By Sheminah Nkhoma
Lilongwe, September 19, Mana: in a significant way to raise awareness for the coming General Elections, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has organised a fundraising Fun Run on September 23 in Lilongwe.
In an interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA), Chairperson for MISA Malawi Golden Matonga said the aim of having the Fun Run is to promote peaceful coexistence between people of different political backgrounds.
“The public should know that as much as we can have different political opinions we are all Malawians and elections should not divide us,” said Matonga.
He added that, as MISA Malawi they hope that the election will be conducted in a free and fair.
“This Fun Run will mark the launch of the Chapter’s activities on elections that is why we have opened it to all politicians, journalists, communications and public relations practitioners, electoral stakeholders and ordinary citizens/voters so that we can come together and work for better elections,” he said.
Matonga further added that, MISA Malawi is currently constructing a training centre and through the Fun Run they want to raise funds to go towards the completion of the centre.
“We aim to raise K30 million so that it can help us to complete the training centre at Mtolankhani House in Lilongwe,” he stated.
Minister of Lands Deus Gumba who is scheduled to be part of the event said, the Fun Run is important as it will help to disseminate information about the general election to the politicians and all citizens of the country.
“As we know media is the fourth arm of government and it plays a vital role in giving information, so coming in of this event it will help us as politicians from different parties to come together to ensure that the elections should be free and fair,” said Gumba.
The fun run will be held under the theme “Support media freedom: Claim your right to free speech and make the 2025 Elections free, fair and citizen-centred.