MALAWI MEDIA FREEDOM VIOLATIONS AND VICTORIES 2017 13 January 2017 CENSORED Malawi Revenue Authority closes Times Group over taxes The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has closed Blantyre Printing and Publishing Company (Times Group) offices over unpaid taxes. The closure of Times Group comes less than a week after the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) sought an injunction restraining the media outlet from publishing stories on Maizegate – exposure of the scandal of alleged irregular procurement of maize from neighbouring Zambia. (ATI) Act, casting Malawi into the spotlight as one of the few countries on the African continent with legislation on access to information. Malawi Members of Parliament passed the Act on Wednesday, 14 December 2016, after a heated debate that went into the night. President Mutharika was largely seen as an obstacle in the push for legislation on ATI. His approval of the legislation has silenced many critics including MISA Malawi who considered as mere politics his campaign promise to enact the long awaited legislation once elected into office. 15 January 2017 13 February 2017 THREATENED Religious leader attacks media Providence Industrial Mission (PIM) president and general overseer the reverend Patrick Makondetsa on Sunday, 15 January, attacked the media for alleged negative reporting. Makondetsa attacked the media in his sermon at PIM headquarters in Chiladzulo, southern Malawi, where President Peter Mutharika led Malawians in commemorating the life of PIMs founder and freedom fighter the Reverend John Chilembwe. Makondetsa argued that the media’s reporting was derailing Malawi’s development. 10 February 2017 VICTORY President Mutharika approves ATI Act President Peter Mutharika has signed the Access to Information LEGISLATED Minister sues Times Group for defamation Minister of Agriculture and Food Security George Chaponda has sued Malawi’s publishing giant Times Group for defamation in conjunction with a series of Maizegate stories the media house has been publishing. Chaponda is suing Times Group editor in-chief George Kasakula, The Daily Times editor Innocent Chitosi and his assistant Madalitso Musa, Sunday Times editor Chachacha Munthali and reporter Alick Ponje. Blantyre Newspapers Limited – publishers of the Daily Times, Malawi News and Sunday Times, published extensive irregularities around the procurement of maize from Zambia. Chaponda is claiming damages for alleged false and malicious articles by Times Group.