MISA Malawi Ask Pres Mutharika to Re-instate Tembo Back to MBC
The Media Institute of
Southern Africa – Malawi Chapter (MISA) has called upon the president Peter
Mutharika to reverse what it call ‘atrocious decision’ on re-deployment of
Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Director General, Dr. Benson Tembo, to
the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) for position of
Technical Advisor.
The news broke last week that Director General of MBC, has been deployed
to MACRA as Technical Advisor on digital migration with immediate effect.
According to the national broadcasters online report, Dr. Tembo on
Friday bid farewell to Controllers and Directors of MBC where he said the new
post is a secondment “I am being seconded to Macra so that means partly I am
part of MBC but I will be with Macra where I will be advising on digital
migration.”
In a statement Chairperson for MISA-Malawi Thom Khanje said Dr. Tembo
has been earmarked for a subordinate position of Technical Advisor. Therefore the
statement finds the removal of Dr. Tembo as retrogressive and a sign of
continued political interference by the government in the operations of MBC as well
as contrary to the promises by President Peter Mutharika in both his inaugural
and first State of the Nation Address to Parliament in June and July 2014.
The chairperson says MISA-Malawi is surprised that such a decision
concerning an employee of MBC has been made by the executive arm of the
government and not the MBC board of directors who are the legal employers of
the Director General as stipulated in Section 92, subsection 1 of the
Communications Act of 1998 which reads: “The Board of MBC shall appoint a
Director General, who shall be the chief executive officer of MBC.”
“MISA-Malawi therefore calls upon the president to reverse this
atrocious decision on Dr. Tembo and let the MBC board independently assess his
performance for possible re-engagement when his contract expires in April this
year” reads the statement
The statement also call upon the president to always make sure
that he lives by his words and desist from making decisions that are contrary to
his promises.
“We remind the president of his stated commitments that his
government “shall ensure that Malawi Communications Regulatory
Authority (MACRA) and the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) are
professional and report to Parliament annually as required by law” (Inaugural
Speech, June 2014) and that he “allow the Malawi Broadcasting
Corporation operate in an open, free and fair manner, make independent
editorial decisions and I don't want my Minister of Information to interfere in
their work. This is a promise I make to Malawi. The era of using the Public
Broadcaster for Political mileage is gone”(State of the Nation Address,
July 2014).”
.
MISA-Malawi in the statement re-affirms its standing position on
the need for MBC to be freed from political interference by reviewing the
Communications Act to turn the corporation into a public service broadcaster
which serves the needs of all Malawians regardless of their political
affiliation.
