Zambia: Info Minister slams Journalists Body’s assessment of Govt efforts

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha has described as erroneous a political a statement by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the current Government has lost credibility that late president Levy Mwanawasa garnered as champion of press freedom.

 

Gen Shikapwasha said in statement in Lusaka yesterday that CPJ programme research associate Mohamed Keita’s statement insinuating about the Government was of poor judgment.

 

Mr Keita was quoted in the Post as having said that the current Government has lost much of the credibility late President Mwanawasa garnered as a champion of Press freedom is very erroneous and more of a political statement.
“Mr Mohamed Keita is surely not blind of the developments in media in Zambia.

 

As minister directly involved with media development and the levels of Government to media dialogue going on, I find Mr Keita’s statement of very poor judgment,” Gen Shikapwasha said in response.

 

Gen Shikapwasha who is Chief Government spokesperson said as the minister directly involved with media reforms in the nation, he recently returned from Ghana where he had gone to attend an international conference on Access to Information by the media.

 

He said this showed the seriousness the Government attached to media reforms and Mr Keita should have done his research before issuing that statement.

 

Gen Shikapwasha said if Mr Keita had done his research well, he would have discovered that Zambia was one of the few countries that sent a Cabinet minister to this important meeting.

 

The minister stated that the Government was continuing and would continue to dialogue with the media with regards to self-regulation.

 

He said even the media itself had come to prove that the Government was friendly and would continue to provide a conducive environment for media reforms.

 

“With regard to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the Government has already commenced the putting in place of the IBA Board of Directors to prepare the commencement of the operations of the IBA,” he said.

 

The Government had further supported the process of self-regulation being propagated by the media in Zambia.

 

He said the Government was working closely with the media to ensure the self-regulation mechanism worked to the benefit of all.

 

Gen Shikapwasha said it was therefore, wrong for Mr Keita to make such a sweeping statement when the prevailing situation on the ground was not only positive but also progressive.

 

- February 24, 2010 by Times Reporter

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Source: www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi (accessed on 24.02.10)