By HELLEN TEMBO –
THE Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) has challenged the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) to be objective when commenting on national matters.
ZRP president Wright Musoma said LAZ was being biased when they called for the lifting of the suspension of licences for Muvi TV, Komboni Radio and Radio Itezhi-Tezhi by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and attacked the Times of Zambia for running an article on the violence in Namwala District.
“Of late, we have had organisations that are supposed to be independent but they are partisan and we can tell that this organisation supports this party, but it’s so unprofessional for LAZ to be one-sided when dealing with national issues,” Mr Musoma said.
Mr Musoma said this in an interview yesterday when he made comments on LAZ’s Press briefing held on Thursday.
At the briefing, LAZ honorary secretary Sashi Kateka said the IBA should lift the suspension of licences for the three media houses and that the public media should not alarm the nation with biased reporting on the violence in Namwala.
Mr Musoma said the media was supposed to inform the public on issues based on the truth but the problem with Muvi TV, Komboni Radio and Radio Itezhi-Tezhi was that they were reporting based on lies which could incite the nation.
He said there was no problem with the public media informing people about the incidences of violence in Namwala District because that was what had happened.
Mr Musoma said that lawyers should be careful when choosing leaders in LAZ because Zambia needed leaders who were professional when dealing with national matters.
“We are not saying that they should not be commenting on national issues but all we are saying is for LAZ to be professional when handling national matters and be balanced.
“We are urging lawyers in the country to look at people who are not partisan when electing leaders,” Mr Musoma said.
He said he was aware that some leaders in LAZ did things in order to protect their relations and personal interests.