened election results and democracies all over adding that the false information has cost institutions such Zesco millions of expected funds because some people had peddled falsehoods about the institution.
“Those deceptions and manipulations are most damaging when packaged and reported as though they were truths,” he said.
“The pervasive threat of disinformation threatens election results and democracies all over.”
He told the hundreds PR practitioners gathered from both the public and private sector that they needed to help government ‘confront the fake news monster’ by equally being on social media platforms and telling the truth.
Mr. Chanda observed that peddled fake news mostly by the opposition political parties has caused an attack on GDP, exchange rate, encouraged anarchy attack on market as well as threatened the nations democracy.
Mr. Chanda noted that the only way to fight back against this is with more freedom, more openness, more traceability, more accountability and more transparency.
He told the gathering that the PF government wants to work closely with public relations and communications industry and announced to Public Relations Practitioners in public institutions that they have State House backing to defend the truth without waiting for clearance.
“All public relations practitioners in public institutions have express permission from State House to respond to fake news as it is given out without waiting for the ‘clearance’ which could render the response irrelevant,” Mr. Chanda said.
“And that is why I am here with you, not only to pay tribute to your valuable work that this group has done but to show that this Government is committed to this issue and committed to protecting democracy,” Mr. Chanda said.
Don’t confuse us with that, we know what’s going on!
If you have integrity and you work hard, you usually have little to fear from other people’s lies, because the truth is usually plain for all to see. But when you are a thief and a liar, you are always concerned about what people are saying about you.
A lot of rubbish was said about president Mwanawasa when he was in power, but today everyone acknowledged he was a good president who had integrity. Of course those who benefited from the corruption of the thieves he locked up try to dent his name. But we all see through their lies.
So Mr. Chanda, no matter what propaganda you try to spin, the truth about you is clear for all to see. And that truth will catch up with you in due course.
This is a fake message to counter any fake news. It will depend on who fakes the news. If it bwana Chanda, they wont comment.
People can only tell the truth if you stop telling lies yourself Chanda
Ka Amos and your incompetence is costing us how much?
This boy is a lunatic and an ***** who imagines that he is President instead of media chola boy for the President. The President is also an accomplice to the crime because if he was not, the boy would have been shown the door for his insolence and disrespectful vomits against senior citizens some of whom are older than the boy’s grandfather.
So technically this guy Amos is running the government now? Wow. Fake news is a global phenomena. And the way to respond to it is for the government to refute it officially, which PF fails to do time and again. When was the last time you saw Lungu holding a press conference? Why is he scared to hold one? If you think there’s fake news being peddled, have the president or some other government official address it officially. PRESENT HARD FACTS to counter what you think is fake news, instead of just denying the accusations. And now Amos is suggesting an army of PF propagandists get online and start spinning stuff for the government. What a shame.
Fake news is from bad people not opposition. Mr Chanda is not being honest. Fake news is bad but isn’t fake news to say PF is a violent political party.
SO ANYTHING ABOUT HOW THE GOVERNMENT IS LOOTING ZAMBIA IS FAKE NEWS ?? THE MONEY THAT HAS BEEN STOLEN IS WHAT IS COSTING ZAMBIA MILLIONS MR CHANDA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t say anything because despite me being PF I notice a lot of people have very little respect for the current presidential spokesperson because of his incomprehensible arrogance and insolence
I wonder how you come up with these numbers.
Who’s the president of Zambia ? Looks and sounds like Amos has taken over.
chanda behaves like a politician he forgets his job , always on the defensive and blame game
Ba Amos Chanda, there is Fake News and Negative. For different reasons negative news is being peddled as fake news by the likes of you, one of those reasons being people trying to keep their jobs.
There is ethnic cleansing going on in the country.The victims are told its state house directives to retire officers in national interest.Is this fake news as well because this ethnic cleansing is damaging society
Government is the biggest peddler of fake news in zambia. “No there is no money missing from social cash transfer” but minister is fired. ” that’s how much fire trucks cost” but everyone can just Google and check the price.” That’s how much a toll gate costs” but renowned engineers dispute this. Etc etc the list of fake news is endless….