The opposition parties were given an opportunity to slot in five minute
paid campaign messages as part of the election broadcasting in the run
up to the May 19 presidential and parliamentary elections. This follows
an agreement between the Electoral Commission of Malawi and MBC to open
up the state broadcaster's airwaves to opposition parties campaign
messages for a fee.
The commission announced two weeks ago that they had agreed with MBC
and Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS), a privately owned radio station,
to record and broadcast messages for parties campaigning for the May 19
elections. The parties however, have reportedly made individual choices.
Spokesperson for the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Ishmael Chafukira,
told the Daily Times Newspaper that MBC refused to air their messages
and that was why the party switched to other radio stations.
MBC refused to air our advertisement, that is why we used other
stations, he said, without explaining the reasons why MBC declined the
adverts.
There was no immediate comment from representatives of MBC, to explain
this allegation. There is however widespread speculation that MBC is
hitting back at the opposition which denied the state broadcaster state
financial support as a result of its dominance of the outgoing
parliament. Budgetary allocations are approved by parliament. The
United Democratic Front (UDF) party on the other hand, is reported to
have turned down the offer to use the MBC. Its spokesman Rob Jamieson,
former managing director of The Chronicle Newspaper said his party
declined the offer because of the limited time they were allocated.
We could not go to MBC and record a five minute message per week, that is too little time, he said.
Parties such as the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) chose Capital FM and
ZBS radio stations, while UDF opted for Joy FM, ZBS and Capital FM.
Background
The outgoing Malawi Parliament has for two consecutive years
(2007-2008/2008-2009) denied MBC funding, on grounds that the
state-controlled broadcaster is biased towards the government. Since
then, MBC has given a blackout to the opposition, including producing
programmes that have demonised opposition party leaders in the run up
to the May 19 general elections.
MISA
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