Malawi has endured 12 months of obstructed civic space with a score of 4.85 out of 10 on the National Civic Space Index, the National Civic Space Monitoring Report for 2026 has shown.
The State of Civic Space in Malawi report was produced by Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) with support from Hivos, covering the period between September 2025 and September 2026.
ATI Act:Namalomba. | Nation
Respondents rated nine dimensions of civic space on a zero to 10 index and were required to give a description of the conditions.
Reads the report: “Seven of the nine dimensions are rated obstructed. Access to information and public voice falls in the repressed band and only the legitimacy and accountability of civil society reaches the narrowed band
“The national civic space index is 4.85 out of 10, rated obstructed. In this band civil society can operate and organise, but faces significant restrictions and risks that fall unevenly across groups and places.”
According to the report, the monitoring period started from the September 16 2025 General Election where the then opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) defeated the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
The assessment was measured against a set of commitments, including the Constitution, the Malawi 2063 and its First 10-Year Implementation Plan (MIP- 1), the DPP manifesto for the 2025 to 2030 term as well as regional and global standards that Malawi has accepted.
Further, the report looked at nine areas of civic space, namely the regulatory framework, access to funding, administration and bureaucracy, safety and well-being of people, access to information and public voice, freedom of assembly, association and dissent, dialogue and consultation, access to justice and legal services and the legitimacy and accountability of civil society.
It reported what people working in and around the civil society experienced and observed, and reads those accounts against the commitments Malawi has made.
Information and public voice was rated the weakest dimension at 3.7 out of 10 with only 37 percent of respondents, saying civil society, journalists and citizens have meaningful access to public information.
The report said safety is a serious and worsening concern rated 4.4 with 58 percent reporting physical, digital or psychological threats.
Further states the report: “The Access to Information [ATI] Act exists but is applied unevenly: officials delay, redirect or ignore requests, and ministries rarely publish proactively.
“Eleven respondents say laws restrict civic actors and 13 say particular groups are targeted. Examples include a treason prosecution of an activist who criticised the treatment of the Vice President.”
Part of the recommendations include enforcement of the ATI Act, establishment of a protection and rapid response mechanism for human rights defenders and a review of the NGO Act, Electronic Transactions and Cybersecurity Act and Police Act and an end to the use of criminal law against speech.
Minister of Information and Communications Technology Shadric Namalomba could not be reached on his mobile phone for comment, but is on record as having stated last month that 40 percent of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were in compliance with the ATI Act, six years after the law became operational.
The minister said this during the fourth Annual Media and Access to Information Conference 2026 where he called for stronger implementation of the law.
Meanwhile, President Peter Mutharika’s first year in office is set to face scrutiny from a coalition of civil society and professional organisations on October 20 2026 at a national dialogue in Lilongwe.
