2015-07-06Staff Report 2 Windhoek Following a six-year absence from the airwaves the popular NBC call-in programme Ewi Lamanguluka is set to return to the Oshiwambo radio station. Information minister Tjekero Tweya made the announcement in the National Assembly last week when responding to questions from All People’s Party lawmaker Reinhold Nauyoma. The programme provided many Namibians with a platform to air their views on current affairs. Government however ordered NBC to stop the programme claiming that the public misused the platform to insult national leaders instead of discussing developmental matters. Tweya said the call-in programme would be re-introduced on July 17, after it was unceremoniously stopped in 2009. He said reasons such as the abuse of airwaves to insult leaders and the promotion of divisive and tribal tendencies did not bode well with the country’s future and therefore the need for the moratorium. The programme will air between Mondays and Thursdays from 19h15 to 20h00. In order to ensure that callers do not abuse the platform, Tweya said NBC will use a delaying device to ensure deplorable expressions do not go on air. Speaking to New Era after the sitting, APP president Ignatius Shixwameni welcomed the planned reintroduction of the programme, but spoke strongly against the use of a delaying device which he says encroaches on the rights of Namibians to express themselves freely. “If leaders do not deliver they should be criticized because people are entitled to hold their leaders accountable,” said Shixwameni. He urged Namibians to use the platform in a responsible manner that would ensure peace and national security are preserved. “As a government it is time we begin trusting our people because Namibians are responsible people,” said Shixwameni, who is a former deputy minister of information. 2015-07-06Staff Report 2
