Monze central UPND member of parliament Jack Mwiimbu says the Ministry of Information has been fomenting chaos and tension in the country because it has turned itself into a propaganda wing of the PF.

And Mwiimbu said taxpayers’ money should not be spent on a ministry that only promotes ruling party agendas.

He was speaking in Parliament on Tuesday when he debated the vote for the ministry of information and broadcasting.

“Mr Chairman, this particular ministry has been fomenting chaos, it has been fomenting tension in this country as a result of misinformation and propaganda. This ministry, Mr Chairman does not deserve any ngwee of the public funds. This ministry is a disservice to this country. This ministry reminds me of the ministry of propaganda in Iraqi under Comical Ali (Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf former Iraqi diplomat and politician),” Mwiimbu said.

“Mr chairman, this particular ministry instead of propagating unity in the country, it has been used to propagate disunity and dislocation of the once One Zambia One Nation. This ministry is one ministry that has been abused by the PF government. It’s no longer a ministry of government as far as we are concerned, it’s a propaganda wing of the PF. Mr Chairman, for those who don’t know Comical Ali, Comical Ali was the minister of misinformation in Iraqi during the war. There was Chemical Ali and Comical Ali. Comical Ali was the one who was in charge of information in Iraqi.”

Mwiimbu further observed that the ministry of information had continued to abrogate the Constitution by ensuring that opposition parties had no access to the public media, during and after elections.

“Mr chairman sir, this ministry has abused the Times of Zambia, the Daily Mail and Dead NBC (ZNBC). We used to call it Zambia Nation Broadcasting Corporation but now its called Dead National Broadcasting Corporation. It has seized to live to the mandate that was given to the broadcasting authority by the people of this country. Mr chairman, you are all aware that under article 50, which I’m going to read to this house for those who have not read the Constitution, reads ‘a political party and a candidate contesting an election shall have access to the media especially during election campaigns’,” said Mwiimbu.

“This particular ministry ensured that any opposition party had no access to the public media during election and have continued abrogating the constitution by not allowing any other member of the public and the political party to appear on ZNBC to propagate their views apart from PF. So why should we, the tax payers in this country be funding an institution that does not serve our interests? Why should we and other Zambians pay tax for PF to manage their affairs? The answer is no!”