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Malawians debate over a pirate radio operator

The arrest and sentencing of 21-year-old Gabriel Kondesi, who had been operating an illegal radio station made from locally sourced old radio parts for the last three years, opened up debate on whether the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) was justified.

By Gregory Gondwe

27 Oct 2009

A magistrate court sentenced Kondesi to 10 months imprisonment with hard labour or pay fine of K50, 000. He spent a night in prison while a large section of Malawians felt he was not supposed to be jailed at all.

“I am not trying to belittle our judicial system, but I think he should have been given a suspended sentence,” said Gospel Kadzako proprietor of Malawi's biggest private radio station Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) who gave the family K20, 000 as his contributions towards the fine to show his support.

Villagers also contributed over K14, 000 towards his fine and the father had to sell some property to raise enough to buy freedom for his son.

Kondesi used to call his pirate radio ‘Kuchikweza Radio' - a local word meaning ‘topmost' and broadcast between 7am and 12am week days while closing on weekends.

Gregory Gondwe

About Gregory Gondwe

Gregory Gondwe is a Malawian journalist who started writing in 1993. He is also a media consultant assisting several international journalists pursuing assignments in Malawi. He holds a Diploma and an Intermediate Certificate in Journalism among other media-related certificates. He can be contacted on moc.liamg@ewdnogyrogerg. Follow him on Twitter at @Kalipochi.