By CHARITY MOONGA –
THE United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has congratulated Government for the positive strides it is making in enhancing public access to information.
UNDP Interim Resident Representative in Zambia Elizabeth Lwanga said in Lusaka yesterday that her office had noted with admiration the strides Government was making in bridging the information gap between the rural and urban areas of the country.
She hailed Government’s ongoing rural FM radio expansion project under Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and the growing number of community and commercial radio stations, which now stood at 70 countrywide, as some of the landmark developments aimed at taking information closer to the people.
She said this when she and UNDP Country Director for Zambia Viola Morgan paid a courtesy call on Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Mwansa Kapeya at his office.
Ms Lwanga praised the high standards of journalism in Zambia, adding that UNDP was keen to supplement Government’s efforts in orienting the local media practitioners towards development-based journalism.
Mr Kapeya pledged Government’s commitment to upholding and promoting media freedomin the country.
Mr Kapeya, who is the Chief Government spokesperson, said the Government had, in line with the governing Patriotic Front manifesto, freed the media so that it played its full and rightful role in national development.
He said after 50 years of independence, the Zambian media had matured to regulate itself professionally.
“As Government, our role is simply to provide guidance in terms of policy,” he said.
He said President Michael Sata was passionate about effective information delivery and dissemination to all parts of the country and had since tasked the Ministry of Information to ensure that people in all parts of the country had access to clean and clear radio reception through the ongoing Government-funded rural FM radio project.
Under the project, all the districts throughout the country would be installed with FM radio transmitters under the national broadcaster, ZNBC.
“Since independence, access to information has been a preserve of the people along the line of rail, but Government is determined to change the status quo.
“The President has since tasked my ministry to install FM radio transmitters countrywide to ensure everyone around the country has access to the ZNBC radio signal. So far so good.  The project is progressing well,” Mr Kapeya said.
The minister reaffirmed Government’s continued collaboration with the UNDP in the development of Zambia’s media industry.