What they Smoke
You wonder what they smoke over there at the Daily Mail, Times of Zambia and ZNBC. Whatever it is, it must be causing them to have acute judgmental problems. How else can you explain their latest take on what the President said about the constitution.
They carried screaming headlines saying "the president had finally brought closure to the debate or that he had clarified ..." or something to that effect. If anything, as opposed to quelling the smoldering debate on the constitution, his comments simply transformed them into a raging fire. It seems all of a sudden he is not as committed to the new constitution as he made us believe. Of late he seems to have been tolling a very curious line. On one hand he claims (quite correctly) that we already have a constitution and that he was sworn to defend the same. But whereas in the past he would acknowledge the serious shortcomings bedeviling our current constitution -such as the fact that you can't be president of this country unless your great grandfather was born here or that you don't need a majority vote to be president and many other issues in between- he has worryingly remained silent on the same. Choosing instead to pour scorn and ridicule on those clamoring for a new constitution.
With the document now circulating on the internet, he has threatened to pull the plug on the whole process. Which would mean that the last four plus years and the money spent on this process would have been an effort in vain.
I would have expected our journalists, especially those with the widest circulation, to at the very least critically appraise this process. The muteness at the Post is deafening, while the attempt to launder the process from the government owned media is quickly turning into the biggest spineless display of incompetence to rival the constitution making process itself. And you expect us to take you seriously?
Let me just quickly comment on the latest public policy pronouncement to emanate from the PF government. The first is the proposed setting up of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which will be a government owned holding corporation. This corporation, modeled after INDECO which had a controlling stake in a number of manufacturing companies during socialist Zambia i.e 1972 to 1990, but collapsed due to gross mismanagement and political interference among a myriad of other reasons.
Government and their sympathizers have quick to point out that the IDC will not suffer from any of the weaknesses that brought the INDECO to its knees. Which is obviously what you expect them to say. I hope this is not born out of nostalgia for a bygone era.
In any case the economic justification for the IDC does not convince me. As a firm believer in free market economics with appropriate regulation from government, I would be reluctant to let the State meddle with business in such a direct way. The State should only come into the business arena, in the event of serious market failure (e.g when there is serious information asymmetry of when the disparity between demand and supply calls for intervention). They (government) have with great alacrity given examples of State Owned Enterprises that are doing fine, but have conveniently forgotten to state that you can probably count those on one hand but would find a thousand examples of failure for each success.
bracing ourselves for INDECO
Information on what exactly the IDC will be doing is scant... well as with information on many other serious public policy pronouncements. Speaking of lack of information, many would agree that that has been a problem in this administration. The public needs to be availed information on why government is taking certain measures. Clearly the one liners during swearing in ceremonies or the manicured statements through George Chellah do not suffice. People are more likely to support you when they know exactly what you are doing and why you are doing it.
The president has since opened a Facebook page and the growth in numbers of people who like the page shows that "the president is popular among the youth" claim those poor excuses for journalists at ZNBC. All I can say is that this gives George Chellah more Facebook time. I visited the page a few times today and enjoyed some of the comments I found. One guy was asking for a job, another begging for a road, another still was poking fun at those who actually thought the President was reading the page.
Interestingly even some profane comments were on the page. That is either evidence that the president is not reading the comments or that he is incredibly tolerant.
They carried screaming headlines saying "the president had finally brought closure to the debate or that he had clarified ..." or something to that effect. If anything, as opposed to quelling the smoldering debate on the constitution, his comments simply transformed them into a raging fire. It seems all of a sudden he is not as committed to the new constitution as he made us believe. Of late he seems to have been tolling a very curious line. On one hand he claims (quite correctly) that we already have a constitution and that he was sworn to defend the same. But whereas in the past he would acknowledge the serious shortcomings bedeviling our current constitution -such as the fact that you can't be president of this country unless your great grandfather was born here or that you don't need a majority vote to be president and many other issues in between- he has worryingly remained silent on the same. Choosing instead to pour scorn and ridicule on those clamoring for a new constitution.
With the document now circulating on the internet, he has threatened to pull the plug on the whole process. Which would mean that the last four plus years and the money spent on this process would have been an effort in vain.
I would have expected our journalists, especially those with the widest circulation, to at the very least critically appraise this process. The muteness at the Post is deafening, while the attempt to launder the process from the government owned media is quickly turning into the biggest spineless display of incompetence to rival the constitution making process itself. And you expect us to take you seriously?
Let me just quickly comment on the latest public policy pronouncement to emanate from the PF government. The first is the proposed setting up of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which will be a government owned holding corporation. This corporation, modeled after INDECO which had a controlling stake in a number of manufacturing companies during socialist Zambia i.e 1972 to 1990, but collapsed due to gross mismanagement and political interference among a myriad of other reasons.
Government and their sympathizers have quick to point out that the IDC will not suffer from any of the weaknesses that brought the INDECO to its knees. Which is obviously what you expect them to say. I hope this is not born out of nostalgia for a bygone era.
In any case the economic justification for the IDC does not convince me. As a firm believer in free market economics with appropriate regulation from government, I would be reluctant to let the State meddle with business in such a direct way. The State should only come into the business arena, in the event of serious market failure (e.g when there is serious information asymmetry of when the disparity between demand and supply calls for intervention). They (government) have with great alacrity given examples of State Owned Enterprises that are doing fine, but have conveniently forgotten to state that you can probably count those on one hand but would find a thousand examples of failure for each success.
Information on what exactly the IDC will be doing is scant... well as with information on many other serious public policy pronouncements. Speaking of lack of information, many would agree that that has been a problem in this administration. The public needs to be availed information on why government is taking certain measures. Clearly the one liners during swearing in ceremonies or the manicured statements through George Chellah do not suffice. People are more likely to support you when they know exactly what you are doing and why you are doing it.
The president has since opened a Facebook page and the growth in numbers of people who like the page shows that "the president is popular among the youth" claim those poor excuses for journalists at ZNBC. All I can say is that this gives George Chellah more Facebook time. I visited the page a few times today and enjoyed some of the comments I found. One guy was asking for a job, another begging for a road, another still was poking fun at those who actually thought the President was reading the page.
Interestingly even some profane comments were on the page. That is either evidence that the president is not reading the comments or that he is incredibly tolerant.
Our public media has no space for analysis or ask those searching questions. It is like they just parrot what State House Press chaps dictate to them. This is where mediocre becomes the order of the day and we live with it.
ReplyDeleteI gave up on state media a while ago. I think even if the journalists want to tell the truth as it is, the cannot for fear of losing their jobs. I have lost all hope in this government and reading the news is just depressing. I do not know why they feel the need to impose decisions rather than consult. I am sure that Zambia has advisors who can advise the right path. However, this government is on an agenda to drive us down the path of socialism.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comments. I have equally given up on the State media which by the way now includes the Post. I just think that something has to give in the end, considering the lack of balance in the reporting. It seems there is a chasm between those on the left of government and those on the right, and in that chasm lies the truth. It is sad when sensationalism and men's opinion begin to pass for facts and news.
DeleteThanks for your support Nyalubinge and Frustrated brother
Public media is in a state of coma. Everyone (inclusive of those that run the public media) knows what is wrong with it but out of the desire for self preservation no one wants to do anything about it. Its like on the constitution, if it is a document that may take away from some of my powers, then the inertia on my part in enacting it will be there for all to see. It works like that and sadly no one seems to be able to get us out of this rot.
ReplyDeleteAs for the private media, it is difficulty for anyone to expect them to cover stories in any other way but what their editorial policy outlines and that policy can be flexed to suit the needs of the owners. I am not so hard on them, even though it has become apparent for all to see that we all just toll the line that puts bread and butter on the table.