LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-George Kasakula, the Director General of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), has once again taken the stage—this time at the Bingu National Stadium—to call for responsible journalism in Malawi.
On the surface, it sounds noble.
He echoed the 2025 Independence Celebrations theme, “Restoring the Broken Foundation,” by urging journalists to use press freedom responsibly to unite and develop the nation.
But beneath the surface of his carefully chosen words lies a deep contradiction between what he says and what he does.
Kasakula, who presides over one of the most politically compromised media institutions in Malawi, is hardly the symbol of press neutrality or ethical journalism.
MBC has, for years, been a mouthpiece of ruling regimes—past and present.
Under Kasakula’s leadership, the state broadcaster has tilted heavily in favor of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), systematically blacking out opposition voices, sensationalizing partisan narratives, and turning public media into propaganda machinery.
So, when he tells journalists to “uphold professionalism, truth, and objectivity,” he might as well be reading a script meant for someone else.
The hypocrisy is glaring.
He claims that “our forefathers were silenced under colonialism” and that today “we have a voice.”
But Kasakula has used his position to suppress that very voice—silencing critics, censoring dissent, and amplifying ruling party rhetoric.
The same MBC he controls rarely—if ever—features opposition press conferences, protest coverage, or civic watchdogs that criticize the government.
So, the question is: who has the voice, Mr. Kasakula?
And who is being silenced today?
He goes further to warn of the dangers of digital misinformation and the need to avoid “fueling propaganda, lies, and confusion.”
Ironically, this is the very playbook that MBC follows daily.
From manipulating headlines to skewing live broadcasts, MBC has fueled more propaganda in the last few years than any Twitter thread or Facebook post could ever achieve.
He cautions that social media is risky because “not everything shared is truth.”
Yet MBC, under his leadership, has consistently peddled half-truths, omitted facts, and refused airtime to those who challenge government excesses.
His selective criticism of digital platforms reveals a deeper agenda: control.
Control of the narrative.
Control of dissent.
Control of what Malawians are allowed to know.
Kasakula’s calls for ethics and responsibility ring hollow in a media house that’s allergic to criticism and allergic to balance.
True journalism holds power to account—not comforts it.
MISA Malawi Chairperson Golden Matonga rightly pointed out that journalism should be a tool to expose corruption, improve lives, and engage citizens.
But that’s a mission impossible in an environment where the state broadcaster behaves like a party radio station.
Matonga’s remarks about laws like the Cybersecurity Act and Penal Code are telling.
These laws, often abused to intimidate journalists, exist in a system where the likes of Kasakula pretend to be defenders of press freedom by day—and enforcers of silence by night.
What Malawi needs is not performative speeches on press ethics.
What Malawi needs is a clean break from politically captured journalism.
The theme “Restoring the Broken Foundation” cannot be fulfilled through press conferences and hollow soundbites.
It must begin with the very institutions entrusted to inform the nation—starting with MBC.
Kasakula cannot speak of national development while running a media institution that deepens polarization, stifles dialogue, and protects government failures.
He cannot call for professional journalism when his own newsroom is devoid of editorial independence.
He cannot demand truth from the private media while peddling fiction on taxpayer-funded airwaves.
At 61 years of independence, Malawians deserve more than political mouthpieces disguised as journalists.
They deserve a press that is fearless, fair, and free.
Until MBC becomes a truly public broadcaster—not a party-controlled megaphone—everything George Kasakula says about responsible journalism will remain what it has always been under his tenure: a well-rehearsed lie.
