Board appoints new MACRA boss
The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has appointed a new Director General, Charles Nsaliwa, whose appointment by MACRA’s board of directors is with effect from 9 December 2009.

A press release issued by MACRA’s board Chairperson Thengo Maloya, does not give details of the appointment but Nsaliwa replaces Alexon Chiwaya who is currently heading Malawi Postal Services. Mike Kuntiya had been acting in the interim and is now back as Director of Telecommunications at the Authority.
 
As Acting Director General, Kuntiya was at one time summoned by the board over reports that he granted a radio license without following proper procedures. Kuntiya is reported to have granted a broadcasting license to Gabriel Kondesi, a Primary School dropout who got arrested for operating a radio station without a license. The board is appointed by the country’s Head of State.
 
Kuntiya is said to have pledged to grant Kondesi a radio license as well as radio equipment with the mandate to be in-charge of the community radio station. But three days after Kuntiya’s alleged pledge, newspaper reports quoted MACRA’s Public Relations Officer, Zadziko Mankhambo as having dismissed the news that Kondesi had been granted a radio license. The MACRA spokesman told The Daily Times newspaper that they only invited Kondesi ‘to find out more about the operations of his pirate radio.’
 
This change of tune attracted the attention of MACRA’s board since MACRA’s Director General has no mandate to issue licenses.//End//
 

Reagan Malumo
Programme Officer: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
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Namibia
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