(MISA/IFEX) – At least four senior radio employers at the state-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) have been fired, apparently for political reasons. In letters dated 23 June 1999, programme producers Geoffrey Msampha, Patrick Mphaka, Laston Rusk Nkwapatira and announcer Tom Chisuse were informed of their dismissal. No reasons were given. The letters were approved by […]
(MISA/IFEX) – At least four senior radio employers at the state-owned Malawi
Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) have been fired, apparently for political
reasons.
In letters dated 23 June 1999, programme producers Geoffrey Msampha, Patrick
Mphaka, Laston Rusk Nkwapatira and announcer Tom Chisuse were informed of
their dismissal. No reasons were given. The letters were approved by MBC
acting Director General Wilson Pamkuku.
According to a report in the “Daily Times”, the four were dismissed “after
their workmates reported them to management that they are opposition
supporters.” The article went on to say that the four were aware of their
imminent dismissal even before the 15 June election. Sources quoted by the
“Daily Times” said that the firing of the four had sent shock waves through
the corporation. “Just a mere negative joke against the ruling UDF party can
cost someone a job here,” one source was quoted as saying.
When contacted by MISA, Owen Maunde, the Director of Corporate Affairs at
the MBC, declined to comment or advance reasons for the dismissals,
referring the organisation instead to Pamkuku. However, Pamkuku was not
available for comment as he was out of the country.
In other developments in Malawi, at least two photographers have been
harassed during the course of their work.
On 21 June, during the swearing-in ceremony of President Bakili Muluzi,
freelance photographer Adamson Chapala was approached by two men who did not
identify themselves but who asked him to give them his camera. He did so.
They then took him out of the VIP section of the Chichiri Stadium and once
outside, he was searched and his additional two rolls of unexposed film were
taken from him. The two men then introduced him to a uniformed police
officer and handed the camera to the officer with instructions not to allow
Chapala back inside. The camera and film were not given back, and still have
not been returned, nor have the police bothered to file a report, claiming
that the camera’s whereabouts were unknown and that the plainclothes
officers were guards from the presidential palace who were accompanying the
president at another function.
On 23 June, photojournalist Amos Gumulira, employed by Blantyre Newspapers,
publishers of the “Daily Times”, was briefly detained for questioning by an
officer of the Criminal Investigations unit. Gumulira was apprehended after
he took photos of Horace Somanje and Mabvuto Banda, two journalists who had
been arrested earlier, while they were being accompanied by policemen to the
Magistrate’s Court (for more information on this case, see IFEX alerts of 23
and 22 June 1999). The police officer, Mr. Makwinger, claimed that it was
illegal to take photos of the two journalists while in the presence of the
police.
The officer insisted that Gumulira surrender his camera. He was then taken
to the police station. “Daily Times” Assistant Editor Rankin Nyekanyeka, who
witnessed the incident and tried to accompany Gumulira to the police station
in order to reason with the police, was denied entry into the police office.
Gumulira was released after 30 minutes. The police kept his film however,
saying they would process it at the expense of the newspaper and that they
would open a case if it was found that Gumulira had taken a photo that
showed the police. Both Nyekanyeka and Chris Osler from the Photographers
Association of Malawi told MISA that they were not aware of any particular
law prohibiting journalists from taking a photo in the manner that Gumulira
had done.
***Please note: Amos Chapala, the freelance photographer noted above, has
requested that no action be taken on his behalf for the time being to secure
the return of his camera)***
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the Acting Director General of the MBC:
employees
Constitution
and international treaties to which Malawi is a signatory if they were
dismissed for being sympathetic to opposition political parties
advanced for their dismissal
associate with political groups of their choice as long as they maintained
high standards of professional journalism
Appeals To
Wilson Pamkuku
The Acting Director General of the MBC
Fax: +265 671 257
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
