THE MOUNT SOCHE DECLARATION

(Named after the venue of the meeting)

Preamble
Private Media Owners and Media Managers met
at Mount Soche Hotel on November 7, 2016 and
deliberated

on

the

worrying

trend

being

championed by the State House and President

Peter Mutharika with a view to limit the media
space in the performance of our duty which is to
enlighten the public on how it is being governed.
This is in recognition of the highly belligerent
attitude that the Democratic Progressive Party
-DPP

Government

has

taken

against

the

independent media to silence it from telling

Malawians the truth
Sadly this had been championed by none other
than the State President himself and it includes
his

blaming

the

gossiping

and

speculation

surrounding his health on the media when he

himself took the blame that he did not have his

Staff with him in the US after the United Nations

General Assembly because he sent them home
As if the above was not enough the President
threw all caution to the wind and called the
media, Times Group and Zodiak Broadcasting
Station

ZBS

in

particular,

in

Mchinji

as

disgusting and that they write nonsense and

garbage
The gathering also took note of the fact that
what happens at the State House is not a press
conference but a press rally.
All this happens despite the fact that the
independent

media

through

National

Media

Institute of Southern Africa - NAMISA and Media

Council of Malawi - MCM have complained
against such a practice but nothing has changed
as

exemplified

journalists

by

suffered

the
during

harassment
the

last

that
press

conference the President addressed at State

House on his trip from the US.
DECLARATION
Taking cognizance of the above we therefore declare
the following:

We the undersigned, being owners, managers,

directors and representatives of our respective news
media organisations in Malawi, after deliberating
upon issues of concern on freedom of expression and
freedom of the press, hereby issue the following
statement which shall henceforth be referred to as
the Mount Soche Declaration, venue of the meeting.
Inspired by the principles of Freedom of Expression
contained in the Republican Constitution of Malawi;
the Declarations of the United Nations and its
agencies; the African Union as well as the Windhoek
Declaration; and
Inspired by promises and pledges of successive
Government administrations since multi-party rule in
1994; and
Inspired by promises of successive Heads of State to
uphold freedom of the press and to conduct their
press conferences in atmospheres that would be free
of intimidation of political party supporters; we
believe we have a moral responsibility to work with
3

our elected Governments and to perform to the best

of our ability in an ethical, fair and balanced manner,
our noble task as the Fourth Estate, to ensure
separation of powers between the Executive, the
Judiciary and the Legislature and to ensure that our
elected leaders are always accountable to the People
who elected them to office.
Much progress has been made and we are committed
to building upon these principles.
We believe there is great opportunity to assist the
people of Malawi to remain informed on issues that
impact on their lives and to provide them with
platforms through our media houses, to discuss,
debate and engage their elected leaders on such
issues.
But no media house can do this in an atmosphere of
intimidation;

where

successive

government

administrations fail to uphold their pledges to pass

into law the Access to Information Bill and where
journalists and media houses are subjected to

intimidation, threats and violence by successive

Heads of State and their agents.
We therefore declare our rights to pursue all lawful
means in our efforts to perform our roles as news
media houses. Such rights shall include:
Respecting and implementing guidelines and
decisions of our watchdog organisations, the
Media Council of Malawi, MCM and NAMISA
Recourse to the Courts of Law of the Republic of
Malawi
Boycott of Press Conferences of the Head of
State
Black-outs of all news of the Head of State and
Cabinet Ministers
Move the courts to seek interpretation on the
role of the Malawi Communications Regulatory
Authority
Policeman,

MACRA

which

Prosecutor,

Juror

behaves
and

as

Judge

in

regulating and policing private electronic media.

We will present a united front as a media and
regard attacks on one as an attack on us all.
We will reject divide and rule machinations by
the State and we will only negotiate through our

mother bodies, Media Council of Malawi and

NAMISA
We will ensure that we stick to professionalism
and be above board in the execution of our
duties.

Signed
List of Media Houses
Capital

Radio

Malawi

Limited

Zodiak

Broadcasting

Station

.
MIJ FM Radio Station
.
CHANCO

Radio/TV

Station

.
BETA TV
.
Nation

Publications

Limited

.
Times Group
.
NAMISA
.
Media Council of Malawi
.

On this 7th Day of November in the year 2016