Media in Malawi - 21 May 2012

By the look of things, it seems the president of Malawi, Joyce Banda, is showing no sign of slowing down since being sworn in as president, after the passing of late president Bingu wa Mutharika.

Since her appointment as president of the country, she has fired the then Information and Civic Education Minister, Patricia Kaliati, and the CEO of Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), Bright Malopa. She then appointed Moses Kunkuyu as Information and Civic Education Minister, while broadcaster Dr. Benson Tembo took over as the CEO of MBC.

With her appointment of the new Information and Civic Education Minister, she advised Kunkuyu that he would be the voice of the government as well as create a good image of the government. She then went on to say that the state-owned MBC should be a media house that should provide accurate information to the citizenry, besides providing a platform for diverse opinions on issues of national and public interest. (See: Turn MBC into public broadcaster - Banda told).

In her latest feat, President Joyce Banda announced that her government will repeal a piece of legislation that was meant to oppress the media which was being championed by the late Mutharika.

In her state of the nation address, she mentioned that her government will loosen grips on state owned MBC as it is set to become a public broadcaster. She also unveiled Malawi's vision of ICT in the country, adding that the government will make an effort to build telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas, while touching on a project that will connect Malawi to the rest of the world through a fibre network cable in Tanzania.

While it has only been several weeks since President Banda was appointed as head of state, it appears that she has a vision, not only for the media industry, but for all sectors in the country - giving Malawians a sense of hope. We will have to wait and see how it all unfolds.

In other news across the continent: the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2012 finalists has been announced; eLearning Africa receives sponsorship from CoZa Cares Foundation; and CNBC Africa to celebrate fifth anniversary of broadcasting.

Have a good week!

Evan-Lee Courie @evan1985