State House Closed Prime, Kambwili Alleges

NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili has alleged that two members of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) have reliably informed him that Prime TV was closed by State House.

“First and foremost I am reliably informed by two board members that the decision was not done in the interest of the nation neither was it backed by law but it was just an instruction from State House and the Ministry of Information. The board must resign because instead of following the laid down procedures and the law, they decide to succumb to pressure by the minister and State House. What they have done has no backing of the law,” Kambwili has stated.

“Let us learn to coexist and accept divergent views. If you just want people to be listening to your own voice always then you are a wrong leader because a good leader listens to criticism and is able to make amends based on the criticism,” he continued.

The NDC leader claims that the IBA has abused its authority by invoking Section 29 of the IBA Act without evidence.

“If you read the letter that they wrote to Prime TV it will even show you that the letter was irregular. Prime TV has not been charged with any case which they included in their letter. Now how do they write that in the letter? Even the way the letter was written was all illegal and wrong. We call upon the President, Edgar Chagwa, Dora Siliya, Amos Malupenga to advise the board to rescind that decision and give back the licence to Prime TV,” Kamwbili argues.

The allegations come following the cancellation of a scheduled appearance by Kambwili on Muvi TV’s The Assignment this weekend..

Shortly before the programme was scheduled to take place its cancellation was announced.

NDC Spokesperson Saboi Imboela claimed that the cancellation was the result of intimidation, with Muvi TV allegedly ordered not to allow the programme to go ahead.

Posting a notice of the cancellation on social media Imboela wrote:

“This serves to inform all NDC members and the general public that ’The Assignment’ programme which was due to feature our President Dr. Chishimba Kambwili this evening has been cancelled by Muvi TV. This was after the TV station was intimidated and ordered not to go ahead with the programme. We would like to sympathise with the media and the current hostile conditions that they operate in. We are cognisant of the fact that media freedoms are at the lowest in the country and private media space is being shrunk at a very alarming rate. We, therefore, urge all members and the general public to continue being vigilant and defend their source of information as the situation will continue to get worse as we get to 2021.”