Civil society organisations (CSOs) have asked President Lazarus Chakwera to stop Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) from procuring a system for tracking misinformation, arguing that it will infringe on people’s rights.
Ever since Macra advertised a notice of intention to award a contract worth $1.5 million (about K2.6 billion) to Hshacom Ghana Limited for the supply, delivery, installation, commissioning and testing of integrated system to track misinformation and disinformation trends in Malawi, there has been resistance from various stakeholders, including CSOs.
The CSOs have moved to engage the President after futile efforts to move the Macra board and Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communication to halt the deal.
In a letter dated February 11 2025, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Youth and Society (YAS) state that the procurement of the machine raises legitimate fears of potential misuse of the system.
The CSOs added that the system will infringe on people’s right to privacy, freedom of expression and right to access to information; hence, the procurement should be halted.
Reads the letter in part: “Consequently, we now turn to you, Your Excellency, to use your Executive powers to stop this procurement, which raises serious human rights and economic concerns.”
They have further observed that the procurement is insensitive to the economic situation of the country, urging Chakwera to act swiftly in the interest of safeguarding democracy, pri vacy, and economic prudence.
In an interview yesterday, YAS executive director Charles Kajoloweka confirmed writing the President, adding the letter was delivered to his office.
The letter al so calls on the President to demand transparency and accountability from Macra on the scope of the contract, the nature of the surveillance tools, and the selected bidder.
Presidential press secretary Anthony Kasunda said the letter went through the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), as such, OPC was better placed to comment.
But OPC spokesperson Robert Kalindiza asked for more time to consult on the matter.
Meanwhile, in an interview yesterday, ICT Association of Malawi (Ictam) president Clarence Gama said Ictam will accompany Macra for the due diligence of Hashcom Ghana to check how the system operates.
He said Ictam wants to quiz the supplier on what the application programming interface will be picking.
Ictam had also earlier expressed concerns that the system might infringe on people’s privacy, and further
questioned the timing of the procurement considering that this is an election year.
“The reason why we want to go and see for ourselves is because we are still not satisfied with some of the areas and we want to be assured that the responses that we have received from Macra on our issue are indeed as what they say,” said Gama, adding that Ictam will provide a report on its findings.
Recently , the Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communication said it had no issues with the procurement and it advised the regulator to engage the CSOs and the public to sensitise them on the use of the machine.
However, digital media ex per t and University of Malawi academic Jimmy Kainja doubted that the approach taken by Mac ra would dea l with misinformation and disinformation.
He said nowhere in the world has a country dealt with misinformation and disinformation through use of a software or particular technology, stressing that dealing with misinformation needs collaborative efforts.
Leader of Opposition in Parliament George Chaponda also called for the immediate suspension of procurement of the K2.6 billion system for tracking misinformation trends.
The Net Rights Coalition, a pan-African coalition of internet freedom activists, later joined calls to stop Macra from procuring the machine, also citing infringements on human rights
