Thursday, March 28, 2024

Government Condemns the Blocking and Disruption of HH’s Appearance on Radio Stations in Muchinga Province

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The government has come out to condemn in the strongest terms the reported incidents involving some suspected ruling Patriotic Front (PF) cadres who attempted to stop a radio programme on Muchinga Radio that featured the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema.

In a statement released to the media by Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services and Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya, the Government said that it was a total violation of the IBA Act, and an embarrassment to the Government and its leadership, for any person to procure other people to storm a radio station and disrupt a broadcast programme or to order a broadcast station to broadcast in a certain manner.

Below is the full statement

STATEMENT BY HON. DORA SILIYA, MP, MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING SERVICES AND CHIEF GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON, ON DISRUPTION OF RADIO PROGRAMMES IN MUCHINGA PROVINCE

The government is deeply disturbed by reports of interference in the programming of some radio stations in Mpika and Chinsali districts, where some broadcast programmes have reportedly been disrupted and some unlawful directives ordered.

Government wishes to place on record that there are laws in place, with very specific provisions of who has authority, to regulate broadcasting in the country.

The nation may recall that one of the earliest milestones of the Patriotic Front (PF) Government was the implementation of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act of 2002, which culminated into the operationalization of the IBA in 2013, as a regulator of the broadcasting industry in the country.

The IBA Act provides for every citizen, whether in their official or individual capacity, who feels aggrieved by the conduct of any broadcasting station to lodge a complaint to the IBA. The procedure is clearly provided in sections 34 to 37.

It is, therefore, total violation of the IBA Act, and an embarrassment to the Government and its leadership, for any person to procure other people to storm a radio station and disrupt a broadcast programme or to order a broadcast station to broadcast in a certain manner.

Government condemns, in the strongest terms, reported incidents involving some suspected PF cadres who attempted to stop a radio programme on Muchinga Radio that featured the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema. Government also condemns the incident in Mpika district where Mr. Hichilema is reported to have been barred from featuring on Mpika Community Radio.

The two unfortunate incidents have no blessings from Government. Government remains committed to the promotion of citizens’ rights, including the right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed in the national Constitution, provided that the freedom is exercised within the confines of the law.

Further, government remains resolute in its support and promotion of media freedoms in the country, as can be seen by the growing numbers of licensed radio and television stations.

It is important to appreciate that broadcast houses have standards to which they conform and therefore, if any person is aggrieved with any radio or television programme, they should follow the complaint procedure as outlined in the IBA Act to seek redress, as has been demonstrated by very high ranking officials in the ruling party before.

As the country continues to fight the Covid-19, government appreciates any support aimed at enhancing the fight against the pandemic be it material contribution or information dissemination for as long as that information is void of politics. Therefore, government can only wish that the UPND leader would also use the opportunity on radio to encourage Zambians to join hands in fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Further, government appeals to the conscious of radio and television stations to try as much as possible to promote unity in the nation by focusing on programming that will galvanize support towards the fight against COVID-19.

Issued by:
Hon. Dora Siliya, MP
MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING SERVICES AND CHIEF GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON

17th May, 2020

46 COMMENTS

  1. Dora Siliya wants a job in UPND next year Hahahaha. I don’t blame her. This woman has slept in the Presidential bed from Chiluba to HH is next. I don’t blame her for using what God gave her. If I was a woman I’d do the same. And Bally shouldn’t think he’s strong because you gonna sleep with Dora whether you like it or not

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    • Lusaka times learn to give people full info before this apology article you should have published and shown the video of these truant pf cadres so that readers know where the apology is coming from and not giving readers half baked news.

      Fellow country men and women are we under curfew or total lockdown for those pf cadres to claim that people should only be talking about corona, if we are supposed to be only talking about corona then why are they preaching about the new normal? And if these TV and private radio stations concentrate only on disseminating mahala covid messages when are they going to put food on the table and pay taxes and license fees to IBA? the same IBA which will shut them down if they default on license fee payments. After watching the video I just realized this…

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  2. Knee-jerk PF government officials. Dora Siliya don’t employ PF cadres . If they are employed as civil servants, they must understand authority and powers they command. Can you see the embarrassment caused by your cadres and DC in Muchinga province? PF must go!

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  3. Dora must shut up, when we say that the Commander-in-Chief of bus station thugs, jerabos and thieving Ministers is a dictator we mean it. Hichilema is lucky that his program was canceled without any incident. There are many unreported cases of people being attacked and beaten for merely gathering in private homes to discuss what affects them. These beatings have been sanctioned by the PF top leadership. People are not free to mobilize their Parties, even during campaigns they’ve to leave space to ECL2021. All political space has been closed, but we have hope because we’re inspired. Simon Kapwepwe won the Mufulira seat without a campaign. Edgar is worse than Welensky because the latter was at least a Mzungu and a colonizer not a fellow Zambian.

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  4. Tell it to the marines Dora, because the navy won’t hv it. And this is a government looking for money from the IMF.

  5. Well, this is new and unnexpected. I wonder where the government was to say the same thing when the debates organised by Prime Tv were disrupted, and these events had both PF and UPND invited to attend.

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  6. This is just tokenism from Dora. The fact is violence and intimidation are at the core of PF, the id!ots are allergic to divergent views. If a DC (for Mpika), and he’s not the only one, can issue threats against a private radio station that wants to air someone from the opposition, what can stop cadres (who are actually sent by PF officials) from going to disrupt a radio station’s planned programming?

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  7. For the past 3 years, i think this is the most positive and reasonable act that has come out from this lady, therefore, this deserves a pat on the back for the objectivity….in all fairness, welldone !!!

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  8. The damage has already reached the international community and UN for harassing media houses. If you are expecting IMF bailout for covid-19 forget it. The whole world knows how undemocratic you are. PF is a wicked party and must go.

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  9. Lungu is at the moment begging for money in the guise of fighting
    covid 19 ,

    That is why PF are paying lip service to the democratic violations by their thugs…..they want to be given the money they are begging for….

    We say to the international community , don’t give lungu any money, he will only use it to pay his thugs to keep harassing opposition or any one with divergent views and to shut down private media

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  10. Ok so you have recognised the act by the dc as inconsistent with the IBA act what are the actions being taken against the dc for being unlawful? I can only hear recogniton of the action being wrong but no part saying the dc will be taught a lesson by the law. Bcz this is professional negligence he stopped the program without any idea what HH was going to say. He made a judgement without evidence.

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  11. The dc committed a negligence case, harassment and promoted discrimination by telling the radio station a wrong way to operate like he is in charge of setting radio station programs and to make it worse he didn’t follow the right procedure of dealing with the radio station if he was concerned the station was wrong instead he used his dc position to think he was above the law to issue commands only a court can issue. Do we allow dc now to take laws into their own hands allowed issue orders on behalf of courts?

  12. This is what an objective government does. Calls out wrong doing without fear or favour. We just wish the upnd would be this mature too whenever they are called out for being wrong. You will never hear of upnd leaders calling out their own for wrong doing. This is what separates the governors from the governed. To lead you need to be mature and call out wrong doing even when it affects your opponent negatively. Until upnd learn this , they will never govern. Kz

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  13. Now i understand wht Jesus meant to his childern on cross….DO NOT CRY FOR ME ,CRY FOR YOURSELVES….

    We where told during elections…these guys hve no directions,but people kept saying pawato pawato…

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  14. This is the quality of PF membership, embarrassing is an understatement.
    They seem to be stuck in the era of Kamalondo, Bulawayo, and William Banda. I wish PF an embarrassing defeat come 2021. PF is unwittingly campaigning for HH, he qualifies for a sympathy vote in addition to the decent vote he will score for speaking to issues in a civilized manner.

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  15. Dola can fool some of them some times but she cant fool all of us all the time. They know who the commander is in that video. Why not bring out this sponsor and the other DC to account?

  16. Dora here seems to, in some way justify what those thugs did that the only message is to fight Covid -19! we CANNOT narrow everything to Covid fights and in fact PF through the President has said that it is a new normal so we all have to contend with the new normal by allowing everything to go smoothly! In fact by cancelling the programmes pre-maturely, they prevented HH from communicating his Covid messages!! THERE IS NOTHING WRONG IN TALKING POLITICS DURING COVID 19 MESSAGES, AFTER ALL THAT IS WHAT PF IS DOING,INCLUDING PREACHING TRIBALISM!! IF DORA MEANS WHAT SHE SAID,LET HER ENCOURAGE THE BROADCASTERS TO REPORT THE THUGS TO THE POLICE SINCE THEY HAVE VIOLATED THE IBA LAW, AND LET US SEE GENUINE PROSECUTION! I can now see these guys are very scared that HH is penetrating the Northern…

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  17. continued..I can now see these guys are very scared that HH is penetrating the Northern parts of Zambia and PF’s lies are evaporating as HH delivers his messages in way that they relate with people’s expectations. They have run out of strategies as physical harassment on HH is not always possible as he is now using technology to reach out to people while he is here in Lusaka!!

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  18. Didn’t PF close Prime TV for broadcasting what they want? Then why is the same PF saying it’s wrong for people to tell radio stations to broadcast only certain things allowed by the party in power? I swear to God and sonny Jesus there will be chaos next year because I won’t stand by a watch my country get ruined by a few greedy individuals no I will fight so that my children can grow in a society that functions fir all individuals and not thieves.

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  19. Dont waste our time condenming wat u planned and u knew that those cadres were going to disturb that program actually u sent them then pa last ati no as Government we condenm such acts kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk why didnt u in the first place admonish your DC who at first went full throttle threatening that Radio Station Manager even wen the innocent manager pleaded with him that please this is where i feed my family, u were quite as Government now u are coming out ati no u dont tolerate such behaviour look Zambians now know u better even your lies are awez exposed Muleikala fwe shame.

  20. It is not good enough just condemning .What have you done about it ? This is not the first time this has been done .PF thugs went to Luanshya and threatened Chishimba Kambwili in the full view of cameras .Nothing has been about it .The people who went to Luanshya are easily identifiable .This shows that Kanganje is hopeless and PF is behind all this . If the opposition were behind this they would have been locked up by Kanganje after receiving instructions from Kabwalala Zulu .

  21. Dora, that is leadership! Whatever the accusation but that is leadership. This country has thugs who claim to be cadres. Political leaders do not even pretend to condemn them. Well done mama

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  22. Condemning alone is not enough. Show that you mean it through action. Fire the Mpika DC and instruct your PF police to arrest all the hooligans involved in the muchinga radio incident.

  23. Please PF arrest those people whose behaviour was so criminal and backward. If you stop HH to feature on radios it does not mean you are diminishing his political resolve but instead you are the ones whom people will start losing faith and trust and consequently people will start to sympathize with HH and UPND. Let HH and UPND be free to feature on radios so that people can know all about his lies and his dictatorship.

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  24. If you are embarrassed of this then you should be embarrassed of closing Prime TV too open Prime TV Dora.

  25. PF busy killing media houses post news paper gone Prime TV killed now it’s radio stations till it will be only ZNBC instead of creating jobs there are killing jobs you should be embarrassed for sure.

  26. Has Dora”s boss fired the Mpika Dull Chikopo {DC}? if not what is she vomiting? Why should law breakers retain their jobs? Oh I forgot, show me your friend ad I will tell you who you are.

  27. The miniskirt of misinformation at it again. Are PF officials cursed with short memory to forget that the same grounds on which they condemn the current barbaric act by that fool who doesn’t deserve to DC are the same grounds they closed our Prime TV? Am sure seer 1 charms they got has made them so confused.

  28. Queen to b5, bally check….on point Dora. Shows how deep hh is in his U5 fantasies and the PF is running this country!!

  29. The best thing you could have done KZ was to keep quiet. This is nonsense. Bring to book those pf caders and their masterminder. Charit Katanga promised the nation to be informed about the pf gassing masterminder we now know SPARKS but upto day nill. If it was upnd or ndc pf who stormed radio stations, police were going to make arrests by now. We are in ANIMAL FARM “all animals are equal but some other animals are more equal than others”

  30. @ KZ and @ Zambian Citizen – yesterday we condemned you for defending the indefeasible through your feeble attempts to justify HH’s barring form being on radio in Mpika. Today, after Dora’s embarrassment, you are now (KZ) changing your stu.pidity to flow with your masters. @ Zambian citizen is still floundering, trying to find his/her faculties that don’t exist.

  31. Ba Kaizar what is your new job description? You tell us that we are paying you just to read each and every article on LT just for the sake of fighting the opposition and diasporans? Where do you find the time to do that? Insoni ebuntu. I wish I had a way to withdraw my hard earned tax money that goes to your salary

  32. Ba Kaizar what is your new job description? You tell us that we are paying you just to read each and every article on LT just for the sake of fighting the opposition and diasporans? Where do you find the time to do that? Insoni ebuntu. I wish I had a way to withdraw my hard earned tax money that goes to your salary

  33. These hypocritical foools are now trying to convince us that they champion freedom of speech and freedom of expression, after they illegally shut down Prime TV?, What nonsense is this? The whole world by now knows that these PF thugs are dictators wanna be, trying to turn Zambia into a totalitarian State. So listen here you PF tinpot dictators… your time is up! You’ll be kicked out of office next year by we the Zambian people… people you’ve robbed and abused. We’re sick and tired of your corruption, incompetency, mediocrity, and hypocrisy. All you’ve been doing is undermine democracy in Zambia and loot the nation’s resources. Prison awaits you next year.

  34. I think Dora Slit suffers from a disease I would call “Clitonjitis”. I mean, we all know this obese girl hates freedom of the press, she only a few months ago shut down a whole TV station for giving coverage to the opposition. Today she wants to pretend she is against what the Kasai Mnwacusa Simuwelu is doing in the Northern caucasses.

  35. A combination of Dora CliDonjitis’ hair and mask make her look like a Mbunda nyau called ‘Likishi la Mwanapwebo”.

  36. Kusifunga mashamba mwa teka ona sinamukuka se singe Dora, kauke mutenya wateni kiwoyo mwankaula ni likubo kuyosiya ki bwaanda twaa inge mulilima! Bumaswe feela kuti si busila, ni nyo yasona kuti ki liweluwelu la meezi. Kukusi tokomela mane kapa saku minisa mikope mwa buliba bwasona!

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