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-Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister, Folly Tembo, has commended community radio stations in Chipata district for assisting government in disseminating information to the public.
Mr Tembo stated that Radio Maria stands out because it mostly airs spiritual massages that were helping to heal the country especially now when there are concerns of tribalism.
He was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on the Provincial Minister, Malozo Sichone, at his office today.
Mr Tembo noted that other stations, such as Breeze FM, where also doing fine.
He said the spirit of community radio stations should be to highlight issues of gender based violence, tribalism with intent to get rid of the vice in society.
He, however, noted that some radio stations were concentrating on political stories at the expense of development.
The deputy minister also stated that there is need to equip Zambia News and Information Services so that the government institution effectively disseminates information to the general populace.
He noted that if ZANIS highlighted what led to the delay in the payment of farmers which was a result of government buying the maize in excess through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA), the misunderstandings would not have arisen.
My Tembo stated that the buying of excess maize was tabled in Parliament and if farmers got the right information over to what led to the delay of payments by the FRA farmers would have appreciated the move which was an advantage on their part.
Mr Tembo said there is also need to beef up staffing levels in the 15 new offices for ZANIS in the country and districts which are not manned like Mambwe and Nyimba in Eastern province.
And when he featured on breeze FM, the Deputy Minister noted that there is need for media houses to work with government to educate the masses on digital migration and the need to purchase set top boxes so that they do not go off air on June 17 this year.
And Mr Tembo noted that the social platform was supposed to make communication easy unlike the trend that has been embraced in the country where the social media has been abused by insulting leaders with impunity.
He noted that politics has taken a centre stage while in other countries it is used to accelerate development, acquiring education and effectively sending massages.
And Mr Sichone stated that there is need to equip the ZANIS office because of its noble task of education, sensitising and entertaining the masses.
Mr Sichone said there is need for ZANIS to have reliable Public Address System equipment, vehicles and staffing to effectively carryout the task.
He observed that if ZANIS was given enough space on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation it will be a landmark in terms of information dissemination as many people in rural setup appreciate ZANIS News which they boast that they do not miss.
Mr Sichone said there is also need to create an environment where ZANIS raises revenue through adverts because by doing so it will be able to meet its budget by one third.
