(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) – 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 file a suit against the “Daily Times” and its editor,
Charles Simango, for publishing “lies.” According to the paper, Police
Public Relations Officer, Inspector Oliver Soko, disclosed that the police
decided to sue the “Daily Times” to curtail the negative publicity the paper
has given it. “Journalists have developed a tendency of writing false news
articles which paint a bad image of the police”, Soko is quoted as saying.
According to “The New Vision”, the “Daily Times” and Simango will be sued in
connection with an article that appeared in the paper’s 29 April 1998
edition. The article, headlined “Allowances in limbo”, alleged that money
donated by the Asian community for starting community policing in Limbe, a
township on the outskirts of the southern city of Blantyre, was
misappropriated by police officers.
Simango denied knowledge of the impending law suit, saying: “I have not yet
received any summons to that effect.” Simango, who is also Chairman of the
Journalists Association of Malawi (JAMA), told MISA-Malawi that his
association would not condone any lawsuit against any newspaper by organs of
the government, such as the police or the judiciary, because they cannot
enforce the law and be victims of it at the same time.
In an interview with MISA-Malawi, Inspector Soko dismissed the “Daily Times”
report of 29 April 1998, and disputed the accuracy of “The New Vision” story
about the police lawsuit. “The reporter with the “Daily Times” deliberately
twisted facts to give an impression that officers at Limbe station are
corrupt. Also, what I told “The New Vision” was simply that the best thing
now to do is to sue newspapers that taint the image of the police, but we
cannot hire a private lawyer since we have government machinery”, Soko told
MISA-Malawi on 11 May 1998.
