(JED/IFEX) – By way of Ministerial Decree No. 04/MCP/005/2001 of 13 October 2001, made public on 14 October, Minister of Communications and Press Kikaya bin Karubi has decided to lift the measure that placed the RTKM and Canal Kin stations under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Press. In his explanation of […]
(JED/IFEX) – By way of Ministerial Decree No. 04/MCP/005/2001 of 13 October 2001, made public on 14 October, Minister of Communications and Press Kikaya bin Karubi has decided to lift the measure that placed the RTKM and Canal Kin stations under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Press.
In his explanation of the motive behind the decree, Minister Kikaya said that he based his decision on “the measures outlined in Article 8 of Press Law No. 96/002 of 22 June 1996, which establishes freedom of opinion and expression, the different measures introduced by the stations and channels concerned, the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee responsible for the review of the files of press companies placed under direct supervision, and the recommendations of the National Conference on Human Rights,” which was held in Kinshasa last June.
To recall, the two stations were owned by Aubin Ngongo Luwowo, Marshal Mobutu’s former minister of information, who is exiled in France, and Jean-Pierre Bemba (president of the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo, a rebel movement that controls the Democratic Republic of Congo’s north-eastern region with Ugandan support). The stations were confiscated on 22 September 2000 by decision of then minister of communications Dominique Sakombi Inongo. Acting on behalf of Laurent-Désiré Kabila’s government, Sakombi justified his decision to nationalise RTKM by the fact that “the funds used [by the station] to acquire equipment came from the public treasury.” No proof ever materialised to back up this claim. As for Canal Kin, the station was punished because its owner became a rebel leader. On 30 October 2000, despite protests from around the world, Sakombi renamed the confiscated private stations. RTKM and Canal Kin became RTNC 4 (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise) and RTNC 3, respectively, making the Congolese state the largest owner in the audio-visual sector. The stations’ programming schedules were chosen by the minister of communications. This featured the aggressive reintroduction of the cult of personality, as in the “good old days” of triumphant Mobutism.
JED salutes Minister Kikaya’s political courage and welcomes this decision, which reverses an abuse of power that led to the flagrant violation of press fredom and the right to private property. To ensure that no one will unjustly use public office for a settling of accounts in the future, JED asks that an inventory be carried out and that all the guilty parties be punished in accordance with the country’s laws.
