Through separate notices published in the two dailies, NPL and BNL announced that The Nation and The Daily Times respectively, as well as Nation On Sunday and The Sunday Times will be selling at MK200 (about US$1.33) per copy from MK170 (about US$1.13).

The two media houses have also announced that their weekend papers, Weekend Nation and Malawi News will now be fetching MK240 (about US$1.60) per copy from MK200. BNL’s tabloid which comes out every Friday afternoon will be selling at MK200 per copy from MK180.

For many years in the history of the newspaper industry in Malawi, cover prices of newspapers and magazines have not been subjected to VAT.

Meanwhile, commentators have raised concern saying the development is a strategic move by government to frustrate access to information, one of the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Commenting on the price hike, NPL head of sales and bureaus MacDonald Kadewa, who is also the company’s spokesperson, said the company was left with no choice but to comply with the VAT law, by passing on the extra cost to newspaper buyers.

BNL General Manager Dr. Tikhala Chibwana said it was with regret that his company had been forced to increase the cover price for its newspapers by the imposition of VAT. “VAT on newspapers is inconsistent with the provision of the United Nations, UNESCO and even our own Republican Constitution which guarantees free access to information. The UN recognizes freedom of information as a fundamental human right and the touchstone of all the freedoms,” Chibwana said.

Commenting on the same, Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) Executive Director John Kapito said “…consumers are already burdened with many taxes on basic services and taxing the source of information which gives them an opportunity to have the right of choice to goods and services, but also on information that is released by government and the private sector is deplorable.

MISA Malawi has also strongly condemned the introduction of VAT on newspapers, arguing this will deny people the right to information. MISA Malawi’s acting Chairperson Anthony Kasunda said “…as MISA Malawi, we do not want to be tempted to think that government is pursuing a crusade to kill newspapers for carrying critical articles about its policies.”

With most donors pulling out their budgetary support due to Malawi’s poor governance and economic mismanagement, government introduced a 16.5 percent VAT on newspapers in its 2011/2012 national budget, dubbed ‘zero deficit budget.’//END//
 
Reagan Malumo
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626
Official Email: reagan(@)misa.org
Private Email: reagan32002(@)yahoo.com

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