MISA Malawi Asks President Mutharika To Address Continued Harassment On Media

MISA Malawi Chapter has written President Peter Mutharika to make a public denouncement of acts of violence on journalists by his ruling party and police.

MISA Malawi Chairperson Teresa Ndanga said there is continued hostility towards the media through assault and intimidation by members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), United Democratic Front (UDF), police and some members of general public.

MISA Malawi 2016 Transparency Assessment: BCC Gets Golden Key Award As Ministry of Health Gets Padlock Trophy

Malawi Members of press  in 2014 holding peaceful march
calling for ATI enactment

Blantyre City Council (BCC) has received the Golden Key Award for MISA Malawi 2016 Transparency Assessment while Ministry of Health is this year’s recipient of the Golden Padlock Award.

Peacock Seed Company Joins Media In Charity Work

Peacock Seeds 

As the Media was celebrating for World Press Freedom Day, Peacock Seeds Company supported Media Institute for Southern Africa, Malawi chapter (MISA MALAWI) with a donation of maize seeds worth K500 thousand Kwacha.

The support was meant to be part of MISA Malawi's donation to Rumphi hospital and for the 250 flood victims in Rumphi district.

"Having realised that MISA is donating few items to flood victims in Rumphi Peacock decided that it should intervene by contributing more to what MISA is going to donate to flood victims." said Innocent Jumbe Director for Production at Peacock Seeds Company, "In this context we are trying to look at peoples welfare. We are donating seeds so that they will plant in their fields, they will do inter cropping and then after three months we believe that these people will get something out of these seeds  if they really want to survive from the loss hey have experienced through floods."

Innocent Jumbe unpacking the seeds

The donated maize seeds to MISA Malawi chapter is half a tonne (that is 250 packs each weighing 2kgs amounting totaling to 500kgs)

Jumbe said "We have donated these seeds with hope that it will really get to the people and we will also follow up through MISA Malawi chapter and through any other means to make sure that the seed goes to the people and that people themselves should benefit from this donation."

MISA Malawi Ask Pres Mutharika to Re-instate Tembo Back to MBC

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).”

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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.