By Polycarp Machira
Newly appointed Parliament Chairman Andrew Chenge
Kigoma Urban MP, Zitto Kabwe called a point of order and asked the
House to discuss the ban rather than proceed with the scheduled
deliberation of President Magufuli’s inauguration speech.
He was backed by opposition legislators who were up in arms
shouting in support of Zitto’s call while CCM MPs shouted in protest.
Attempts by the newly appointed Parliament Chairman Andrew Chenge to
bring order to the House failed and he was forced to suspend the
meeting.
Zitto pointed out that section 99(1) of the Standing Orders gives
the legislators mandate to discuss with priority any issue that arises
in the House and is in violation of the rights of the MPs.
“The Standing Orders allow the House to discuss government actions
that violate the rights of legislators ….and the matter at hand is a
violation of the public’s right to watch live proceedings of parliament
discussions,” Zitto said.
Chenge tried to convince Zitto otherwise but the vocal MP
maintained his stand drawing support from notably Kawe MP, Halima Mdee
(Chadema), among others who demanded the Chairperson allow Zitto to
speak or postpone the debate altogether.
Chenge conceded, allowing Zitto to speak and given the opportunity,
Zitto first pointed out that TBC is a state owned organisation run by
tax payers’ money and so the decision to stop live the coverage is wrong
because it denies the public their right to information.
“ For a long time TBC has been airing live coverage of House
proceedings...the minister’s announcement of the ban is a serious
violation of the people’s rights let us postpone the debate on the
president’s speech and discuss the ban action” he said.
At this point Chenge admitted that the matter was of great
importance and warranted a substantive motion and urged Zitto to follow
the procedures of moving a motion.
“Government statements are not normally debated in the House but
due to the magnitude of the matter, I advise you to follow the right
procedures of submitting your motion,” Chenge said.
However, his response triggered another outburst from the opposition MPs who stood up and shouted for ‘freedom in the House.’
Chenge attempted in vain to restore order and was forced to
postpone the session for an hour in which time he met with fellow
parliament leaders to discuss the matter. An hour later, the session
resumed but Chenge immediately adjourned the House to the afternoon four
o’clock session.
Announcing the ban, Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and
Sports said TBC has been spending over 4.2 bn/- to air the live coverage
an amount it can no longer afford. So instead, he said the public
television will henceforth only show recorded sessions and they will be
aired after 10PM.
The minister made the announcement after he was prompted by Special
Seats Cecilia Pareso (Chadema) who wanted to know why TBC has stopped
airing the live broadcast.
Across section of MPs who talked to The Guardian expressed their
disapproving views. Bunda Urban MP, Esther Bulaya (Chadema) described
the decision as wrong and said it denies Tanzanians the right to watch
what is happening in the parliament.
Her Ubungo counterpart, Said Kubenea(Chadema) alleged foul play saying “...we know they have a hidden agenda.”
However not all were in protest and for Mtera MP, Livinstone
Lusinde the decision is correct however he too said it was poorly
presented.
“President, John Magufuli set the pace by saving money that was
meant for various festivities, this is one way of saving money for other
development activities,” he argued.
“The only problem is that the government did not handle the matter
in the most appropriate manner but there is nothing wrong with stopping
live coverage... some politicians only want live coverage for
publicity,” alleged Lusinde.
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