Governments asked to repeal insult laws

The Malawi Government has been asked to heed the call to repeal insult and defamation laws that limit media freedom and freedom of expression.

Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) executive director Gift Trapence, said this on Saturday at the Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 54th Session of the African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights in Banjul, Gambia.

Cedep joined Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Malawi Chapter in calling upon President Joyce Banda to sign the Table Mountain Declaration to show commitment that her government was willing to review archaic laws.

Said Trapence: “Malawi remains one of the countries that has colonial laws that are not in line with democratic dispensation. We have witnessed people being arrested using these laws and it is our appeal that the African Commission will exert pressure on governments to review these laws.”

He said it was not enough for government to say it had no intention to apply the laws because by declining to repeal them, the motive maybe disastrous.

“It is our hope that African presidents including our President Joyce Banda will appreciate the need to sign up the Table Mountain Declaration so that we are sure of their commitment to democracy. Limiting freedom of expression and media freedom is recipe for danger in democracy,” he said.

Trapence also said government should follow the footsteps of 11 other countries that have enacted Access to Information laws.

In May this year, President Banda declined to sign the declaration, saying she needed time to consult when Misa Malawi appealed to her to sign as a commitment of her government to review the defamation and insult laws.

During a session on the Current State of Policy and Practice on Media Freedom and Protection of Journalists in Africa regional director Henry Maina urged African States to repeal insult laws.