Zambia: Independent Broadcasting Authority bill goes for second reading

The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) bill went through the second reading on July 30 after a split vote in which Members of Parliament (MPs) from the ruling party and some sections of opposition MPs voted in favour of the Bill.

The Times of Zambia reports that Minister  Ronnie Shikapwasha moved the motion to have the bill supported to the second reading, but this drew rejections from the opposition bench. Shikapwasha said government’s decision to remove the Ad-hoc Appointments Committee was consistent with the ruling of the Supreme Court when media bodies sued government.

He said that Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) would not be regulated by the IBA because the ZNBC Act does not allow any other law to regulate the corporation. The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Information and Broadcasting Mwansa Kapeya and Given Lubinda, both from the opposition parties, stated that the removal of the appointments committee dilutes the very essence of establishing the IBA Act.

Kapeya said that court ruling did not include the need to remove the Ad-hoc Appointments Committee.

Lubinda said government wanted to control the media through the bill and rejected the removal of the clause on the Appointments Committee to leave the task of appointing the board to the Minister of Information. He said the proposal was not in the interest of transparency for which the IBA was setup.

Lubinda also pointed out that government should not have increased grounds for withdrawing licences for erring radio stations. However, works and supplies Minister Mike Mulongoti said government had a duty to govern the people which included making appointments to the board. Mulongoti said all 46 operational radio and television stations had operated without interference from government.

In 2002, MISA Zambia mounted a media law reforms campaign from which the IBA and the ZNBC Acts were enacted. The aim of the new laws was to ensure independence of state owned media such as ZNBC and independent regulation.  MISA Zambia made a submission to Parliament urging it not to remove the clause providing for the Appointments Committee but the government went ahead and removed it.  

- August 09, 2010 by MISA Zambia

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Source: www.misa.org  (received via email alert on 09.08.2010)