Post date: Mar 02, 2011 2:22:4 PM
Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika has been criticised for the new media law that will allow publications to be banned.
BLANTYRE, MALAWI REUTERS - Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has been criticised by the opposition and the Media Institute of Southern Africa for signing off on the bill, which is widely seen as a government move to target publications that are critical of his administration.
Mutharika, who often accuses local independent newspapers of negative reporting about Malawi, threatened in 2009 to shut down those he accused of lying when they reported that up to one million people would need food aid.Malawi in 1995 adopted a new constitution with a bill of rights that guarantees the freedom of the press after three decades of oppressive rule under dictator Kamuzu Banda.
Two media bodies in Malawi together with publishing houses have taken the Malawi government to task calling for repeal of the newly amended media law saying it's oppressive to media freedom in a democratic country.
The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has since said it will jointly take the matter to court with the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC).
The body's acting chairperson Anthony Kasunda said MISA Malawi had petitioned the president on 16 November 2010 soon after the bill was passed in parliament, asking him to send back the amended bill to parliament for further consultations.
"If we were like a car I would say as a country we have engaged a reverse gear instead of looking forward making sure our democracy takes root we are moving backward to where we were maybe in the 1970's when we had an autocratic rule in the country." said Kasunda.
The amended section of the law gives the minister in charge powers to pull publication and distribution of anything deemed to be 'contrary to the public interest'.
Before the proposed amendment, the section only prohibited importation of seditious publications.
"Now we have a situation where the media do not know if they are going to exist tomorrow. And so that now has preoccupied the concerns of the media and we are hoping that if indeed the arguments that are being advanced that this is supposed to be an improvement and the people that are affected are saying no we are going backwards I think that it provides government an opportunity for reflection," said Dr Tikhala Chibwana, chairman of Blantyre Newspapers.
In a joint statement Misa-Malawi and Media Council of Malawi have urged government to nullify the amendment and also lift the ban on the sensational tabloid, Weekend Times, which was banned recently using the National Archives registration law.
"The biggest loser is democracy. The biggest loser is the ordinary person who will be denied an opportunity to know what those people they put in power, those that they elected in power are doing," added Dr Chibwana.
Lawyers at the Blantyre Printing and Publishing company say they plan to take their fight to the Constitutional court.