The destruction or reconstruction of a country depends solely on responsible broadcasting that disseminates information that is punctual and unbiased. The national television and radio broadcaster of Malawi under MBC, are a disgrace for Malawi in a dispensation of plural politics aka democracy.
This is the time of calling a spade by its rightful name. MBC has failed Malawi, and it has also failed the citizens. The entire board of directors or governors are a bunch of stupid people that licks the boot of politicians. The entire staff starting from the political appointee Director, are failures that do not know anything as far as national broadcasting is concerned.
Perhaps the DPP government and the board of MBC must be taught the obligations and objectives of a national broadcaster. Each and every nation has a national broadcasting station with the aim to inform, educate and entertain its citizens. MBC does the opposite. It is a mouthpiece of ruling parties and government of the day.
Despite Malawi adopting multiparty democracy and the rule of law in 1994, the MBC is one institution that has remained behind and continued with a dictatorship tendency and an iron fist of the past one party state.While departments of security, such as the Police Service and other sectors have undertaken reform programs, the MBC has not reformed and was not pointed out as an arm required dearly on the quest for national transformation and reform. Starting from the administration of Bakili Muluzi, Bingu Wa Mutharika, Joyce Banda, and now the incumbent Peter Mutharika, these leaders’ governments have completely failed to permit reform and transform to take place in the national broadcaster.
The executive arm of the Government of Malawi must know that the MBC is a public broadcaster operating from our taxes (citizens taxes), there is no way it must be used the way late Kamuzu Banda and his MCP were using it with absolute monopoly to gain his support through fear or interference. When a government has been occupied by crooked people, the sole service delivery they know better is hijacking and muzzling the freedom expression and freedom of association.
This gives a long-term response that Malawi did not achieve multiparty and democracy with open hearts by those who stood for the cause of an open society. Unfortunately it is with not a secret to reveal today that for the 24 years Malawi has been in multiparty democracy, it is on paper and mouth only and not in action. Which is to say Malawi has not been ruled by true democrats.
The rulers are foxes in sheep’s skins. If our country was once ruled by a true democract from which every party is represented then the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation was supposed to be neutral and reach out to the masses. If one has to be defined as a democrat and a true multipartist we must first check the freedom of the national broadcaster. In Malawi’s case therefore, it is a basket case guilty from malpractices of monopoly.
Our traditional chiefs starting from Paramount, senior, Traditional Authority down to Village headmen, are seeds that have been used by politicians to germinate and develop discord across the country. Even though our chiefs know that it is wrong to bootlick in a multiparty dispensation, they have become shameful figureheads; they have helped kill our democracy.
Opposition parties are not supposed to depend on private airwaves to disseminate and connect with their people across the country when there is a public broadcaster to do this work.As far as the MBC remains a biased and a mouthpiece of the ruling political party, it must just close down.If there are well equipped, qualified and democrats in the MBC, they must initiate reform and become a plural broadcaster.
It is already too late but reform and transformation have no timetable nor time limit. You can change the face of Malawi by initiating and introducing blanket reforms at MBC.
*Saunders Jumah belongs to the Utopian SAMAFO [Save Malawi Foundation].
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and in no way reflect the views of The Maravi Post