Journalists from the public media (including myself) have successfully sent a petition to the Speaker of the National Amussa Mwanamwambwa against Munali Member of Parliament Mumbi Phiri.
Chipangali Member of Parliament Vincent Mwale had the pleasure to receive our petition to forward to the Speaker as per parliamentary etiquette and procedure. We are now waiting for parliamentary course of action to take course before the public can know the outcome of our cry.
Ignore the bad press and negative comments some people uttered and still want to utter. They have selfish motives and objectives. It is only a matter of time and the truth shall be known. We know most of these people are like pawns. They do not have minds of their. They fight other people’s battles just because of a small wage or some pat on the back. Others are chasing for favours. But this is where some people have taken the Zambian media, a platform where they can achieve selfish egos.
We carried placards and chanted slogans as we marched from Arcades Shopping Centre to the Parliament through the great east road where our colleagues from the police service received us with courtesy, contrary to previous years when this procession should have ended in severe beatings and such agony as spending hours or a night in custody.
And it is my chance to congratulate the police for the reasonable conduct as well the earlier permit to conduct this public meeting.
Some critical stakeholders and individuals were conspicuously missing from this noble cause.
This did not deter me and other media practitioners who genuinely advocate for true media freedom, dignity and respect for the fourth estate and the fight against intimidation from proceeding with the arranged programme even when these colleagues indicated aptly they only need us when it suits them the most. When it is our greatest hour of need, our so called ‘friends’ are no where to be found. The world is truly going round and we shall see what posterity has in stock for everybody.
In any case, I was not particularly shocked that some stakeholders were missing because the writing was on the wall.
Earlier, some ‘vuvuzela’ were trying to mislead the nation that we had cancelled the protest because Mumbi Phiri had apologised. What a shame!
The procession to parliament was genuine and peaceful. There was no violence or such acts. The police must be smiling now because this will go down in the annals of history as one of the most peaceful and best examples of how to demonstrate or protest in a democratic setup like ours.
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