STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBA the search warrant that had been issued to search a private home of an individual by authorities in the chase for the former Proprietor Dr. M’membe or any documents that might have helped the state further implicate him in more wrong doing. Under such massive pressure and harassment, it was not surprising to see the actions of the accused when confronted by state agents with court documents. This kind of actions just frustrates the media’s operations and makes it harder for them to properly execute the news dissemination functions in a tranquil, and more ideal environment. However, it is always seen to have become a trend and strategy in the recent past to unsettle the media and continuously disturb their operations to try and drown out their voice and their noble work of being a fourth estate that holds public office holders to account. It’s no wonder sections within the public have continued to call on the judicially to reign in on such matters and bring sanity back in the way they are being executed. Once such notable sentiment came from a respected academician Dr. Samuel Sakanya who called on the Chief Justice and the Anti-Corruption Commission to respond and give guidance on the allegations of corruption raised against Judge Sunday Nkonde as their silence had not helped matters. He observed that “Pertinent concerns have been raised, with serious allegations against judge Nkonde. Why are people dragging their feet over these issues and getting extremely worried with the conduct of these institutions involved? When there is such a situation, people are left to speculate that they might not be acting supposedly because of some control somewhere by someone with leverage. We want to see justice and fairness and that can only be done by the very office-bearers in the judiciary and the ACC. What we are asking for are answers and as concerned citizens, we have rights to question the conduct of the judiciary and demand justice,”2 This is after Dr. Musumali and Dr. M’membe separately wrote to the ACC and the Chief Justice respectively concerning the way the legal matters and the 2 https://www.themastonline.com/2017/04/04/keeping-quiet-on-nkonde-wont-helpmatters-dr-sakanya/ 9|Page