Kambwili meets IBA Chairman

Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Chishimba Kambwili

Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Chishimba Kambwili today met the Chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Brigadier General Justin Mutale and expressed concern at the quality of some radio broadcasts that he said are promoting hate speech.

Mr Kambwili, who met Brigadier- General Mutale, IBA Director General Josephine Mapoma, and Director Standards Eustace Nkandu, in his office, said it took a radio station in Rwanda to ignite genocide and asked the regulators to take keen interest in what was being broadcast.

He pointed out that there are two radio stations in Southern Province that do not want to play songs done in a certain language when there are people from other areas that are living in Southern Province and it is no harm playing songs done in any other language.

Mr Kambwili has urged the IBA official to find a way of appearing on the two stations and discourage hate speech.

And Brig. General Mutale said two radio stations and a television station in Lusaka had been summoned to appear before the Authority for using unpalatable language during their broadcasts.

Brig. General Mutale said the IBA should not be seen as a body that stifles freedom of expression but as a regulator that wants improved broadcasting standards.

And Mr Kambwili has met MultiChoice Zambia General Manager Simon Bota and urged his firm to consider bringing down the hiked subscription prices.

The Minister said DStv is a necessity but that increasing subscription fees they have been increased is depriving people of their source of information because they will not afford to pay.

The Minister will meet Mr Bota again next week on Tuesday to respond to the request.

On Wednesday, Mr Kambwili met the Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ), led by president Shamaoma Musonda and promised to revamp the operations of the public media.

Mr Musonda told the Minister that Times Printpak Zambia Limited is facing crippling debt most of it owed to Government through unpaid statutory obligations.

The Minister told ZUJ that he had written to Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda about the worrying debt the public media is also owed by Government Ministries and Departments and that he expects the Ministry of Finance to ensure this debt is paid.

The Minister said it is the responsibility of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s administration to respond when people express unhappiness over national issues.