Dr Mwanawasa also said the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) would be made operational after the board members had been ratified by the Zambian Parliament. The ZNBC Act of 1987 was amended in 2002 while the IBA was enacted in 2002. The objectives of the two acts was to remove direct government control of the national broadcaster ZNBC and also to ensure that the broadcasting sector in Zambia is regulated by an independent body that would regulate the broadcast media based on professional standards and not political biases.

However, names of the recommended names to sit on the ZNBC and IBA boards were vetoed by the Minister of Information which resulted in the media associations taking the matter to court for redress. The media associations in Zambia however lost the case. The Supreme court of Zambia ruled that the minister is not a rubber stamp and still retained the right to veto names that were recommended to him by the Appointments Committee. Thus the battle between media bodies and the information ministry over the names of board members to sit on the boards delayed operations of the boards.
Source: MISA Zambia. Back