Malawi: Study Says 86 Percent of Malawi Population Does Not Have Access to Internet

Authorities say 86 per cent of the country’s population has no access to internet, a situation which has worried civil rights groups.

A National Statistics Office study has established that 86 percent of the country’s population has no access to internet.

Youth and Society Executive Director, Charles Kajoloweka has since described the situation as a violent exclusion; attributing it to monopoly in telecommunications industry among others.

Kajoloweka was speaking in Lilongwe where Parliamentary Committee on Media and Communication and other stakeholders including Oxfam and Civil Society Organizations were bringing to light barriers to accessing information and freedom of expression.

Kajoloweka said the assessment recommends removal of prohibitive taxes on some internet services, ratifying the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Protection and providing enough financial support to the Malawi Human Rights Commission to facilitate the actualisation of the Access to Information Act.

He argued that the current K8 million allocation cannot begin to address fervent matters.

The study findings further call for review and repeal of some legal frameworks frustrating actualization of the access to information.