MINISTER for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Mr Nape Nnauye, has pledged to hand over to President John Magufuli the report by a team he formed to investigate allegations against Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Paul Makonda, that he invaded Clouds Media Group (CMG).
When receiving the report yesterday
after the task force completed gathering information over the matter,
Minister Nape (pictured) said the document will serve as a lesson to
politicians to respect boundaries of their duties.
“I will take this report to my bosses -
Prime Minister, Vice-President and the President, who will act if there
will be any advice or any other decision,” Mr Nape said, stressing that
President Magufuli loves journalists and protects freedom of expression.
“Basically, every person has his or her
own weaknesses. I believe that the world would understand us that any
sin committed is a matter of individual’s conduct not the government in
general.
“The President has good intentions to
ensure that Tanzania remains a good place to live in,” he said. Mr Nape
formed the five-member team on Monday after visiting the CMG as a
response to the widely circulated information on social m e d i a
condemning Mr Makonda for storming the media house and forcing them to
broadcast a video footage showing a woman claiming that her son was
fathered by Bishop Josephat Gwajima of the Glory of Christ Tanzania
Church.
The team was given 24 hours to complete
the task and yesterday it submitted the report to Minister Nape in D a r
es Salaam. At a press conference where the team handed over the report,
the team’s Secretary, Deodatus Balile, said RC Makonda did not
cooperate with them in giving his side of the story over the
allegations.
“We tried to call him but he didn’t pick
the phone. We went to his office and kept waiting outside only to find
out that he had left the office using the back door of his office,” he
said, adding, “After failing to meet him, we concluded that he had
chosen not to use the opportunity of being heard.
” When highlighting the content of the
report, Mr Balile said their probe revealed that it was true Mr Makonda
stormed the media house while accompanied by armed police officers.
“The Committee satisfied itself that
there was intimidation by armed officers to the staff of the CMG to
press them to air the video,” he said. The Committee told Mr Nape that
Mr Makonda threatened the staff by telling them he was to include them
on the list of drug users or dealers suspects.
Mr Balile said that what Mr Makonda did
was against freedom of the press as stipulated in the country’s
Constitution. With these findings, the Committee recommends that Mr
Makonda should apologise to the CMG and the media industry in general
for what he did.
It further suggests that the security
organs should probe the armed policemen who raided the media house with
firearms. Meanwhile, the Tanzania Editors’ Forum (TEF) in collaboration
with the Dar es Salaam Press Club (DPC) yesterday condemned the acts by
political leaders to violate freedom of the media as they vowed not to
cover stories concerning Mr Makonda.
“We announce our intention not to write
stories from activities done by Mr Makonda because he has described
himself as an enemy of the freedom of press,” said TEF Secretary,
Neville Meena.
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