Malawi hosting Africa's biggest ICT Forum

Malawi will host Africa’s biggest ICT Forum called ‘Annual Connecting Rural Communities Africa Forum’ from the 26-28 August.

Thirty Information and communication ministers, ICT experts, regulators
and operators from Africa, the Middle East and Europe will be attending
to discuss strategies and policies to help connect rural areas in
Africa.

A letter signed by Minister of Information and Civic Education Patricia
Kaliati stated that connecting rural communities is a crucial topic for
development in Africa. Malawi will be introducing radical policies to
improve rural connectivity.

Kaliati, who is also one of the main speakers said that “’together we
can make a positive difference to the development of ICT in Africa.’’

According to the programme, the forum will let delegates find out more
about Africa’s licenses for new services and promote competition and
discover policies to promote universal access in their country.

The forum will help to examine the effect liberalization is having on
ICT development in Africa, it will also help to understand the
potential of 3G for rural communities in Africa and the benefits of
mobile broadband services in Africa.

The conference will also include workshops on 3G and satellite
technologies provided by telecommunication operators like Ericsson.

By IT News Africa staff reporter.

Malawi economic analysts blame legislatures for poor economic freedom report

DESPITE government’s efforts to boost the economic
image of the country to global investors, a US based think tank
Heritage Foundation says economic freedom in Malawi remains poor.



But some local economic analysts, including the report, blame
parliament for the development saying legislatures have failed to pass
economic bills that would have made Malawi more competitive on the
international trade arena.



The foundation report, quoted in the August country report for Malawi
by the London based Economist Intelligence Unit, says the country is
ranked 120 out of 157 countries.



The overall economic freedom score for Malawi is 53.8 percent and is
scored 52.1 percent in the freedom to do business and is ranked poorly.



“However, by far the worst category for the country was freedom from
corruption, which scored a poor 27 percent,” reads the report in part.



But the report scores Malawi highly on fiscal freedom and labour
freedom, far ahead of regional economic power house South Africa, a
pointer Malawi is getting its formula right on labour and fiscal
discipline.



“The country scored well on labour freedom, with the report noting that
the non- salary cost of employing a worker was low,” the report says.



Ahead of Malawi are neighbours: Mozambique at 96, Tanzania at 97 and Zambia is ranked at 99.



“This places Malawi in the category of countries considered to be mostly unfree,” reads part of the intelligence report.



The report however says, although Malawi’s ranking actually improved
from 122nd place last year, its freedom score marginally fell by 0.2
percent points and remains below its neighbours excluding Zimbabwe.





The economic think tank says politics, which has delayed the passing of
the 2008/9 budget has created a climate of uncertainty that would slow
down donor inflows.



“With the difficulty in any case of obtaining parliamentary approval
for new projects, this makes it even more certain that there will be
cut backs in development spending,” says the report in part.



And some local analysts have blamed the situation on political impasse
saying most crucial bills are still gathering dust in parliament.



“The problem is that some of the crucial bills that would have brought
sanity on the market are not yet passed and it is not surprising that
the think tank has noted these things,” said one Blantyre based analyst.



Countries are scored over ten categories including business freedom,
property rights, monetary freedom, and government size and investment
freedom.

Bakili Muluzi accusation of MBC pointless

by DailyTimes

IT is widely said a drunken parent can not counsel
a son on the dangers of alcoholism. The children will wonder why the
parents indulge in the practices if the vices are at all dangerous. It
is therefore advised that parents be exemplary if their children are to
adopt good behaviour.



United Democratic Front (UDF) chairman Bakili Muluzi, also proprietor
of Joy FM radio has been bashing Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC)
and Television Malawi (TVM) for unprofessional conduct.



But one gets a picture of a wayward parent giving counsel to an equally wayward child.



It is common knowledge that MBC and TV M are biased towards the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).



Berson Lijenda, chairman of the media committee of parliament and
former MBC employee, once said that whoever sees nothing wrong with MBC
and TVM is obsessed with untruth.



Even minister Patricia Kaliati, who claims there is nothing wrong with
TVM and MBC, knows she is lying every time she says there is
professionalism at the two public broadcasters.



Many people and organisations have pleaded with the powers that be to
change the style of broadcasting at the two public stations and open up
the airwaves to the opposition as well.



Interestingly, UDF is among those weeping the loudest. On Muluzi’s
direction, UDF legislators have in the past denied MBC and TVM their
budgetary funding.



That, however, has only propelled the broadcasters to intensify their
selling of the ruling DPP’s propaganda, raising fears as to how
parliament would handle them in this year’s budget.



Even surprising is the fact that Muluzi’s Joy FM is following in the
footsteps of MBC. It has since introduced carbon copies of programmes
that Muluzi and his party condemn on MBC.



If Muluzi managed to note the unprofessional conduct at MBC, then he
must have noticed the same at his radio since the programmes are
similar.



And the fact that these programmes continue to run on his radio shows
that he sees nothing wrong in them, which is why his accusation of MBC
is pointless.



Is it not ironic that Muluzi views Mpungwepungwe pa Ndale on MBC as
unprofessional while he has no problems with Chilungamo Chilipati and
Nkhanga Zaona on his Joy radio.



In fact there are many ironies.



One wonders therefore if at all Muluzi’s claim that government is abusing MBC and TVM is sober.



Is he saying that would have treated the institutions any better or
that he will not abuse them again should he be allowed to contest and
win the next year’s election?



If Muluzi really sees something wrong with MBC he should have made his
Joy radio an exemplary station and show the nation and MBC what
professional and ethical broadcasting is.



But if Muluzi thinks he will fool the nation that TVM and MBC are
unprofessional while expecting that his radio will get away with the
same just because he privately owns it, then not all everyone will be
fooled.



Muluzi should know that the fact that he owns Joy radio is not a
guarantee for him to misuse the station the same way. Mutharika and his
cohorts should know too that being in government is not an entitlement
to abusing taxpayer- run broadcasters.



For Muluzi, he must know that media ethics and guidelines the world
over are the same regardless of whether the medium is privately owned
or not.



Already other quarters feel, and justifiably so, that Muluzi must taste
his own medicine without a murmur as he himself abused MBC and TVM
during his reign.



But considering that the UDF chair has had a feel of what it is like to
be given a blackout, only to be covered for the wrong reasons, one
would have thought Muluzi has learnt it the hard way and would change.



No one can believe it that MBC and TVM will become any better at all
should he contest and turn out victorious next year. He abused the
broadcasters during his ten year reign. He is abusing Joy radio.

Malawi plans to register seven million voters for 2009 poll: officials

BLANTYRE (AFP) — Malawi is hoping to enrol seven million people on to its new voters roll when registration for next year's general election opens this month, electoral officials said Thursday.

"We are targeting seven million voters. We will register afresh people for the elections," Fegus Lipenga, spokesperson for the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), told AFP.

The MEC, which will spend 50 million dollars (32 million euro) on the May 19 poll, will kick off a three-and-half-months phased registration exercise on August 18 in selected districts of the poor southern African nation.

Registration will close on November 29 after covering the country's 28 districts.

Lipenga said the registration "will be staggered because we are using very expensive equipment that we purchased. It was not possible to procure equipment for each and every centre."

He said a new voters electoral roll was being launched in a bid to avoid a repeat of a fiasco in 2004 elections, in which the number of registered voters dropped by one million after the high court ordered an inspection of the lists.

That election was the third multiparty poll since the end of dictatorial rule 15 years ago.

The commission has launched a media blitz to attract the largely illiterate population of 13 million Malawians to register.

"We are urging all stakeholders to mobilise people to go in large numbers to register so that they are allowed to vote in 2009," Lipenga said.

Former colonial power Britain has pledged eight million dollars to help fund the elections. Other donors and the United Nations Development Fund will also bankroll the vote.

Incumbent President Bingu wa Mutharika faces a strong challenge from his predecessor Bakili Muluzi.

Muluzi has been chosen as the Malawi's opposition's candidate in the presidential poll although he was constitutionally prohibited from running again after he served two terms from 1994.

He wrested power from dictator Kamuzu Banda in the country's first democratic poll in 1994.

24 die in road accident

Twenty-four people died when a lorry they were traveling in overturned and landed in a ditch in Mzimba on Monday night.



The accident happened at Mapanjira in the district on the Lilongwe-Mzuzu M1 road between 8pm and 9pm, according to the police.



The police said in an interview Tuesday that 22 people died on the spot
but Northern Region Police spokesperson Nora Chimwala said in the
afternoon that two more died at Mzimba District Hospital where they
were referred to.



The police and Mzimba District Hospital officials said 26 people were
injured and four were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.



Mzimba Police officer-in-charge Clifford Bandawe was said to have
traveled to the scene of the accident as we went to bed but his
officers confirmed both the accident and the time it occurred.



“Indeed the accident happened between 8pm and 9pm. The vehicle involved
in the accident was a Fuso Fighter, registration number KU 2413 and
driven by Shadreck Mwale, 19.



“The driver failed to negotiate a corner and the vehicle swerved to the
right hand side of the road where it overturned into and landed in a
drainage leaving 22 people dead,” said an officer at Mzimba Police
Station.



The vehicle, according to the police had 48 people, all members of
Christians of Last Church and they were on their way to Euthini for a
national conference.



According to the police, the vehicle belongs to Be Happy of Kasungu.



Mzimba District Health Officer Mwawi Mwale confirmed that 22 bodies
arrived at the hospital while 26 others came with injuries with four of
them in critical condition.



“We have referred the four critically injured to Mzuzu Central Hospital
while we are treating the others here. The 22 bodies are all here in
our morgue and most them died from head injuries,” he said.



Mwale said most of those being treated sustained various injuries such as scar bones, multiple fractures and cut wounds.



He, however, commended the swift response of the police, hospital
officials, the Mzimba (district) community and the general public on
the spot of the accident, adding their assistance helped to save some
lives.



“The first casualties were in by 9pm and because of the swift response
and combined effort by the police and hospital officials, we were able
to reach there and bring the casualties here on time. The people in
Mzimba as a whole also need to be commended just as the police and our
staff for the response,” said Mwale.



Mapanjira is near Luvwiri, close to Luwawa Forest Turn Off, an area mostly deemed as accident-prone.