Yesterday government announced that both the departments of Broadcasting Services have been removed from the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology and shifted to the OP. The spokesperson for Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and Gaborone Central MP, Dumelang Saleshando says the new arrangement will ensure that the flow of information is controlled to serve the political interests of the ruling party. "Khama wants to make this a proper propaganda tool," says Saleshando. He says that under the control of the OP, state media will become a powerful propaganda tool.
"Government owns the only national television station in the country, it owns a daily, which has the biggest readership and it runs the only national radio stations in Radio Botswana. Some areas are out of reach of the private media," says Saleshando. He says government may be trying to counter the growth of BCP in non-urban areas. "The recent growth of the BCP to win seats in such areas as Okavango show that some of our voters got our message through state media. Khama therefore wants to have total control of the state media so that the opposition will not get any coverage at all," he says.
