CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Patrick Mwanza, Malawi, June 1998
THEME = MEDIA
Just when Malawian journalists were beginning to heave a sigh of
relief,
believing they had done away with press censorship,
once again attempts are being made to control the Press
The government, which is gaining notoriety for brooking no criticism, is doing its best to throttle the country's independent media. Stung by embarrassing reports, the government has ordered its ministries and statutory corporations to stop advertising with the opposition Daily Times and its sister paper the Malawi News. It has threatened to dismiss from its service, anyone who gives business to these newspapers.
It should be noted that the government is the biggest single advertiser in a country where most people cannot read or write, a situation which makes circulation alone not enough to sustain the papers.
President Bakili Muluzi believes the two papers mentioned above, owned by the late President Hastings Banda are running a vicious campaign against him personally and against his government. In his Will, Banda bequeathed the Daily Times and the Malawi News to the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) which led the country to independence from Britain in 1964. Muluzi's press secretary, Alaudin Osman, who during the Banda's rule had to flee into exile, says the papers are "playing a role that has become increasingly vile and vicious, and go beyond the bounds of decency. These papers are abusing our country's hard won democracy. Our President has the same rights as everyone else, do so don't be surprised if he decides to take some retaliatory action".
President Muluzi has already made his feelings known. "If journalists fabricate lies and then publish them as being true facts, that amounts to an abuse of press freedom. So if I seek legal counsel, journalists should not squirm and try to hoodwink the international community that the President of Malawi is depriving them of their freedom."
In ordering government departments to stop advertising in the Daily Times and the Malawi News, it's clear this is a strategy to diminish these papers' influence and indeed, perhaps their very existence, as next year's legislative and presidential elections draw closer. The elections are scheduled for May 1999.
Observers see similarities between Muluzi's move to silence the voice of dissent, and Banda's way of carrying on.
Banda used harsh state action to instill fear in his opponents and to keep them in ignorance. He made sure the people - 60% of whom were illiterate - lived in complete ignorance of what was going on.
Then along came Muluzi and his bid for office. What did he do? He accentuated the human rights issue. He assured journalists that they would be free to criticise the government. At that time Malawi's streets were awash with newspapers. Today, because of stiff competition, the 25 titles are no longer there. About a dozen still exist, although there is hope for the future as with the forthcoming elections, more and more newspapers are appearing on the streets and those which went into hibernation are likely to resurface.
The fact remains that independent papers, viewed as "opposition" and therefore "antagonistic", continue to be a pain in the side of government. One story which did not go down well with authorities was published by the Daily Times. The report stated that Muluzi had authorised public funds to build mosques. The report went o to state that Muluzi, a Muslim, intends to Islamise Malawi. The President did his best to scotch this story. On 14 June 1998, at the commemoration of 100 years of the Anglican Church in Malawi, Muluzi, who attended the ceremony, said he had no intention of forcing his religion on anyone.
"There is freedom of worship here," he said.
It must be remembered that the Daily Times has suffered two attacks this year. On 16 January, 10 soldiers raided the newspaper's offices at their headquarters in Blantyre, demanding an apology for a story which said that in 1996 the highest prevalence of HIV cases was to be found among the professional classes, including the army.
This attack followed remarks by Defence Minister Joseph Kubwalo who said he would not "tolerate negative reporting aimed at tarnishing the army's good image".
On 11 February, more than 100 UDF functionaries, wielding panga knives, clubs and stones, besieged the newspaper's bureau in Lilongwe and threatened to beat up reporters for writing a story which said 589 UDF members had defected to the main opposition MCP.
Yes. Press freedom is in jeopardy.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement