MISA Malawi has condemned ‘state surveillance’ on journalists and their sources.
In a statement marking the 2022 World Press Freedom Day celebrations on May 3, 2022, Misa Malawi Chairperson Teresa Temweka Ndanga said the recent arrest of journalist Gregory Gondwe exposed how the State agents are using force and phone call logs to monitor who journalists are communicating with.
Ndanga expressed concern that this is happening in the absence of data protection law thereby raising safety, trust and privacy concerns.
“Sadly, the laws and systems that Malawi government is excitedly putting in place and strictly enforcing, including Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act of 2016, are just implemented to track and arrest internet users and not necessarily protecting them from surveillance,” Ndanga said.
“The abuse of laws and systems by state agents and other actors to spy on journalists and their sources is not only a threat to the right to privacy that the Malawi Constitution guarantees but erodes whistle blowers and public trust in the media.”
Ndanga said it is disheartening that the Malawi Police Service is abusing the regulatory framework of digital platforms to reduce space for freedom of expression, the very engine of media freedom.
“MISA Malawi believes that the internet should be open and free but secure from unnecessary state and non-state actors’ intrusion and sniffing in the private communication of users,” Ndanga said.
Speaking when he hosted members of the media fraternity to a Presidential Breakfast at Kamuzu Palace, in honour of World Press Freedom Day, President Lazarus Chakwera expressed concern over harassments, cyber bullying and arrests of journalists for publishing what is deemed against some sections of society.
Chakwera reaffirmed his government’s commitment to promote and create a free working environment for the media in the country.
The world is celebrating 2022 WPFD under the theme ‘Journalism under Digital Siege’ to cast spotlight on the impact of digital-inspired surveillance on journalism and the challenges that such surveillance poses on the right to privacy of journalists and their sources.
