|
Heavily armed police Sunday afternoon stormed and shut down Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) community radio station in Blantyre because of an interview the station conducted with Mgwirizano coalition spokesperson Kholiwe Mkandawire.
Four journalists from the radio station were also arrested and were still at the Southern Region Police Headquarters at Chichiri when we went to press last evening.
Police were holding Arthur Chokotho, Wonder Msiska, Tony Khoza and station manager Evance Masamba. They were in the company of their lawyer Alinane Kauka.
Chokotho said in an interview from the police station that police stormed into MIJ premises at the Polytechnic in Blantyre and forced the announcers and the journalist out of the station and told them to shut down everything.
“We are here and they say they want the voice of Mkandawire and we are telling them when they forced us to shut down, the computer which was recording it was not properly shut and we might have lost the voice,” said Chokotho.
Kauka said from the police station that the police officers did not have a search warrant and suspected that they were arranging to have a warrant of arrest for the journalists last evening.
“We are talking now, but arresting them would be wrong because they acted professionally when they switched off the interview with Mkandawire when they thought that she was going too far. It was a live interview and they did not know what was coming,” said Kauka.
In the interview, Mkandawire told MIJ that the Mgwirizano Coalition was rejecting results of the general elections and that they would seal Chichiri Stadium so that people should not attend the inaugural ceremony of president-elect Bingu Mutharika. She also said the coalition will seal the airport not to allow foreign dignitaries to attend the ceremony.
National Media Institute for Southern Africa (Namisa) Malawi Chapter Executive Director Lowani Mtonga condemned the closure of MIJ by police.
“We are shocked that police decided to close the radio station. Everyone is free to express his or her own views using any media available in the country. Mkandawire had a right to express her views on MIJ. We demand the immediate release of the journalists,” said Mtonga.
Police Spokesperson Willie Mwaluka could not comment on the matter saying he was in a meeting.
But Malawi Law Society Secretary Linda Ziyendammanja said the closure of MIJ is unconstitutional because police do not have the mandate of closing down radio stations.
“It is also abuse of human rights for the journalists who have been arrested because it has no basis and cannot be supported with any principle in law. They have not even given any valid grounds for their action,” said Ziyendammanja.
Meanwhile, there were sporadic incidents of violence after the Electoral Commission announced that UDF’s Bingu wa Mutharika had won the presidency as people looted shops and destroyed infrastructure in Blantyre.
Disgruntled opposition supporters looted a BP service station shop at Kudya in Zingwangwa township and a nearby post office, before attacking UDF’s regional office in Chitawira, Blantyre, which was also attacked by anti-third term supporters in 2002.
They also burnt down trucks belonging former finance minister Friday Jumbe and destroyed property at his Sabreta Enterprises at Manja township in the city.
There were also running battles between the police and angry supporters in the Ndirande, Bangwe and Limbe and there was gun shots and tear-gas all over.
The angry supporters are said to have gone to UDF deputy director of research Humphrey Mvula’s house where they demanded ‘his head’ from his family.
|
