Two civil society organisations (CSOs) have written to President Lazarus Chakwera, urging him to stop the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) from procuring a $1.5 million (approximately K2.6 billion) surveillance system.
The organisations, Youth and Society (Yas) and Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), say in a letter to Chakwera that they had previously written to the Macra Board and Parliament seeking their intervention, but had not been heard.
On January 14 this year, Macra issued a notice of intention to award a contract to supply, deliver, install, commission and test an integrated system designed to track misinformation and disinformation trends in Malawi.
While recognising the threats posed by misinformation and disinformation to public health, elections, peace and stability, the CSOs argue that the procurement raises serious human rights and economic concerns.
“The procurement of surveillance-enabling technologies to address these issues raises serious concerns about economic insensitivity, the potential for breaches of privacy, and the erosion of freedoms guaranteed under national and international law,” the letter reads.
In an interview, Yas Executive Director Charles Kajoloweka said that Malawi is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which guarantee the protection of freedom of expression and access to information.
Kajoloweka said that, among other things, these agreements stipulate that member states must refrain from engaging in acts of indiscriminate and untargeted collection, storage, analysis or sharing of personal communication.
“Macra’s procurement of a system that enables mass communication surveillance raises legitimate fears about the potential for misuse.
“It is imperative to ensure that any measures to address misinformation and disinformation do not come at the cost of the public’s right to privacy, freedom of expression and access to information,” he said.
The two organisations have suggested the proactive dissemination of accurate information and the promotion of fact-checking initiatives and digital literacy programmes to counter misinformation and disinformation.
“Given the concerns, we respectfully request Your Excellency to engage with Macra and suspend the award and procurement of the Integrated System to Track Misinformation and Disinformation Trends forthwith,” the letter continues.
State House Press Secretary Anthony Kasunda referred the issue to the Office of the President and Cabinet, whose spokesperson had not responded to our questions by the time of publication.
However, speaking recently in Lilongwe, Macra Director General Daud Suleman justified the procurement, saying that it would help combat fake news and misinformation.
Suleman explained that the system is not intended for digital surveillance of private conversations or social media regulation, as some have suggested, but will instead help to raise confidence in the digital space.
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