(JED/IFEX) – According to information published in the pro-governmental daily “L’Avenir” (issue 1022 of Thursday 21 September 2000), the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) minister of communications, Dominique Sakombi Inongo, has decided to put the private station RTKM (Radio-Télévision Kin Malebo) under state control. In addition, Sakombi Inongo has put the private stations Canal Kin […]
(JED/IFEX) – According to information published in the pro-governmental daily “L’Avenir” (issue 1022 of Thursday 21 September 2000), the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) minister of communications, Dominique Sakombi Inongo, has decided to put the private station RTKM (Radio-Télévision Kin Malebo) under state control. In addition, Sakombi Inongo has put the private stations Canal Kin 1 and Canal Kin 2 under his ministry’s supervision “until the end of the war” in the DRC. He also promised to change the stations’ names.
Among other things, the minister accuses RTKM of misappropriating materials purchased with public funds and owing money to the tax department. RTKM’s directors have denied the accusations, which have already been the subject of several judicial investigations which have yielded inconclusive results. The directors claim to have proof that the materials were legally purchased and also claim to have paid a portion of the station’s taxes. They further accuse the ministry of “pursuing other objectives.”
In March, the minister of justice, Mwenze Kongolo, issued an order transferring the administration of RTKM to the Bureau of Illegaly Acquired Goods (Office des biens mal acquis, OBMA), a public company which is responsible for the management of goods seized from dignitaries of the Mobutu regime. The measure was never applied or revoked (see IFEX alerts of 20 and 16 March 2000).
RTKM is owned by Aubain Ngongo Luwowo, a journalist and former minister of information and the press under Marshal Mobutu’s regime. He has been in exile since Laurent-Désiré Kabila came to power. Canal Kin 1 and Canal Kin 2 are owned by the Bemba family. The father, Jean Bemba Saolona, was formerly a minister of the economy under Laurent-Désiré Kabila; the son, Jean-Pierre Bemba, leads the armed anti-Kabila rebel movement MLC (Movement for the Liberation of the Congo), which currently occupies the DRC’s North-West region.
Contrary to RTKM, which broadcasts news programmes, Canal Kin 1 and Canal Kin 2’s programmes focus on cultural news.
