Parliamentarians want their 15 minutes of fame

PARLIAMENTARIANS once again complained bitterly on Friday evening about the way the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation reports on parliamentary proceedings, and on MPs as individuals, when they were asked to approve a budget of N$62,8 million for the NBC’s operations during the 2006-07 financial year.

The lack of coverage of the activities of Ministers had even been discussed at Cabinet level, it emerged from more than two hours of discussion on state media in the National Assembly. Attorney General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana kicked off discussions on the vote of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, wanting to know what the corporation’s turnaround plan was in the wake of the N$27 million in losses recorded during the 2003-2004 financial year.Iivula-Ithana accused the NBC of bias in choosing whom to focus on during the recording of parliamentary proceedings, saying that when she was absent from proceedings, her empty seat was always screened on TV.However, when she was present, television programmes did not show this, she maintained.”Is it jealousy that they are a parastatal and they can’t offer dividends? Is that why they don’t cover certain people?” she wanted to know.Swapo backbencher Royal /Ui/o/oo also contended that backbenchers did not receive adequate coverage and that his name was often incorrectly spelt on television.Deputy Minister of Local Government Kazenambo Kazenambo, a former journalist, said NBC should refrain from being a “judge” by deciding who to show on air and whom to “misquote”.”The print and electronic media should be as unbiased as possible.We are living in a democratic society.Let’s give everybody a platform to express themselves and contribute.They must cover everybody.Censorship in journalist is outdated,” he said.Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was at pains to explain to parliamentarians that it was not possible to broadcast everything they said, and that journalists had to summarise and select information to present.”You can’t get that.Three minutes in broadcasting is a very long time,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah.She had to pull out all the stops to convince MPs that the NBC was “really trying under the circumstances.”Nandi-Ndaitwah said it was no secret that the NBC was in severe financial crisis, and that it was forced to get by on less money every year.The Minister is pinning her hopes for improvement on a forensic audit by the Auditor General’s office to highlight all the problems at the corporation and suggest a turnaround strategy.”We cannot say we are waiting for the forensic audit, so NBC must get off the air,” she said.”We are monitoring their resources.We have to help them and encourage them and understand the situation they are operating under.We should distinguish between the good apples and the bad apples.Some people are working very hard.”Congress of Democrats leader Ben Ulenga said NBC journalists had to act as professionals and should not be influenced or swayed by politicians who complained of non-coverage.”We should be encouraging professionalism, not when they hear a politician complain, they go cover them for a week,” said Ulenga.Deputy Minister of Labour Petrus Iilonga proudly told the House that when he had earlier complained to the NBC that he was not receiving enough airtime, they covered all events he was at for a week, and then forgot about him again.Gender Equality Minister Marlene Mungunda said it was not in her nature to complain about non-coverage, but in her experience the NBC had covered “less important” events of her Ministry, and those of national importance were either recorded and never aired, or ignored completely.The CoD’s Elma Dienda wanted to know the success rate of a private company, Penduka, contracted by the NBC to collect licence fees.The Minister could not immediately provide feedback, but said she was awaiting the forensic audit to shed light on this situation.The CoD’s Kala Gertze said the NBC was beset by indiscipline and that it required a total overhaul to ensure reform.MPs had more praise for the Government newspaper New Era, contending that it was doing a good job of covering stories of national interest.However, Labour Minister Alpheus !Naruseb wanted to know the paper’s editorial policy and the extent of its discretionary powers when it came to deciding which vernacular languages to publish in.He wanted to know why no articles were published in Damara/Nama.New Era will receive a budget of N$4,5 million through this year’s national budget.On the topic of newspapers, the DTA’s McHenry Venaani said it was a “shame” that Government still boycotted The Namibian, “because it did not support Government blindly”.He was ruled out of order by Deputy Speaker Doreen Sioka, who said only media funded through the National Budget were up for discussion.Nandi-Ndaitwah said printed media (which she did not name) were pushing Government’s hand to rein them in tighter because they were using their powers to incite and cause destruction by insulting national leaders.”Don’t force this Government to pass a law to deal with people who insult leaders under freedom of the press,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah in her reply to Mp’s complaints.Government’s collaboration with Zimbabwe on its joint newspaper, The Southern Times, also came under heavy fire from opposition parties.Nudo’s Arnold Tjihuiko said he failed to understand how NamZim papers (the holding company) could set up such an enterprise without a thorough feasibility study.”There was no proper feasibility.Government just jumped into it.We spent a million, now it’s gone,” said Tjihuiko.Ulenga said Government had failed to convince him that the publication was necessary.”It’s truly shown to be a failure.I seriously urge you to scrap it,” he told the Minister.Nandi-Ndaitwah acknowledged that the newspaper had not performed as expected but put it down to undercapitalisation from the onset.The Southern Times will receive another N$ 3,3 million from the budget this year, despite Government earlier saying that any finances for the project would have to come from the New Era.Kazenambo said if the paper failed to perform over the next three years, Government had to “let it go”.Nandi-Ndaitwah was of the opinion that with more partners on board and if it published reports in French and Portuguese as well as English, the paper’s chances of success were greater.The DTA’s Johan de Waal objected that the Information Minister was expecting the House to approve new budgets for State media, when Parliament had not yet been presented with their latest audit reports.He congratulated New Era on having recently produced its 2005 report, but lashed out other institutions for failing to submit their financial statements on time.”What do you think we must do with 2004 reports? Stop wasting money on these glossy documents.Throw them in the bin,” he said waving an annual report of the NBC for 2004, recently tabled in the National Assembly.He requested the Minister to also produce financial statements for The Southern Times.”The correct name for NamZim is Air Namibia number two,” De Waal said.Attorney General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana kicked off discussions on the vote of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, wanting to know what the corporation’s turnaround plan was in the wake of the N$27 million in losses recorded during the 2003-2004 financial year.Iivula-Ithana accused the NBC of bias in choosing whom to focus on during the recording of parliamentary proceedings, saying that when she was absent from proceedings, her empty seat was always screened on TV.However, when she was present, television programmes did not show this, she maintained.”Is it jealousy that they are a parastatal and they can’t offer dividends? Is that why they don’t cover certain people?” she wanted to know.Swapo backbencher Royal /Ui/o/oo also contended that backbenchers did not receive adequate coverage and that his name was often incorrectly spelt on television.Deputy Minister of Local Government Kazenambo Kazenambo, a former journalist, said NBC should refrain from being a “judge” by deciding who to show on air and whom to “misquote”.”The print and electronic media should be as unbiased as possible.We are living in a democratic society.Let’s give everybody a platform to express themselves and contribute.They must cover everybody.Censorship in journalist is outdated,” he said.Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was at pains to explain to parliamentarians that it was not possible to broadcast everything they said, and that journalists had to summarise and select information to present.”You can’t get that.Three minutes in broadcasting is a very long time,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah.She had to pull out all the stops to convince MPs that the NBC was “really trying under the circumstances.”Nandi-Ndaitwah said it was no secret that the NBC was in severe financial crisis, and that it was forced to get by on less money every year.The Minister is pinning her hopes for improvement on a forensic audit by the Auditor General’s office to highlight all the problems at the corporation and suggest a turnaround strategy.”We cannot say we are waiting for the forensic audit, so NBC must get off the air,” she said.”We are monitoring their resources.We have to help them and encourage them and understand the situation they are operating under.We should distinguish between the good apples and the bad apples.Some people are working very hard.”Congress of Democrats leader Ben Ulenga said NBC journalists had to act as professionals and should not be influenced or swayed by politicians who complained of non-coverage.”We should be encouraging professionalism, not when they hear a politician complain, they go cover them for a week,” said Ulenga.Deputy Minister of Labour Petrus Iilonga proudly told the House that when he had earlier complained to the NBC that he was not receiving enough airtime, they covered all events he was at for a week, and then forgot about him again.Gender Equality Minister Marlene Mungunda said it was not in her nature to complain about non-coverage, but in her experience the NBC had covered “less important” events of her Ministry, and those of national importance were either recorded and never aired, or ignored completely.The CoD’s Elma Dienda wanted to know the success rate of a private company, Penduka, contracted by the NBC to collect licence fees.The Minister could not immediately provide feedback, but said she was awaiting the forensic audit to shed light on this situation.The CoD’s Kala Gertze said the NBC was beset by indiscipline and that it required a total overhaul to ensure reform.MPs had more praise for the Government newspaper New Era, contending that it was doing a good job of covering stories of national interest.However, Labour Minister Alpheus !Naruseb wanted to know the paper’s editorial policy and the extent of its discretionary powers when it came to deciding which vernacular languages to publish in.He wanted to know why no articles were published in Damara/Nama.New Era will receive a budget of N$4,5 million through this year’s national budget.On the topic of newspapers, the DTA’s McHenry Venaani said it was a “shame” that Government still boycotted The Namibian, “because it did not support Government blindly”.He was ruled out of order by Deputy Speaker Doreen Sioka, who said only media funded through the National Budget were up for discussion.Nandi-Ndaitwah said printed media (which she did not name) were pushing Government’s hand to rein them in tighter because they were using their powers to incite and cause destruction by insulting national leaders.”Don’t force this Government to pass a law to deal with people who insult leaders under freedom of the press,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah in her reply to Mp’s complaints.Government’s collaboration with Zimbabwe on its joint newspaper, The Southern Times, also came under heavy fire from opposition parties.Nudo’s Arnold Tjihuiko said he failed to understand how NamZim papers (the holding company) could set up such an enterprise without a thorough feasibility study.”There was no proper feasibility.Government just jumped into it.We spent a million, now it’s gone,” said Tjihuiko.Ulenga said Government had failed to convince him that the publication was necessary.”It’s truly shown to be a failure.I seriously urge you to scrap it,” he told the Minister.Nandi-Ndaitwah acknowledged that the newspaper had not performed as expected but put it down to undercapitalisation from the onset.The Southern Times will receive another N$ 3,3 million from the budget this year, despite Government earlier saying that any finances for the project would have to come from the New Era.Kazenambo said if the paper failed to perform over the next three years, Government had to “let it go”.Nandi-Ndaitwah was of the opinion that with more partners on board and if it published reports in French and Portuguese as well as English, the paper’s chances of success were greater.The DTA’s Johan de Waal objected that the Information Minister was expecting the House to approve new budgets for State media, when Parliament had not yet been presented with their latest audit reports.He congratulated New Era on having recently produced its 2005 report, but lashed out other institutions for failing to submit their financial statements on time.”What do you think we must do with 2004 reports? Stop wasting money on these glossy documents.Throw them in the bin,” he said waving an annual report of the NBC for 2004, recently tabled in the National Assembly.He requested the Minister to also produce financial statements for The Southern Times.”The correct name for NamZim is Air Namibia number two,” De Waal said.