Malawi

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – On 19 October 1998, ARTICLE 19 released the following report on communications reform and freedom of expression in Malawi: Malawi Communications: another sorry tale of frustration Since Malawi’s return to multi-party democracy in 1994, there have been major changes in broadcasting, telecommunications, Internet and e-mail. However, according to a new report by […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is expressing its deep concern about the harassment of privately-owned newspapers. According to RSF’s information, on 21 August 1998, Adson Harare and Kumbweza Fumulani, respectively editor-in-chief and senior reporter of the critical weekly newspaper “The National Agenda”, were brutally assaulted by four men as they were arriving at Fumulani’s home in the […]

(MISA/IFEX) – The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Malawi) has strongly condemned its government’s delays in enacting the long-awaited Communications Bill and thereby liberalising the communications sector. **Updates IFEX alert of 14 May 1998** In a strongly worded protest letter sent to the Speaker of Parliament, Rodwell Munyenyembe, and copied to […]

(MISA/IFEX) – According to MISA, two journalists working for the opposition “Daily Times” have been subpoenaed to testify for the state against Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Member of Parliament for Lilongwe South-East, Hetherwick Ntaba, in a case in which Ntaba is being prosecuted for calling Malawi’s President, Bakili Muluzi, “silly.” The journalists, Mabvoto Banda and […]

(MISA/IFEX) – One of Malawi’s major donors, the European Union (EU), has expressed concern over delays to enact the draft Communications Bill, as well as other bills considered crucial for the development of democracy. The EU is especially concerned that President Bakili Muluzi’s government, which was swept to power in May 1994 – after promising […]

(MISA/IFEX) – An Anglican priest has been demanding that the Lingadzi Police, in the capital city of Lilongwe, arrest Charles Masapi, a freelance journalist and correspondent with the “Daily Times.” According to MISA, the priest’s request is attributed to an article by Masapi, which appeared in the 20 April 1998 issue of the “Daily Times” […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Malawi’s weekly newspaper, “The New Vision”, reported on 9 May 1998, that police intend to sue the opposition “Daily Times” for publishing what “The New Vision” termed “unfounded, inaccurate, misleading and distorted” stories about the police. In its front-page story, “The New Vision” said the police will soon engage a private lawyer to […]

(MISA/IFEX) – According to MISA, the Malawi government recently issued two radio licenses to new applicants, bringing to three the number of radio licenses issued to private operators during the past five months. This is despite the tabling of a Bill in Parliament next month which could see the introduction of an independent regulatory licensing […]

(MISA/IFEX) – The chairperson of MISA-Malawi, Molland Nkhata, has been forced, by ministerial directive, into early retirement from his position as Director of News and Current Affairs of the state-controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). Nkhata was informed by the MBC’s Director-General, Sam Gunde, in a letter dated 23 April 1998, that a “ministerial directive has […]

(MISA/IFEX) – According to MISA, the independent newspaper, “The Weekly Chronicle”, is threatened with closure following a court order to pay US$ 8,800.00 to the Reserve Bank of Malawi in defamatory costs. Rob Jamieson, the paper’s publisher, says he can hardly raise the amount as his publication subsists from hand to mouth, and the only […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, on 5 March 1998, Hamilton Vokhiwa, editor of the government-owned newspaper “Weekly News”, was dismissed for publishing a reader’s letter which questioned the cost of the free education system that the United Democratic Front (UDF)-led government introduced in 1994. The letter concluded that the UDF school system was far more […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 5 February 1998, a Malawi High Court Judge, after dismissing key witnesses for the “Daily Times” newspaper as being arrogant and showy, ordered the paper to pay Malawi diplomat Ziliro Chibambo K90, 000 (about US$3000) in defamation costs. The award included costs for aggravated damages as well as Chibambo’s costs of the […]

(MISA/IFEX) – According to reports, on 15 January 1998, Malawian soldiers stormed the offices of the “Daily Times” demanding copies of a story alleging that the rate of HIV was higher in the army than in society in general. The article, published 5 January, quoted Kaunland Nkosi, a journalist and self-confessed AIDS carrier. The story […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Mollande Nkhata, Director of News and Current Affairs at the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), has been demoted to chief editor and ordered to withdraw from media activism. In a letter handed to him on 17 November 1997, Nkhata was also ordered to resign from the Malawi chapter of MISA, of which he is […]

(MISA/IFEX) – It has been reported that the government of Malawi is to issue a broadcasting licence to presidential press officer Alaudin Osman to operate a private radio station. However, MISA points out that this announcement is being made at a time when the country has not established an independent regulatory mechanism that should oversee […]

(MISA/IFEX) – A Malawian civil servant has been interdicted for writing an article exposing poor safety standards at Malawi’s international airports. MacDonald Mukorongo, a senior assistant air traffic controller, was interdicted on 11 September 1997 after his article outlining the obsolete civil aviation equipment in Malawi and its dangers to travellers was published in “The […]