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Congo RDC Independent media anxieties |
MEDIA
After a number of private television stations had been brought under government
control,
questions were being asked about media freedom
Radio-Television Kin-Malebo (RTKM), Channel-Kin 1 and Channel-Kin 2, three private television stations, have just been brought under government control. It’s not quite a question of nationalisation, but we’re not far from it. Is the Kabila government about to restrict media freedom in Congo RDC? Taking into consideration the political atmosphere existing in the country at the moment, owners of these private stations are afraid this might happen. Everything points to the fact that the political leadership is definitely moving in the direction of a one-party state.
On 15 September, the Communications Ministry banned a dozen radio and television stations from broadcasting. Reasons given? They’re not following government fiscal regulations; they’ve not signed the necessary specifications linking them with the government. So, because these radio and TV stations have «failed» to abide by the government instructions, maybe the government is correct in bringing them under its control. But all the same, the fact that this governmental measure coincides with the arrival of Mr. Dominic Sakombi at the head of the Ministry of Communications, (a result of the last ministerial reshuffle), makes one fear that the government is tightening its policies vis à vis the Media.
Dominic Sakombi was many times Mobutu’s Information Minister, and is known to have been the architect of the single party, the Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR). His presence in President Kabila’s entourage has given rise to much speculation and apprehension. More worrying still, Dominic Sakombi has two hats — he is Communications Minister and Permanent Secretary of the People-Power Committees (CCP), set up by President Kabila. All this gives the strong impression of a one-party system of government (but which is too embarrassed to declare itself officially as such).
Since then, the showdown between the independent media and the government is escalating. After the double measure of prohibiting broadcasting and putting the three independent stations mentioned above under government control, the Congolese government has now put them under a new work regime supervised by «official government representatives», appointed by the communications ministry. The new range of programmes drastically reduces room for manoeuvring for those who think up the programmes along the lines and in the spirit of an independent commercial station, as well as the journalists’ freedom of expression.
Channel Kin 1 and 2, both belong to Mr Jean-Pierre Bemba, who is presently running a rebellion against President Kabila! These two channels have knuckled under, reluctantly accepting the new work regime. But it’s quite the opposite for station RTKM. This radio-TV station has not only refused to accept the government dictates, but has refused to submit to the new programme schedule imposed by the ministry.
Trial of strength
Without an appropriate law to back-up its actions, the government resorted to force. On the 19 October, legal inspectors tried to make the RTKM technicians start broadcasting, but the technicians began dragging their feet. They would show only films. «We will gladly restart broadcasting», declared Mr. Charles Dimandja, RTKM‘s Information Director, «but the new work regime imposed by the Communications Ministry, militates against the whole concept of private broadcasting. If we were to follow the new government-imposed instructions, then we’d become a government-run broadcasting station. This is precisely what we don’t want to be.» The personnel finds the new programme schedule far too politicised in content.
When the government saw that station RTKM was adopting a defiant attitude, it decided to send in the military. RTKM has insisted on bringing the whole affair out into the open and has appealed to public opinion, so that everyone can see the relentless way the government is imposing its «law».
Station RTKM belongs to Mr Ngongo Luwowo, formerly Mobutu’s Information Minister. Luwowo now lives in exile in Europe. It employs a staff of 60 — journalists and technicians. The present government justifies its decisions by stating that RTKM‘s broadcasting equipment was a gift from North Korea to the Republic of Zaire and this gift had been misappropriated by the former Information Minister (Luwowo) while he was still in office. Another version is, that Ngongo Luwowo had misappropriated public funds destined for the purchase of material for the State-run television service. But both accusations are rather presumptuous, because the government is unable to produce evidence to substantiate its claims.
In any case, the crisis going on at the heart of his enterprise has obliged Luwowa to abandon his European exile and establish his headquarters in Brazzaville (just across the river from Kinshasa) where he can follow events closely. Fearing that he might lose his business, Luwowo hounded the international audio-visual media to explain and personally defend his case, so that the Congolese public would be suitably edified. Radio France International, the BBC and the Voice of America were all enlisted on RTKM‘s behalf. Brazzaville-TV broadcast an interview with Ngongo Luwowo but that brought little joy to Mr. Albert Obwa, station RTKM‘s Informations Director, who was immediately dismissed from his post.
This trial by force has now been going on for a month, and RTKM has refused to go on air as long as the litigation which opposes it to the government is not settled. During a press conference held on 17 October in the presence of the Press and Human Rights activists, the RTKM staff explained there is no law in Congo RDC that gives the State the authority to control the independent media. The law is silent on this matter. The Communications Minister told the RTKM journalists that the action taken is a political measure and that’s, that! But the journalists don’t intend to stop there, and intend to take their case to the Courts and, «if needs be, we’ll appeal to the President so that we can get our rights». The press conference deteriorated in a free-for-all — a stormy debate on the dangers which lie in wait for the Congolese media when dealing with a government which, under the pretext of a war which has been raging in the country for ten years, is going all-out to control the Media.
Media freedom
Journalists in Danger is a Congolese Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and is a watchdog for media freedom. The NGO is encouraging the RTKM in its struggle to defend its rights. At the same time, Journalists in Danger has recommended to RTKM‘s executive committee, that they should first of all clarify their administrative situation —because the government is overtly suspicious of the committee and this has given rise to all kinds of accusations by the government. Only then should the station tackle the question of media freedom.
The «Black Gowns» is another NGO working in the area of justice. This NGO has declared its solidarity with the RTKM and with Congolese journalists in general in their struggle for the defence of their rights, since media freedom is a principle which concerns the whole of society.
One thing is clear — over and above the «RTKM Affair», it’s really the issue of media freedom under Kabila that has suddenly been brought to the fore. Congolese journalists are extremely anxious about what’s happening because it concerns them all. Many have been arrested for offenses against the Media, kept in jail and only then acquitted, in the majority of cases, under pressure from human rights organisations. At this moment, three journalists are languishing in Kinshasa Central Prison, having received heavy sentences by the military court. There’s Freddie Loseke, editor of the weekly La Libre Afrique, sentenced to three years imprisonment; Aimé Kakesse Vinalu, editor of the weekly Le Carrousel, sentenced to years imprisonment; Jean Marie Kabemba, journalist with La Tribune Africaine, sentenced to two years imprisonment. The charge? Writing articles judged to discourage troops at the front.
In these particular cases, it’s all to do with what a journalist can write when his country is in a war situation. What can he say and write without upsetting the security services? All military information comes under the heading: «top secret». But on the other hand, media freedom is an established fact in Congo RDC, ever since it was wrenched back, after an intense struggle, from the Mobutu regime. It’s part and parcel of the «wind of democracy» which has blown through Africa since the beginning of the 1990s. According to a press law passed by Parliament in 1996, journalists are free to express their opinions on condition they respect the freedom of others and accepted moral standards. At the same time, it must be admitted that a number of journalists (frequently those without any professional training or experience) have sullied the good name of the profession.
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