Malawi

After The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the autobiography of ingenious 22-year-old William Kamkwamba’s homemade electric windmill in Malawi, comes “the boy who harnessed the airwaves” by building a radio station with rudimentary materials. The tale of 21-year-old Malawian Gabriel Kondesi also showcases the inventiveness spawned by life in this impoverished, landlocked nation in southeastern Africa. Unlike the story of Kamkwamba, though, Kondesi’s tale is still unfolding.

New York, May 27, 2009--A magistrate in Malawi should allow an opposition radio station sealed by police during general elections on May 19 to reopen, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also called on authorities to drop criminal charges against two station presenters. 

New York, May 19, 2009--Authorities in Malawi should immediately release three journalists arrested today in a police raid on an opposition radio station, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. The country is holding general elections between today and Thursday.

New York, November 2, 2007—State regulators in the commercial city of Blantyre summarily pulled off the air on Tuesday Malawi’s first private television station, citing an alleged regulatory violation, according to news reports and local journalists. The ruling, targeting a fledgling station close to opposition leader Bakili Muluzi in the lead-up to presidential polls in 2009, appeared to violate Malawi’s media laws, according to CPJ research.

New York, April 13, 2007—Live radio broadcasts of opposition rallies in the lead-up to presidential polls in 2009 led state regulators in the commercial city of Blantyre this week to bar all private radio stations in Malawi from airing live broadcasts without permission, according to local journalists and media reports. Officials accused unnamed stations of airing “hate messages” but offered no evidence.

All private radio and television broadcasting stations must seek advance permission from the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) before conducting live broadcasts, according to a statement released by the agency on Tuesday. The directive threatened violators with unspecified punishment. “Of late, MACRA has noted with great concern that hate messages are being broadcast by various broadcasting stations,” the statement said.

May 29, 2006
Posted: July 10, 2006

Jika Nkolokosa, Blantyre Newspapers Ltd.
Maxwell Ng’ambi, Blantyre Newspapers Ltd.
LEGAL ACTION

Nkolokosa, general manager of the private media group Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL), and Ng’ambi, a reporter for BNL, were charged with criminal libel in connection with articles criticizing Malawi’s health minister. BNL publishes the Daily Times and the weekly Malawi News.

May 8, 2006

Rob Jamieson, The Chronicle
Arnold Mlelemba, The Chronicle
Dickson Kashoti, The Chronicle
HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION

Three journalists working for the private weekly newspaper The Chronicle were detained and charged with criminal libel in connection with an article alleging that Malawi’s then-attorney general was involved in the theft of a computer. Attorney General Ralph Kasambara brought a police complaint against The Chronicle after the report was published, according to the local chapter of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA).

New York, March 16, 2005—BBC reporter Raphael Tenthani and Mabvuto Banda of the independent daily The Nation have been released on bail after being held overnight by police in the capital, Lilongwe. The two journalists were arrested yesterday at their homes in the southern city of Blantyre for reporting that the president feared ghosts may haunt the presidential palace.

Both journalists have been charged with "publishing a false story likely to cause public fear contrary to Section 60 (1) of the penal code," according to a police statement quoted in The Nation.