Africa-Press – Malawi. Social and good governance expert John Chunda has raised concerns over the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) for what he described as unjustified coverage of Vitumbiko Mumba, the former running mate to Lazarus Chakwera in last Tuesday’s elections.
Chunda questioned why the state-owned broadcaster continues giving Mumba a platform to hold a press conference even though he currently holds no official government position following the dissolution of the cabinet.
“Cabinet was dissolved. Why is an ordinary man abusing MBC for personal ambitions? The management of MBC should stop giving him a platform since he is just an ordinary person he is not the Vice President of the nation,” Chunda told Malawi24.
The governance expert further argued that MBC, as a public broadcaster funded by taxpayers, must operate impartially and prioritize serving the collective interests of Malawians unlike the present situation when it is being abused by a nonentity.
Chunda’s remarks come at a time when concerns are mounting among civil society organisations and political stakeholders over the neutrality of state-owned media, considering the electoral code of conduct media houses signed in a run-up to the 16th September polls.
Efforts to get a comment from MBC Director General George Kasakula and Vitumbiko Mumba proved futile, as both did not pick up repeated phone calls.
Writing on his Facebook page, another governance expert, Charles Govati, repeatedly said the fact of the matter is that the physical results of the polling centre were counted and sealed at the polling centres with every monitor present, and there was no time at any polling where someone could have hidden any ballot.
“MCP officials must behave like mature Men and women. I did not know that Hon Vitu, as educated as he is can sink so low to mislead the illiterate MCP supporters who know very well they did not vote for Chakwera,” said Govati.
He also advised that if there were irregularities they were supposed to be lodged at the polling stations where everyone witnessed the process.
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