Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services (MIBS) Public Relations Officer, Innocent Mwape, on 24 July 2009 ordered Commercial Radio Station, Sky FM Radio Director Geoffrey Hambulo to submit some copies of the stations live phone in programme.Mwape said the ministry needed the material for their urgent use. Sky FM runs a live-phone-in programme called Sky Forum which is very popular with the public as callers speak openly about national governance issues. It is broadcast everyday from 8:20 hours to 9:20 hours.
According to a letter obtained by MISA Zambia, and written by Mwape on behalf of the MIBS Permanent Secretary, Mwape requested for a copy of the programme that ran on 22 July 2009 in addition to copies of the same programmes that were broadcast between 23 June to 3 July 2009 that had earlier been requested for by MIBS Assistant Public Relations Officer, Cecilia Banda. Banda wrote the letter to the station on 3 July 2009. Mwape threatened the station for failing to respond to the request by Banda.
Kindly also note that failure to comply with the request this time is more than tantamount to breach of the conditions of the broadcast license. To this end, you are also being asked to furnish us with a letter of apology for the many efforts we made to contact you which you have apparently ignored, threatened Mwape.
Meanwhile Station Manager Esnart Hamiyanda, confirmed that she was not aware of any provisions in the broadcast license that compelled them to provide copies of their programmes to MIBS. The station is based in Zambias Southern province town of Monze.
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