DRC: War on unfriendly media

  1. Posted on Thursday 3 November 2011 - 08:50
    jerrynguwa
    Image of jerrynguwa
    Jerry Nguwa, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    After many years of instability, the Democratic Republic of Congo is a country struggling to come out of the impasse it has faced for over a decade now. It is arguably the country with the poorest roads infrastructure in Central, East and southern Africa. However it is also the country with highest number of media outlets in the region.
    newspaper
    Most of these communication medium are owned by politicians’ majority of them close to the government of the moment.

    Forceful eviction

    Unfortunately, when one of those close to power falls out of favor with the regime, their media houses are faced with thorough scrutiny from the State. The latest in chronology is the eviction from its headquarters of Congo Media Channel Television (CMC TV).

    CMC TV is owned by Kudura Kasongo a former spokesman for President Joseph Kabila who has since defected to Vital Kamerhe a former National Assembly speaker and close ally of President Kabila who is contesting the presidency to be held on the 28th of November this year.

    In the morning of October 24th 2011, elements of the National Police Force stormed the building that hosted the CMC TV headquarters and prevented journalists to access and exit the building until they finished throwing on the street CMC’s belongings on the pretext that the Landlord had the ordered the vacation of the building for renovation.

    The claim was totally refuted by Pascaline Kudura wife to Kudura Kasongo and Managing Director of CMC TV. She alleges that CMC TV was the only tenant affected despite the fact that they are in possession of a lease agreement that entitles them to a one year notice in case of such an action.

    History repeated

    This is not the first time media houses not close to the ruling class have faced such actions. During the last general elections in 2007, a TV station owned by Jean Pierre Bemba Gombo the then main challenger of Joseph Kabila and now detained at The Hague on many charges committed by his troops in the Central African Republic. His Television Station offices in Kinshasa were ransacked and burnt by President Kabila’s supporters and its journalists assaulted.

Latest News

  1. OPINION: Welcome to African Green Revolution24/05For the past century and a half, Africa has tried various agricultural approaches without much success.
  2. Egyptians vote in historic election23/05Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who serv…
  3. Africa Day 2012 - a moment for reflection and…22/0525th May is Africa Day. For many years it has been a celebration of African unity. It dates back to 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) …
  4. South Africa's African agenda21/05The Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Mothlanthe paid a rare visit to Ghana in April at the invitation of John Dramani Mahama …
  5. Women struggle to rinse hunger, poverty stains21/05Just looking at her one clearly appreciates that she is old and frail therefore in need of support for food, clothing and shelter to live comfortably …
  6. Climate Climate change affects migratory birds…21/05Changes in the climate globally have affected the movement of both migratory and resident species of birds, Nature Uganda has said.
  7. Ghana: Foreign retailers cited for currency…18/05The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is attributing the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against major currencies to the illegal activiti…
  8. Kenya: Community radio brings succour to…18/05Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi with 100,000 inhabitants, had many of the ingredients for a political explosion similar to those that rocked…
  9. Veld fires 'flame' Zimbabwe's…16/05Over the years, Zimbabwe has experienced the scourge of veld fires destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
  10. Liberia commends ECOWAS for support14/05The induction training of pioneer Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Volunteers for Liberia kicked off in Monrovia, with the Deputy Mi…
  11. Vanishing Lake Chad puts 30m lives at risk14/05As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling.
  12. Heavy rains cause havoc in Kenya14/05Heavy Rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country leading to the suspension of relief food in some parts of the country as most roads in Turk…
  13. Zimbabwe: Growth points lie dormant14/05The Zimbabwean government mooted the concept of growth points in the 1980s as a means of decongesting cities and towns.
  14. Sierra Leone improves in infant mortality11/05Sierra Leone has improved in infant mortality cases according to Save the Children- World Motherhood index 2012 report. The West Africa country descri…
  15. Zimbabwe: Resettled farmers fail to utilize…10/05Resettled farmers in Zimbabwe are failing to utilize land due to inadequate farming inputs and lack of resources.
News archive