Media vital to Africa development

Zvamaida Murwira in Midrand, South Africa

MEDIA should be partners of transforming the African continent through provision of solutions that help improve society rather than just criticising decisions that would have been made by leaders, Pan African Parliament (PAP) President Chief Fortune Charumbira has said.

The media, said Chief Charumbira, ought to play a role in improving the African continent by objectively interrogating decisions, educating the African citizenry, all for the greater good of the continent, including correctly reflecting on negative perception about the continent.

Addressing a media workshop drawing several journalists from across the continent organized by PAP, Chief Charumbira said it was the responsibility of the media to critique the effectiveness of the continental organisation in meeting its objectives including other milestones reached by the African Union that include the creation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, among other decisions.

The ACFTA is meant to accelerate intra Africa trade and boosting the continent’s trading position in the global market by strengthening a common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations.

“The media is one of the most powerful organs. It has the power to make those who are innocent guilty, and those who are guilty innocent because it control the minds of the people,” said Chief Charumbira.

“We are here gathered, we are from. Africa, our duty is to inform people across the continent about things that confront us. We are in a continent that is largely laughable in terms of the pace we have moved in meeting the objectives and aspirations of our people, the quality of life for our people.

“We are practicing journalism in that continent. Of course it’s one thing which is fashionable to criticise saying things are not bad but at the end of the day we want to hear solutions. Let’s not be a media that just criticise and sensationalise issues. We want to know how can the media help Africa or specific countries to improve.”

He said the media should not just focus on what would have happened through mere provision of narration of events but interrogate the cases.

“Let’s be partners in transforming situations. I am appealing to the media to interrogate issues. On one hand raise the issues and on the other hand provide solutions,” he said.

Chief Charumbira called for close collaboration between PAP and the media where the two should join hands in identifying strategies meant to improve the African continent so that it shrugs off the stigma of underdevelopment that it is saddled with.