Journalists awarded damages further to unlawful detention
(MISA/IFEX) – On Thursday 28 June 2001, Malawi Ombudsman Enock Chibwana awarded “Daily Times” acting chief reporter Mabvuto Banda and the late “Malawi News” editor Horace Somanje 30,000 Malawi Kwacha (approx. US$395) each for what he described as unlawful detention. Banda and Somanje, for whom the award has come too late following his death on […]
Editor, printer and news vendors arrested
(MISA/IFEX) – The owner of Karora Printers & Publishing House, Kalera Mhango, and the editor of “The Dispatch” newspaper, Martines Namingah, effectively ended a police search when they surrendered themselves to Lingadzi police on 25 and 26 May 2001 respectively. The two were charged with “publishing false information likely to cause public fear and alarm”, […]
Newspaper vendor arrested, editor sought by police
(IPI/IFEX) – In a 25 May 2001 letter to President Bakili Muluzi, IPI condemned the recent decision of the police in the Malawi capital Lilongwe to arrest a newspaper vendor selling newspapers critical of the government. According to the information provided to IPI, on 23 May, newspaper vendor Austin Machewere was arrested by a police […]
Newspaper faces several civil defamation suits
(IPI/IFEX) – In a 22 May 2001 letter to Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, IPI expressed its continued concern over the plight of the independent weekly “The Chronicle”; in particular, the number of outstanding civil defamation suits that the newspaper is facing, which IPI fears are being used to consume the newspaper’s finances. According to the […]
Government information officer fears for his life
(MISA/IFEX) – Patrick Mphonda, a government district information officer in the Southern Lower Shire Valley district of Nsanje, fears for his life following a story he filed for the official Malawi News Agency (MANA). Mphonda’s article concerns Gwanda Chakuamba, the beleaguered leader of the main opposition group, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). On Sunday 18 […]
Charges against three journalists dropped
(MISA/IFEX) – On Thursday 22 March 2001, President Bakili Muluzi ordered police to drop charges against three journalists accused of publishing “false news” in February, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported on Friday 23 March. The report, which quoted the president’s aide, Willie Zingani, said the three reporters faced criminal charges of publishing “false […]
Police interrogate journalist over story
(MISA/IFEX) – On 12 and 13 December 2000, members of Malawi’s Fiscal Police called journalist Denis Mzembe in for questioning over a story alleging that a company run by President Bakili Muluzi’s wife was involved in a shady cement deal. Mzembe, who writes for the “Weekend Nation”, told the PANA news agency that the police […]
Authorities threaten to stop private daily’s republication
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Malawi’s minister of information, Clement Stambuli, RSF expressed its concern following the Ministry of Information’s threats against journalists who have expressed their intention to relaunch the publication of the private daily “National Agenda”. The ministry issued the threats on 24 November 2000. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked for a […]
MISA-Malawi condemns harassment of journalists
(MISA/IFEX) – The Malawi chapter of MISA (MISA-Malawi) has condemned the harassment of journalists covering a soccer match in Blantyre on 7 October 2000. Journalists in Malawi normally gain entry to sport stadiums free of charge, but at a Super League football match on 7 October, a football official allegedly instructed police manning the entry […]
Suspended editor demoted
(MISA/IFEX) – Rankin Nyekanyeka, editor of the “Daily Times” – one of only two daily newspapers in Malawi – has been demoted four steps down following his suspension over an editorial decision in August 2000. Nyekanyeka was suspended on 28 August for allegedly not leading with a story about President Bakili Muluzi opening a plastic […]
Harassment of newspaper extends to violence against vendor
(MISA/IFEX) – “The Chronicle” newspaper reported that a group of United Democratic Front (UDF) Young Democrats beat up a news vendor until he lost consciousness because he was selling the newspaper in Blantyre. The incident happened during the first week of October 2000. The vendor was admitted to hospital with head injuries. A close relative […]
High ranking politician sues newspaper
(MISA/IFEX) – The vice president of Malawi’s ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), Aleke Banda, has said that he is suing the Lilongwe-based independent weekly “The Chronicle” over a story that fingered him as having corruptly spent 19 million Malawi Kwacha (about US$264,000). In a front page story entitled “Muluzi Urged To Dissolve Cabinet”, and sub-titled […]
Journalist arrested for theft, claims harassment over story
(MISA/IFEX) – On 14 September 2000, journalist Prince Jamali was arrested along with three other Montfort Press employees, in the Balaka district, in connection with two missing laptop computers, a printer and music compact discs at the media house. The four have been charged with theft and released on bail. Jamali, who works for the […]
President sues newspaper
(NDIMA/IFEX) – Malawian President Bakili Muluzi has sued a newspaper for publishing a story that claims he masterminded a US$2 million government corruption scheme. Muluzi has asked his private lawyer, Shabbir Latif, to sue the weekly “Chronicle” on the grounds that the story was unfounded, scandalous and defamatory. On Monday 18 September 2000, the “Chronicle” […]
Editor suspended because of editorial decision
(MISA/IFEX) – Rankin Nyekanyeka, editor of the “Daily Times”, one of only two daily newspapers in Malawi, has been suspended for allegedly ‘belittling’ a story about President Bakili Muluzi. The suspension letter takes issue with the paper’s Friday 25 August 2000 edition, in which the paper ran a story entitled “Malawi Police To Serve In […]
Journalist wins case thirty-six years after being dismissed from job
(MISA/IFEX) – A Malawian journalist has won a case thirty-six years after being dismissed from his job. Boniface Masonga recently won a case in which he was challenging his dismissal from the Publications Section of the Ministry of Information in 1964. The case, which was heard before Ombudsman Enock Chibwana, resulted in the ombudsman directing […]