Mozambique: PM calls for new media regulatory body

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Mozambique: PM calls for new media regulatory body

8:08 CAT | 17 Aug 2018

Rosario was speaking at a Maputo ceremony where he swore into office the new chairperson of the board of Radio Mozambique, Abdul Naguibo, who is one of the radio’s most experienced journalists. Photo: Notícias /GPM

Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on Thursday called for the establishment of an autonomous regulatory body for the mass media.

Rosario was speaking at a Maputo ceremony where he swore into office the new chairperson of the board of Radio Mozambique, Abdul Naguibo, who is one of the radio’s most experienced journalists.

Rosario’s intervention made it clear that he does not regard the government’s press office (GABINFO) as a regulatory body. He wanted a different type of body, which would enjoy autonomy, and would have the competence and institutional capacity to ensure respect for media ethics, and to consolidate an environment of healthy competition.

The current stage in the development of the Mozambican media, he said, justifies setting up a platform involving the government, media companies, the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) and other socio-professional bodies, for a reflection that would lead to defining a model for a regulatory body appropriate to Mozambican conditions.

It was not clear how this new body would relate to the existing, constitutionally enshrined watchdog on press freedom issues, the Higher Mass Media Council (CSCS).

Rosario pledged that the government will continue to work for the consolidation of a political, legal and regulatory framework, conducive to the full exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms, particularly the freedoms of expression and of the press, and the right of citizens to information.

As for Naguibo, the Prime Minister said the new chairperson of the public broadcaster “should always seek to meet the challenge of ensuring continuity in the modernisation of the company, increasing the levels of radio coverage so that citizens can receive a good quality signal, even in the most remote parts of the country”.

Rosario urged the radio to improve the quality of the content broadcast, and to promote “national unity, peace, development and cultural diversity, through the use of Mozambican languages in its programmes”.

At the same ceremony, Rosario swore into office Vitoria Paulo as the new chairperson of the Mozambican Merchandise Exchange (BBM).

He wanted to see the BBM strengthen coordination between producers in order to stimulate agricultural marketing.

Rosario said the government expects the BBM to facilitate access to information about prices, places where production is concentrated and specifications of products in accordance with market demand.

“In its activity”, he said, “the BBM should also prioritise greater coordination with other public and private institutions, particularly with the Mozambique Grain Institute (ICM), in order to ensure that grain surpluses are absorbed and to improve efficiency in the agricultural marketing circuit”.

Source: AIM