Eight radio and television stations face imminent ban

(JED/IFEX) – In a 21 May 2001 letter, the minister of communications and press announced that eight community radio and television stations in Lower Congo (Bas-Congo) province will be banned as of 30 June. The targeted stations include Radio Sango Malamu (RSM), Radio Télé Matadi (RTM), Radio Communautaire Muanda (RCM), Radio Télé Mbanza-Ngungu (RTBC), Télé […]

(JED/IFEX) – In a 21 May 2001 letter, the minister of communications and press announced that eight community radio and television stations in Lower Congo (Bas-Congo) province will be banned as of 30 June. The targeted stations include Radio Sango Malamu (RSM), Radio Télé Matadi (RTM), Radio Communautaire Muanda (RCM), Radio Télé Mbanza-Ngungu (RTBC), Télé Bralima (TB), Site Télé Inga (STI), Radio Kintuadi Matadi (RKM) and Radio Télé Ngovado.

The minister’s letter reads: “…the private radio and television stations in the Lower Congo are not operating in accordance with Law 96-002 of 22 June 1996, which regulates the exercise of press freedom in the Democratic Republic of Congo. … these companies have until 30 June to put their administrative status in order. After this date, the private companies will no longer be operating within the legal framework outlined by my ministry and will therefore be subject to a broadcasting ban throughout the province of Lower Congo.”

In an attachment to his letter, Minister Kikaya bin Karubi indicates that the eight radio and television stations’ files are either incomplete or non-existent. In fact, according to information sent to JED by the Congolese Association of Community Radio Stations (Association des radios communautaires du Congo, ARCO), the Ministry of Communications and Press is demanding that each radio and television station pay a fee of US$5,000 in order to obtain the necessary receipt. These press organisations already pay a fee of US$2,500 to the Ministry of Post, Telephones and Telecommunications (Postes, téléphones et télécommunications, PTT) for their broadcasting frequency. In other words, in order to open a private, commercial or community radio or television station in the DRC today, you need to pay initial fees of US$7,500!

JED wishes to make the following comments in response to the above noted facts:

The demand for exorbitant charges is a veiled attack on press freedom. It is incomprehensible that the PTT, which provides a technical service for companies in the audio-visual sector (the management of frequencies) and has financial obligations at the international level with regard to the means of communication, asks for only half the amount sought by the Ministry of Communications, which only provides a basic administrative service (issuing “receipts”). The outrageous fee structure set up through a former minister of communication’s order violates the spirit of and contradicts the provisions included in the “Preliminary Statement” of Press Law 96-002 of 22 June 1996.

Of the eight companies targeted by the new measure, five are either community or associative stations. They deliver local news stories and operate – with no advertising and more often than not no professional equipment – in semi-rural areas of Lower Congo province, where there is almost no economic activity to speak of.

Most of the targeted audio-visual companies do not even have total revenues of US$5,000, which is the amount demanded by the Ministry of Communications and Press. The stations’ only revenues are donations from local and foreign communities.

It is unthinkable that a community radio or television station operating in a remote corner of the country should have to pay the same charges as a commercial radio or television station based in Kinshasa.

Recommended Action

Appeals To

APPEALS TO:

President Joseph Kabila

Fax: +243 880 2120 or +1 202 234 2609

E-mail: UPP@ic.cd
Kikaya bin Karubi

Minister of Communications and Press

Telephone: +243 880 2780

E-mail: mincomrdc@hotmail.com or bkkikaya@hotmail.com
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.