By Lekereni Chinkhota

Salima, June 21, Mana: Journalists in the country have been urged to embrace and utilise their role as an ally in the promotion and protection of rights of persons with disabilities for effective, genuine and holistic reporting.

George Chiusiwa, Director General of Malawi Council for Disability Affairs (MACODA) made the remarks on Friday in Salima during a three-day workshop that MACODA in collaboration with World Vision held to train media practitioners on reporting issues concerning persons with disabilities.

"This is an orientation exercise to ensure that media practitioners are conversant with the new disability legislation in the country, the persons with disabilities Act, 2024. To successfully enforce this Act, we need to engage different stakeholders," he said.

He observed that journalists are agents of change therefore engaging them will help in safeguarding the rights of persons with disabilities, additionally, journalists will assist in popularizing and raising awareness on the Act.

Chiusiwa said the media engagement will help persons with disabilities who are the principal rights holders to be aware of the new disability legislation and MACODA.

"We want persons with disabilities to know about MACODA in terms of its powers, functions and responsibilities in as far as the enforcement of the law is concerned. This will also help the media to unearth various issues affecting persons with disabilities in terms of enjoyment of their fundamental freedoms and rights," he said.

He urged the media practitioners to be active in investigating, researching, monitoring and reporting cases affecting persons with disabilities to achieve an inclusive environment free from misrepresentation of issues.

Director of Advocacy and Communications at World Vision Malawi, Charles Gwengwe hailed the workshop saying it will help members of the media to deliver proper information that can shape the public on how it views persons with disabilities.

"The media is regarded as the nervous system that will send proper messages to people in the country. We need our media institutions to provide the public with proper information that can change perspectives of people on how we view persons with disabilities," he said.

Chiusiwa called upon duty bearers in various sectors implementing disability related interventions to extend their supporting arms to the enforcement of the newly enacted Persons with Disabilities Act of 2024 to protect rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities.

The workshop being held in Salima has drawn media practitioners from both community and national media outlets from across the country.