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| National |
| Lawyers petition Radio Islam |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda, 06 May 2004
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19:59:51
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Almost 25 lawyers in the Civil Liberties Committee (Cilic) have petitioned Radio Islam and people who participate in its panel discussion programmes to desist from promoting hate speech which could divide people on religious lines.
President of Cilic Lawyers Chapter Bernard Ndau said Thursday the petition follows two radio broadcasts whereby panellists and telephone callers were talking against Christians in general and Catholic priest Father Boniface Tamani, who is also chairman of Public Affairs Committee (Pac), in particular.
Ndau however said the petition to the radio has since been ignored because the radio went on to re-broadcast the programme with the hate speech.
He said the lawyers want to prevent religious intolerance and asked the radio to control debate so that “it doesn’t get out of hand”.
“We are looking forward to seeing the radio station change and if it doesn’t we may be prepared to take the matter to court because we don’t want any trouble in the country,” said Ndau.
He said although the Constitution provides for freedom of the information, people are required to be responsible for the freedom so that it does not hurt others.
But the person in charge of the programme in question Dr. Imran Sharif Mahomed, who is also Pac secretary general, accused the lawyers of intervening with delay because “it was Christian leaders who started up the issue by preaching that only Christians should be voted into power” in the May 18 general elections.
Sharif asked government to act on Tamani and other Christian leaders.
Coordinator of Islamic Information Bureau Dinala Chabulika said by talking the way they are on Radio Islam, “the Muslims are just crying” because they have been sidelined for a long time.
But Tamani said the person to blame is President Bakili Muluzi who, he said, started the whole issue by misinforming the nation that “I was preaching against Muslims”.
The priest also called on Radio Islam “to be responsible and prudent and to avoid causing problems because a radio is a tool that reaches a lot of people within seconds”.
“The radio should have invited me to clarify issues,” said Tamani.
Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) director general Evance Namanja said there is nothing his authority can do on the matter because it has not received any written complaint on the matter.
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