Election Campaigns Kick Off in Malawi Amid Controversy

Conrad Omodiagbe, March 28, 2019

Opposition parties contesting in the upcoming general elections in Malawi have accused the country’s tax-funded Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) of sidelining their political activities. According to reports, the MBC is actively refusing to cover and report events organised by opposition parties, while offering airtime to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its candidate, President Peter Mutharika.

Previously, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) announced that it had given all parties a deadline of March 15 to submit messages they wished to air on the state broadcaster, however, opposition parties have stated that this has not been adhered to.

The MBC also promised to provide airtime for pre-recorded campaign ads and messages during the 60-day official campaign period, alongside a 30-minute interview session with each of the candidates running for president.

Some of the opposition parties that have been very vocal about the sidelining from the government-sponsored station include the United Transformation Movement (UTM) party whose candidate is the current Vice President of the country, Saulos Chilima; the Malawi Congress Party (MCB), the People’s Party (PP) and the United Democratic Front (UDF).

These parties launched their official election campaigns over the weekend, however, the monumental moments in their campaign were not covered by the MBC.

Cementing their allegations of foul play, the MBC covered events planned and executed by the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on both its visual and audio platforms, further intensifying the grievances amongst the parties involved.

According to the Nyasa Times, Malawi’s electoral body, through the Chairman of the Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN), Steve Duwa, blamed the situation and delay on the MBC.

He stated that the broadcasting network failed to offer the citizens balanced information, noting that this could reduce the chances of a free, fair and credible election process.

Meanwhile, the MBC represented by Aubrey Sumbuleta, in a telephone interview with The Marvi Post on Tuesday, said: “We’re going to start the implementation this week with the pre-recorded messages.”

He, however, declined to speak on the reasons why the station only aired DPP related content earlier.

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