Human rights campaigners in Malawi are urging President Peter Mutharika to support Access to Information Bill that has been passed by Parliament by assenting into law to improve accountability in government and reduce corruption. Parliament with the urge of opposition on Wednesday passed the Information bill which has taken 12 years to get enacted. Centre […]
Officials from Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) are seeking extra funding after the surprise and shock passing of Access to Information bill in members of parliament rare ‘night shift’. The opposition on Wednesday forced the reluctant govenment legislators to sit late in parliament to pass the Access to Information Bill (ATI) amid frantic calls from […]
Malawi opposition members of parliament (MPs) were steadfast to object to DPP-led government machinations to suffocate the Access to Information Bill (ATI) as they wanted to waive Standing Orders to accommodate other bills and they pressed on to have it passed in a late night. Information Bill allows the public to seek for any information […]
Malawi government on Tuesday created excuses to derail the process of passing the Access to Information (ATI) Bill with amendments which the Legal Affairs and Media Committees suggested after consultations. Government side suffocated the enactment of the ATI because amongst the amendments, there is a proposal that tax-funded constitutional body the Malawi Human Rights Commission […]
Parliamentary media committee which was tasked to scrutinise Access to Information (ATI) Bill has recommended that cabinet records should not be part of the information which citizens should be given chance to access inlinewith yet-to-be passed Bill. Members of Parliament (MPs) under the Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communication met various stakeholders to get […]
Media and Communications and Legal Affairs committee has presented a report of their scrutiny Access to Information (ATI) Bill to parliament and recommended that tax-funded Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) should be entructed with the responsibility of enforcing the law. When government tabled the long awaited ATI in July, opposition lawmakers rejected to debate it because […]
Taxpayer-funded Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has said cabinet records should be part of the information which citizens should be given chance to access inlinewith yet-to-be passed Access to Information (ATI) Bill. Members of Parliament (MPs) under the Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communication are meeting various stakeholders to get their views on the much-awaited ATI […]
Speaker Richard Msowoya on Friday referred to parliamentary committees the Access to Information bill after the opposition tore it apart, saying the bill was in actual sense a roadblock to information as it is “adulterated”. Malawi Congress Party (MCP) MP for Lilongwe East Ezekiel Ching’oma said it was uncalled for for the government to demand a […]
Minister of Information, communications technology and civic education Patricia Kaliati is Thursday, expected to table in parliament the much awaited Access to Information bill. Deputy Leader of the House Kondwani Nankhumwa said the government has already made necessary official arrangements for the tabling of the bill. “We have several bills like Land bills and financial bills but the […]
Government says it will go ahead to table the adulterated Access to Information Bill (ATI) despite stiff opposition from civil rights groups. Leader of the House Francis Kasaira said the Access to Information bill is among the 15 bills carried over from the last meeting of parliament that will be tabled in the coming meeting which […]
Media Owners Association chairperson Mbumba Banda said on Saturday said politican were “very uncomfortable” in passing the Access to Information (ATI) Bill, saying the delays by authorities to enact an ATI legislation could create an environment for easy access of information in the country. Banda, who is also Nation Publications Limited (NPL) chief executive officer, […]
Malawi government through the Ministry of Information, Communication Technology and Civic Education on 3 May, which is World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) released a statement in which it expressed commitment in strengthening media freedom for the good of the nation. In the statement which was signed by its line minister, Patricia Kaliati, said the Peter […]
Government has ruled out forming an Independent Information Commission, a secretariat that would be looking into complaints after the Access to Information Act comes into effect as demanded by media bodies, saying it is very expensive. The commission, according to government, would also be against Capital Hill current policy of trimming the bloated civil service […]
Media bodies in Malawi have bombarded both print and electronic media with advertisements and jingles sensitizing persuading citizens on the need to have Access to Information law, a bone of contention between scribes and the government. In one of the electronic media advertisement, veteran broadcaster and poet Gospel Kazako asks people to demand Access to […]
Government has failed to table Access to Information Bill just weeks after President Peter Mutharika assured media gurus and Malawians the bill will be passed into law in March. The government has not given any reason for the failure to table the bill in parliament except that the minister who was supposed to table the […]
Media body, Misa-Malawi officials have lobbied parliament to reject the Access to Information bill describing it as undemocratic and designed to serve a small group of the ruling elite. The Misa-Malawi chairman Thom Khanje told MIJ radio Thursday the government “has heavily doctored and butchered the draft bill that it is now useless and cannot […]
Malawi Parliament has said it is unlikely that the Access to Information bill would be passed in this sitting, saying there is need to critically scrutinise the bill and probably make amendments as demanded by representatives of the media. Chairperson of Media Committee of parliament Sam Kawale said after minister of Information Jappie Mhango presents […]
Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Malawi Chapter and Media Council of Malawi have expressed concerned with the reading of the gazetted Access to Information (ATI) Bill saying it has been watered down and undermine the spirit of accessing information. The media institutions have since asked government to review the bill before it is taken […]