A total of 16 journalists working for the Malawi state broadcaster and some ex-employees have had their gadgets, including cellphones, seized in a case where police are trying to establish who is behind a fake Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Facebook page.

The journalists who are deemed to be opposition Democratic Party DPP sympathisers. Most of these journalists were employed by the state broadcaster during the DPP regime.

Four days after the confiscation,  police are refusing to comment on anything regarding the process they are conducting, claiming they are still investigating the journalists.

MISA Malawi chapter in a statement released Wednesday, indicated that it had spoken to MBC management which says the police are conducting the investigations independently and the management has not provided any names of journalists to be subjected to the investigations.

MISA Malawi in its statement wants to know what measures have been put in place to ensure that the identity of the sources of the journalists will be protected, as correspondence between journalists and their sources is privileged information under Section 32 (c) of the Access to Information (ATI) Act.

Contact:
Angela Mkandawire, CFE Correspondent
mkangelas@gmail.com