Minister Mussa says Information Department facing challenges, sounds SOS
Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Henry Mussa says the Department of Information (DoI) is facing challenges which he said need quick redress to enhance new dissemination, the core task of the department.
Among the challenges are improper channels of information distribution, small budget allocation, inadequate personnel including reporters and photographers at Malawi News Agency (Mana) headquarters’ newsroom and Boma Lanthu.
The minister appreciated the challenges when he visited offices of the department at area 3 in Lilongwe on Thursday.
Mussa said the ministry would discuss the problems with the Ministry of Finance and Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) to address the challenges.
“We need to do more with the budget because it is quite little, so much that a majority of the works are not carried out.
“We also want our workers to have resources for them to reach out in rural and urban communities with information through distribution of publications like Boma Lanthu and Malawi Lero,” he said.
Mussa further said the ministry would recruit reporters and photographers, including filling all the vacant positions in the department to simplify the work of giving out information to the public and reduce chances of mismanaging the work.
In his remarks, Director of Information, Gideon Munthali said as government’s communication centre, the department needed to have adequate resources like public address equipment, cameras and other tools and policies for it to be effective in information dissemination.
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SOS to who?. The billions you loot from govt are resources you could have used to resource the department. Why, Mr. Minister, do you want to portray a picture that the department is in the current state because of lack of resources.