March7, 2019

We, the consortium of non-governmental organizations and political parties, condemn the three church mother bodies’ hypocritical attack on the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA)’s decision to suspend Prime TV’s license for 30 days.

We are extremely shocked that the church mother bodies rushed to condemn the IBA’s decision to suspend Prime TV’s license without analyzing why such a decision was taken.

Whilst we fully support the freedom of expression and the media, the Prime TV and other media outlets hostile to Government abused the said freedoms by their unprofessional conduct and unbalanced news coverage.

The three church mother bodies, namely Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB), know fully well about how the media outlets hostile to Governments’ professional misconduct hold the potential to set the country ablaze.

But unlike the Prime TV, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) provides professional and balanced news coverage in the country.

We advise the clergy to counsel the said media outlets to adhere to the Christian principles and values, and not rush to condemn the decision meant to correct their professional misconduct.

We expect the Church, as the body of Christ, to refrain from taking sides when commenting on critical national issues such as the role of the media in promoting peace and unity in the country.

We also advise the media outlets to be professional in their conduct and provide balanced news coverage.

Issued by:

1. ZAMBIAN DNA

2. MOVEMENT FOR ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND DEMOCRACY (MEED)

3. BATTLE CRY ZAMBIA

4. NEW CONGRESS PARTY (NCP)

5. CITIZENS DEMOCRATIC PARTY (CDP)

6. MEDIA ELECTION MONITORING PROJECT (MEMP)

7. NETWORK FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AGAINST VIOLENCE