Malawi CSO Forum for National Development requests Ombudsman to investigate arrest of journalist Gregory Gondwe

Chakaka-Nyirenda at the centre of it 

* Why and what was the AG apologizing for — the violation of the rights of Gondwe and PIJ as a media?

*Is the apology on the arbitrary detention? Or is it on the part of ignorance on the part of government as stated by Minister of Information?

* Is a media house publishing information in the interest of the public illegal?

* Is it illegal to access an opinion of the AG to a public office related to issues of public interest?

By Duncan Mlanjira

Civil society organisation, Forum for National Development has written the Ombudsman to investigate who complained to the police to arrest Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ) journalist Gregory Gondwe and if the police acted wrongfully in the arrest that included having his electronic gadgets confiscated overnight.

The Forum asks “if the police acted illegally” and why the independent police through the office of the IG or the line Ministry of Homeland Security has not issued an apology but instead has been reported by MISA Malawi.

“Why and what was the AG apologizing for — the violation of the rights of Gondwe and PIJ as a media?” asks the Forum. “Is the apology on the arbitrary detention? Or is it on the part of ignorance on the part of government as stated by Minister of Information?

“Is a media house publishing information in the interest of the public illegal? Is it illegal to access an opinion of the AG to a public office related to issues of public interest?

“Since the police had electronic gadgets of PIJ for over 12 hours, what guarantees are there that they were not tampered with? In this case, PIJ might need to replace the gadgets especially in this age of cloning and digital sabotage, who bears the cost?

“How will the rights of Mr. Gondwe be compensated for and who bears the cost?”

The letter further says the apology as reported by MISA Malawi constitutes that the detention was illegal, unconstitutional and a violation of his rights — “in short the persons or people behind this whole fiasco have acted illegally and have broken the law and violated the rights of both Gondwe as a person and freedoms of the press”.

“The AG’s apology should not set a precedence where law breaking by duty bearers must be dealt with an apology. As a country, we need to establish facts and get to the bottom of this matter and find remedies within the laws of Malawi as the country is governed and managed by the law.

“We strongly believe that Gondwe and his family has suffered trauma from the whole ordeal if the statement that he wrote on the saga is anything to go by. At the sarne time, freedom of the press, freedom of expression and right to privacy was violated and remedy thereof cannot be an apology.

“We are worried on how government has come out in the matter which included the statement of the government spokesperson, reaction of the Attorney General (AG) and silence of the Inspector General on the matter.

“The AG in a leaked audio with a journalist was defending the action of the police stating that it was not an arrest but rather a search warrant. However, we were astonished by the remarks by the government spokesperson, who stated that the Police is independent and acted accordingly and as goverrrment they were not aware.”

The Forum, through its national coordinator, Fryson Chodzi thus tells the Ombudsman that it strongly believes “the AG and government must not set a precedence where an apology is a replacement of holding duty bearers accountable when law breaking is detected”.

“There is also a need to set the record straight in terms of freedom of the press and ensure that harassment of the media and unprofessional conduct from the duty bearers is dealt with, hence the request for your office to conduct a formal inquest into the entire matter.

“We are writing you as a last resort as we have noted that the AG has chosen to ignore all our correspondence on several issues which is a sign of arrogance and impunity.

“The AG and the Executive continue to display signs that they are they are not ready to be held accountable. This is not in the spirit of access to information and servant leadership,” said the statement copied to chairperson of Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament; MISA Malawi chairperson; Executive Director of Malawi Human Rights Commission; the Attorney General himself and the Minister of Justice.