The days when people believed that pictures do not lie are long gone. We are now in the age of mass information manipulation, mass distribution and redistribution of information; new telecommunication technologies have made all this possible. Technology has significantly changed the way societies consume news and information. Unfortunately, misinformation has emerged as one of…
Jimmy Kainja
MEC needs to rethink position on official broadcaster
I read with interest a comment by Malawi Electoral Commission’s (MEC) Chairperson, Justice Jane Ansah that the commission is not going to have an official broadcaster for the May 21 Tripartite Elections, as it was the case during the 2014 elections. Ansah was quoted by The Daily Times of Monday February 18 2019, saying the decision…
Digital rights, Internet accessibility—Part III
This article is the third and last in a three-part series focusing on digital rights, access to the Internet, and Internet affordability in Malawi. This part specifically looks at access to the Internet, what it is and what it entails Affordable Internet Dhanaraj Thakur of Alliance for Affordable Internet notes that there are two factors…
Digital rights, Internet accessibility—Part II
This article is second in three-part series focusing on digital rights, access to the Internet, and Internet affordability in Malawi. This part specifically looks at access to the Internet, what it is and what it entails —Access to the Internet— By definition, access means having an ability to connect to the Internet. Dhanaraj Thakur of…
Digital Rights, Internet accessibility—Part I
Twenty-two years after the establishment of the country’s first Internet Service Provider (ISP), the country lags behind its regional neighbours in terms of the promotion and protection of digital rights mainly due to its legal and policy frameworks, which tend to treat the Internet as a luxury and therefore, a privilege of the few. This…
Be afraid of govts condemning social media ‘misuse’
2019 has hardly taken any shape, yet there has already been a succession of Internet shutdowns across Africa. These shutdowns have come as governments attempt to narrow and shutdown spectrums of acceptable opinion and freedom of expression. These shutdowns have been affected either as citizens demand justice, better service delivery, human rights and free and…
Digital Rights, Internet Accessibility, and Affordability in Malawi – Part 1
22 years after the establishment of the country’s first Internet Service Provider (ISP), the country lags behind its regional neighbours in terms of the promotion and protection of digital rights mainly due to its legal and policy frameworks, which tend to treat the Internet as a luxury and therefore, a privilege of the few. This…
Why no-one cares about Malawi’s biggest problem
Malawi’s Vice-President Saulos Chilima has recently spoken about corruption in the country putting the lives of people at risk. He is right, most people have known this all along. It also resonates with what JIMMY KAINJA* wrote in 2016 for African Arguments.” As Cashgate corruption allegations unfold, Malawians watched keenly but were not outraged…
The pitfalls of telecommunication regulation in Malawi
In telecommunication, regulations are meant to correct market failures in order to protect and promote interests of consumers and citizens. In an ideal world, regulation is an ideal thing to have. But then ours is not an ideal world—it is a world full of opportunists and self-interested individuals. Governments and those who run its affairs…
Malawi on the Internet: It’s getting worse
Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net, 2017 report shows that 2017 was, as Wire.com puts it, a “terrible year for Internet freedom”. The report shows that almost half of the 65 countries assessed in 2017 experienced a decline in Internet freedoms during the assessment period. Less than one-quarter of users reside in countries where there…
Why Malawi’s corruption is worse?
This September marks three years since the high-level corruption scandal in which $31 million stolen from government coffers began to be uncovered. Since then, over 70 individuals-including high-level civil servants, private contractors and politicians have been charged in connection with what has locally been dubbed Cashgate. Eleven people have so far been convicted and…
Quick fixes, permanent crises
Malawi leaders are very good at finding quick fixes to complicated problems, akin to bandaging boils instead of bursting and treating them. They wish problems away instead of dealing with them. The country is always in a state of crisis because its leaders always opt for temporary fixes, short-term political popularity and personal gains over…
Social media is alright
The question of whether social media should be regulated is steadily getting traction on the continent as well as here in Malawi. The issue gained even more attention in recent weeks following the arrest of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) members who were subsequently charged with treason over a WhatsApp group conversation. What is…
Tyranny of the majority
French political thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville, noticed that as much as democratic leadership is determined by people, ideally majority, ‘majority rule cannot be the only expression of supreme power in a democracy’. He added: “If so, … the majority would too easily tyrannise the minority. Thus, while it is clear that democracy must guarantee…
Commodification of state resources is not a way out
It seems like in Malawi we have found a solution to government’s perennial failures in running public services: privatise everything. Selling ‘failing’ public entities is now an easier substitute for our government’s lack of efficiency in running and managing state assets. Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) is sold. Indebank is sold. Now we are mulling over…
Will Malawi media safeguard its freedoms?
One famous Russian writer and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov once said: “I am a passionate supporter of [press] freedom, and I consider that if any writer were to imagine that he could prove he didn’t need that freedom, then he would be like a fish affirming in public that it didn’t need water.” The media throughout…
Should mining in Malawi Be considered illegal?
In July 2013, Malawi’s then minister responsible for mining, John Bande told The Nation newspaper that Malawi government was engaging experts from University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom to help train Malawians in mining law “to prevent further ‘robbery’ of the country’s mineral wealth through poorly negotiated contracts.” Bande could have added that another grey…
Mining companies benefit from mineral wealth
In 2007, the Malawi government licensed the Australian and Canadian registered mining company Paladin Africa Limited to open Malawi’s first uranium mine. As the first foreign company to get a mining license in the country, Paladin Africa’s general manager Greg Walker called his company a “path finder”. Eighty per cent of Malawians are involved in…
MALAWI MEDIA AT 50: ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES
July 2014 is gone. A month that was littered with reports, essays, comments and analysis reflecting on Malawi’s 50th independence anniversary. Time will tell whether any of it will help change the direction of the country for the better. Conspicuously missing from these reflections is the media, the very vehicle that has carried these messages…