Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Malawi Chapter has embarked on a drive to curb misinformation and disinformation in the run up to the September 16 2025 General Election.
In its quest, Misa Malawi yesterday engaged Mchinji District Council executive committee on the dangers of the vices and sensitised the members to its i-Verify Malawi Project which seeks to build the capacity of individuals and institutions to debunk false information they encounter.
Speaking in Mchinji, Misa Malawi Chapter vice-chairperson Chisomo Ngulube said the institute believes that people should be equipped with fact-checking skills and have the desire to fight false information at all levels of society.
She said: “Misa Malawi is building the capacity of Malawians on how they can detect and expose information that is false or misleading. This interface is one of such activities.
“We have also developed an online platform called i-Verify that we will use to publish verified information before, during and after the 2025 elections.”
Mchinji district commissioner Lucia Chidalengwa commended Misa Malawi for the engagement, saying it had come at an appropriate time when the spread of false news is on the rise.
“The community that the council serves usually gets information from secondary sources and it is usually distorted. It is, therefore, necessary to prepare them so that they should not always believe anything they are fed,” she said.
Chidalengwa said that as the general elections approach, it is important for the council and its stakeholders to have the ability to debunk unnecessary information.
i-Verify Malawi is a system which Misa Malawi will implement and is based on an online fact-checking tool.
The i-Verify Malawi project is funded by the United Nations Development Programme with support from the European Union, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Ireland and UK International.
