PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema does not want praise singers or bootlickers but people who say the truth, says Southern Province minister Cornelius Mweetwa.
Mweetwa, in a speech read on his behalf by
Livingstone mayor Constance Muleabai, said it is journalists’ fundamental human right to ask for and receive information held by public organisations and bodies.
“President Hakainde Hichilema and his government do not want praise singers or bootlickers but people who say the truth and work hard. As government we are interested in supporting you and not to restrain or shut you up,” he said. “You have been professional in your duty to the nation and I can and confidently say you greatly helped President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND to defeat the PF which had become a cancer not only to you as journalists but to all Zambians.”
Mweetwa said journalists have and remain professional despite the harsh conditions that “you work under such as low wages and delayed salaries”.
“You even carry stories of people protesting poor working conditions when you yourselves are working under even worse conditions,” he noted.
Mweetwa said it was critically important to make sure information held by the government and in some cases private institutions is made available and accessible to citizens.
He said this was the only way citizens can keep track of their government’s performance and be able to tick against each success.
“We as the new dawn government are committed to creating an enabling environment for journalists and media houses to operate freely without government interference as was seen in the past regime with the closure of The Post and Prime TV,” Mweetwa said.
He said journalists are not only under insurmountable pressure to be professional for the benefit of Zambians but “you are under surveillance by the same Zambian citizens who want to see a professional and ethical media industry”.
And Livingstone Press Club president Mercy Ngoma said there can never be democracy without a free press.
“This day being celebrated this year under the theme, ‘Journalism under surveillance’ is important because you cannot have democracy without a free press. This is because democracy’s strength rests in the hands of the people who should receive correct information and engage on issues that concern them to make the right decisions,” she said.
Ngoma noted that World Press Freedom Day was celebrated to ensure the protection and safety of the press in the face of attacks against its independence, to discuss journalistic ethics and to remember journalists who have lost their lives in the pursuit of truth.
She added that the Livingstone Press Club is alive to many issues affecting journalists among them “the lack of the access to information legislation, the lack of protection for journalists against abuse by employers subjecting the professionals to meagre salaries making them vulnerable and limited innovations to sail through the digital jungle that has brought about immense pressure on the practice as a result of citizens freely sharing unverified information on social media platforms”.
“We would also like to sincerely thank President Hakainde Hichilema for openly giving direction for the freedom of the media. We look forward to the enactment of the access to information Bill soon because it stands to benefit the public and strengthen democracy,” said Ngoma.
Credit: The Mast
