Macra: Don’t dare throw stones
Hon Folks, they say “if you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones”. Do folks in government appreciate its didactic import?
How come that when regulating the use of the “boom mic” (no pun intended Dr. Hetherwick Ntaba) of the electronic media, using the same Communications Act , Macra lets MBC get away with what becomes a serious breach if purportedly committed by Zodiak?
Remember what transpired at the consecration of John Ryan as Bishop of Mzuzu Diocese on Saturday, August 27 2016? APM used the occasion to accuse his predecessor Joyce Banda of hunting him “like a criminal” and trying to kill him, not once, not twice but five times in the run-up to the 2014 Tripartite Elections.
That allegation echoed to all parts of Malawi and beyond through the boom microphone of MBC.
As a State broadcaster, MBC uses both its TV and radio to cover live public presidential functions. The President’s speech is then re-broadcast at a peak hour later in the evening, often soon after a news bulletin.
So, on August 27 2016 MBC let no lesser mortal than APM spew vitriol at his predecessor, JB, calling her a murderer.
He said: “When I fought to lead this country myself, when my life was hunted like a criminal and I survived five assassination attempts, most of you gave me refuge, solace and courage.”
It’s an assertion that could incite violence especially considering that both APM’s DPP and JB’s PP are in the habit of breeding vicious hounds in their hierarchy, a bad habit inherited from UDF and MCP.
How come Macra didn’t take MBC to task for not giving JB or her party the right to reply to APM’s serious allegation?
The question becomes pertinent now that Macra is firing on all fours, accusing Zodiak of allowing opposition MP Kamlepo Kalua to spew vitriol at the late Bingu wa Mutharika (APM’s brother and former president) and Bakili Muluzi (former president whose UDF party is in a marriage of convenience with DPP) without giving the other parties a chance to be heard.
Macra says while seeking Kalua’s reaction to APM’s ultimatum that the MP should within 24 hours provide names of Cabinet ministers he alleged were involved in the Cashgate scandal, Zodiak allowed Kalua to “digress”, alleging that Bingu “killed Robert Chasowa” and that Muluzi “killed Fanikiso Phiri and Evison Matafale.”
Macra then says “it has found that the broadcast by ZBS was in breach of its broadcasting licence and the Communications Act’ which requires ZBS “to comply with the Code of Conduct for broadcasters contained in the Third Schedule of the Communications Act”.
It says Section 5 of the Code of Conduct requires broadcasters, “when presenting a controversial issue of public importance, to make reasonable efforts to present differing points of view in the same programme or in a subsequent programme within a reasonable period of time and in substantially the same time slot.”
I bet no journalists worth the name would have problems with Section 5 of the Code of Conduct for broadcasters although MBC did not seek those “differing points of view”. But Macra sounds really ridiculous when it also accuses Zodiak of breaching Section 2 of the same Code which “requires broadcasters not to broadcast any material which is likely to prejudice public order or tranquillity”
It adds: “The authority notes that the deaths of Robert Chasowa, Fanikiso Phiri and Evison Matafale are politically sensitive matters. In the Authority’s assessment, the allegation by Hon. Kalua, which so far have not been proven to be true, had the potential of inciting supporters of political parties mentioned and other members of the general public to violence. ZBS thus breached Section 2 of the Code.
So Macra did not take MBC to task because in its assessment there’s proof that JB indeed made five attempts at APM’s life before the 2014 polls! n
