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| National |
| Mamwa given ultimatum on radio |
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by
Aubrey Mchulu, 21 August 2003
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16:46:22
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People of Dzimwe in Monkey Bay have given the Malawi Media Women Association (Mamwa) until August 29 to hand over the Unesco-funded community radio to the community or face unspecified consequences.
William Pelekamoyo, interim chairman for the committee fighting for the radio, said in a telephone interview from Monkey Bay on Thursday that the community is concerned that Mamwa is clinging to the radio six years after its launch when the contract said they should run it for two years and hand it over to the community.
“We want the radio to be handed over to the community for the community to run it the way they wish. We have given Mamwa up to August 29, after that the bomb will explode,” he said.
Pelekamoyo alleged that Mamwa executives were dodging the community’s plea for a handover meeting and accused them of misusing Dzimwe radio resources including a Toyota Venture car.
“We have written Mamwa three times but they are not responding and they are refusing to sign for minutes of the meeting of July 10 at Macra [Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority] where it was agreed in principle that they should hand over the radio,” he said.
Other sources from Monkey Bay claimed that Mamwa has got foreign funding for projects using Dzimwe Radio hence their reluctance to hand over the radio at the meantime.
Mamwa Secretary Irene Phalula referred the matter to Macra and said her organisation “signed for the minutes a long time ago and submitted them to Macra.”
But Macra’s deputy director general Shadreck Ulemu, speaking through his secretary, refused to comment on the issue saying “there is nothing to discuss on that issue with newspapers.”
Pelekamoyo also said the community is also smelling a rat in the way Macra, which he accused of employing delaying tactics, is handling the issue.
Dzimwe Community Radio was launched in November 1998 to address social concerns like HIV/Aids, illiteracy, teenage pregnancies and environmental degradation on the Monkey Bay/Nankumba peninsula.
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