Malawi Muslims give back MBCtv camera
Muslims in Malawi’s lakeshore resort town of Mangochi who snatched a camera belonging to state television have given back the camera to Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu has confirmed.
“Government would like to applaud the Muslims of Mangochi for the wonderful gesture shown by surrendering back to MBC the camera they confisticated on Saturday 24th Augist 2013,” said Kunkuyu who is government’s spokesman.
“This is in a truly patriotic spirit to our country and in line with the tenets of Islamic teaching of peace,” he added.
The incident happened last Saturday when the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) television crew went into the mosque and started recording video footage without permission.
Economic Planning and Development Minister Ralph Jooma and his Energy counterpart Ibrahim Matola – both legislators from the district – who wanted to mediate when the camera was snatched, were beaten.
Seasoned journalist and newspaper columnist Ralphael Tenthani commenting on media discussion forum –Misa Malawi – argued that “what happened in Mangochi had nothing to do with Islam, it was a pure political stunt whose perpetrators needed to be arrested, not applauded.”
“How can a government minister begin to applaud a bunch of criminals hiding behind the sacred name of religion,” he wrote.
Mangochi, a Muslim stronghold, has always been a flash-point on matters of religion.
