By Zenak Matekenya

Dedza, August 28, Mana: National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) programmes officer for Dedza and Lilongwe Daniel Malango has urged the media to promote violence-free elections in the upcoming 2025 Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government elections.

He was speaking Tuesday in Dedza at a media workshop on the amended Electoral Laws of Malawi and NICE’s preparedness for the forthcoming elections.

Malango emphasized the critical role of the media in sensitizing youth about the new law, which imposes a penalty of K10 million and five years’ imprisonment for engaging in violent acts.

He noted that in the past, politicians have exploited youth as tools of violence, with some perpetrators going unpunished.

“As a nation, we need a peaceful election. In a democracy violence is not acceptable,” he said.

He further said eligibility of the voters is another critical issue that needs to be clarified to the communities saying the law only talks about national identity cards as valid identification.

He said for a person to be registered they need to prove that they are Malawian or have stayed in Malawi for at least seven years.

“The law talks about national identification as the only proof of eligibility for someone to be registered. However, the Malawi Electoral Commission has a waiver and will accept expired IDs and the receipt that one gets while waiting for their ID to be published.

“All this will be done to allow many eligible voters to register and take part in all the electoral processes,” he said.

A Malawi News Agency journalist Steve Chirombo said the meeting was critical in helping reporters to report in line with the amended laws.

He urged journalists to be neutral and apply a sense of responsibility in the line of duty.

“We have to follow ethics because people expect a lot from us as journalists,” he said.