0DODZL president. This situation is aggravated when the president appears to take a stand on a particular issue or media organisation. For example, when President Banda was returning from Equatorial Guinea, she refused to respond to a question from a reporter from Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL) – Simeon Maganga, accusing the newspaper of publishing ‘false news.’ The newspaper had published a story that the President’s salary had not been reduced three months after announcing that it will be cut by 30% as part of government’s austerity measures. &RQVWLWXWLRQDO5LJKWVDQG /HJLVODWLYH(QYLURQPHQW The Malawi Constitution is considered as one of the best in Africa with a Bill of Rights and separate provisions on Freedom of Expression (Section 35) and Media Freedom (Section 36) as well as the right to Access Information under Section 37. However, a number of colonial and post-colonial laws still exist in the statutes despite being inconsistent with the Constitution. Some of these laws include the Official Secrets Act (1913), the Printed Publications Act (1947) and the Censorship and Control of Entertainments Act (1968) as well as the Protected Flags, Emblems and Names Act, which both the Mutharika and Banda Press Offices have quoted to silence critics. The Protected Flags, Emblems and Names Act still quotes a fine in Pound Sterling (£1000, about MK580,000) and not Malawi Kwacha, an issue that supports the argument that this law is ar- 6R7KLVLV'HPRFUDF\" chaic and proves the exigency with which legal reforms must take place in Malawi, forty nine years after independence. Some of these laws appear harmless but they are a serious threat to media freedom and freedom of expression and have formed the basis of the arrests for a number of journalists and artists during both the Mutharika and Banda administrations. A playwright, Thupeko Chisiza, was arrested on stage early in 2012 based on the Censorship and Control of Entertainments Act for allegedly satirizing the Head of State in one of his plays. He pleaded guilty and fined MK5000 (US$30 at the time). A Journalist Clement Chinoko was also arrested in May 2012 for publishing an article on same sex marriage which the authorities claimed was false. Chinoko languished in custody beyond the 48-hour constitutional requirement for one to be charged prompting MISAMalawi to call upon the authorities to charge the journalist or release him. And, Justice Mponda was arrested in October 2012 for allegedly insulting President Joyce Banda and publishing ‘false news.’ He was transferred 340 kilometres from his base in Blantyre to the capital, Lilongwe, a move his lawyer described as ‘an attempt to instil fear’ in his client. Mponda was later acquitted for lack of evidence. It is on this basis that whilst commending the Joyce Banda administration for repealing Section 46 of the Penal Code, MISA Malawi and most Civil Society organizations also requested a critical look at the other laws that negate the constitutional guarantee