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MwanaHALISI banned
2008-10-14 10:49:15
By Lusekelo Philemon
The government yesterday imposed a three-month ban on the MwanaHALISI weekly tabloid for `publishing seditious stories`.
Information, Culture and Sports minister John Mkuchika made the announcement at a packed press conference in Dar es Salaam. The punishment starts today October 13, 2008. This will be a lesson to other publishers, Mkuchika said.
On Wednesday last week, the tabloid carried a front page story on a plot to oust the President, a move said to be spearheaded by some senior leaders in the ruling party and his own son.
At yesterday`s conference, Mkuchika said on several occasions, the government had cautioned the tabloid`s publisher, but in vain.
He said the article went contrary to the country`s laws and was meant to create conflict between President Jakaya Kikwete and his son, Ridhwani.
The story, said the Minister, was also designed to create misunderstanding in the President`s family and put him at loggerheads with other senior officials in the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
Mkuchika said it was wrong to liken the situation and events in South Africa that preluded the resignation of former President Thabo Mbeki to the state of affairs in the Tanzania.
He said during interrogation with state agencies, MwanaHALISI publisher and Editor Saed Kubenea had refused to accept that the story had gone against journalistic ethics and was meant to break peace and harmony in the country.
When contacted, Kubenea said it was too early to comment as he had not been officially informed of the government decision.
`I have just heard that the minister has announced the government decision at a press conference,` said Kubenea in a telephone interview. Regarding the way forward, he said he would respond to the challenge, but it will depend on the grounds that the government applied to arrive at the decision.
Tanzania Daima editor Absalom Kibanda said he was not well-informed on the reason that made the government impose the ban, but said it had rushed in doing so. I don`t know the reasons behind the banÉ he said, querying: `How many times MwanaHALISI was given a chance to defend itself?`
He said the punishment was too big and would deny readers of the tabloid, who relied on its coverage and other people in general, the right to information, as it played a significant role in unearthing grand-corruption scandals.
Kibanda also faulted the government for the decision, saying it was so strange that it rushed to punishing the tabloid while several other papers had carried a similar story.
On her part, Editors Forum chairperson Sakina Datoo expressed profound shock over the decision, promising an emergency meeting of editors today to discuss the punishment.
Last week, the forum had called on the government to give the tabloid and its editor chance to give proof of the story`s contents, stressing that the era of closing down newspapers was long gone.
A few hours after the story was published, the State House, through its communication director Salva Rweyemamu, issued an official response, describing the story as a mere fabrication and a tale of a century.
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