(JED/IFEX) – Simplice Kalunga wa Kalunga, producer and host of the “Nouvelle Donne” (“New Order”) show, broadcast on the privately-owned, Kinshasa-based Channel Media Broadcasting (CMB) television station, was summoned for questioning by a Gombe court judge on 19 August 2004. Kalunga was interrogated at length about a 9 August programme during which he had discussed […]
(JED/IFEX) – Simplice Kalunga wa Kalunga, producer and host of the “Nouvelle Donne” (“New Order”) show, broadcast on the privately-owned, Kinshasa-based Channel Media Broadcasting (CMB) television station, was summoned for questioning by a Gombe court judge on 19 August 2004.
Kalunga was interrogated at length about a 9 August programme during which he had discussed with his guest, well-known Kinshasa lawyer and clergyman Pastor Théodore Ngoy, the various deficiencies of the Justice Ministry’s “Nationality Bill”, which is currently before Parliament.
The proposed law was introduced in Parliament by Justice Minister Kisimba Ngoy, who apparently claimed to have done so against his better judgement. When asked about the justice minister’s attitude, Théodore Ngoy offered examples of politicians in other countries who had not hesitated to resign from office when they felt they had been forced to act against their will.
Kalunga told JED that before his interrogation he had received several anonymous telephone calls telling him he would be arrested. He also said that he received a phone call from the justice minister in which the minister angrily accused him of “colluding” with the pastor to “tarnish” his name.
Meanwhile, Théodore Ngoy was arrested on a Kinshasa street on 14 August and taken to Kinshasa’s central penitentiary, where he remains to date. The judge in charge of his case told JED that the pastor was being prosecuted for “offending the transitional authority and insulting the court”. Théodore Ngoy and Kalunga have both denied the charges. The videotape recording of the episode in question was seized by the Gombe High Court.
