THE Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) board has said news manager, Kelly Chubili was not fired but had his contract terminated under a clause where the employer or employee can opt for the action.

Board chairperson, Augustine Seyuba said in a statement yesterday the termination of Mr Chubili's services did not come from a directive by State House special assistant for Press and public relations, Dickson Jere.

"The termination of services for Mr Chubili is part of the re-organisation as earlier announced and approved by the board as a way of streamlining operations at the company," he said.

The action was also not connected to the alleged failure to show news clips of recent presidential activities in Kasama and was not as a result of a ZNBC reporter allegedly to have complained to Mr Jere about newsroom operations.

Mr Seyuba said the decision to terminate the services of Mr Chubili and other staff was taken long before the Kasama issue and Mr Chubili had not been held responsible for failure to show clips of the presidential activities.

He said that re-organisation would continue until the corporation was put on a sound financial and operational footing to address issues raised in the Auditor General's report.

And Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha said the restructuring at the national broadcaster would continue so that it could be accountable to the public.

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha said the auditing of public media institutions would be extended to the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail.