Victor Kaonga

I am a Malawian broadcast journalist, working with an international Christian radio network (TWR). I am a media executive, journalism trainer, online activist, passionate about many social and gender justice issues. Married to Thembi, we are blessed with three daughters and a son. I blog on http://ndagha.blogspot.com.

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Latest posts by Victor Kaonga

Nationwide Strike Delivers Blow to Malawi's President

Malawi's President Joyce Banda is beating back calls for her to resign after hundreds of thousands of civil servants demanding a wage increase went on a two-week long strike, shuttering the country's international airport and paralyzing hospitals and schools

25 February 2013

Malawi: Online Journalist Arrested for Allegedly Insulting the President

Malawian online journalist Justice Mponda was arrested Monday morning 15 October 2012 in Blantyre allegedly for insulting the president, publishing false information and criminal libel. Mponda works with malawivoice.com. His arrest came in the wake of a new E-Bill, which seeks to regulate and control online communications in Malawi.

17 October 2012

Malawi: New Government, Costly Livelihood

The rising cost of living in Malawi has forced some Malawians to come up with innovative ways of making ends meet. Dalitso Chimwaza and several other friends earn a living from collections they make on a wooden brige they constructed across Lilongwe River in the capital city.

19 June 2012

Malawi: Online Reaction to Mutharika's Death

Victor Kaonga looks at online reaction following the news of Bingu wa Mutharika's death. Mutharika was Malawi's third president. He died following a cardiac arrest on Thursday morning. This is the first time Malawi will bury a sitting president. *Update: Malawi sworn in Vice President Joyce Banda as its president at the Parliament in Lilongwe on Saturday 7 April, 2012.

7 April 2012

Malawi: Meet Malawi's Most Followed Lawyer on Facebook

Facebook has become one of the main platforms for updates and socio-political discussions in Malawi. For example, Malawian lawyer Wapona Kita broke the news of the arrest of Malawi's prominent lawyer and activist Ralph Kasambara in February on his Facebook page. The mainstream media had to follow his Facebook updates to keep their readers, listeners and viewers informed.

27 March 2012

2011: The Worst Year in Malawi’s History?

When the year 2011 began, everyone hoped for better amidst fuel, foreign exchange and political challenges. Most Malawians did not expect that the fuel lines will be even longer at the end of the year. This reflected the growing economic challenges in the country affecting Malawians across the country.

2 January 2012

Malawi: Citizens “Fuel” Facebook for Gas Updates

Malawians have been queuing up for hours for fuel since last year. The severe shortage of fuel has affected thousands of motorists, passengers and businesses. As one way of updating one another on latest fuel supplies at gas stations, Malawians are using a Facebook group called Malawi Fuel Watch.

14 June 2011

Malawi: Political Science Lecturer Talks About Blogging Academic Freedom

When Malawi's Inspector General of Police Peter Mukhito summoned political science senior lecturer Dr Blessings Chinsinga over an example he gave in the lecture room, he had no idea that the incident will appear on Boniface Dulani's blog. Victor Kaonga wanted to hear from Dulani about his blogging experiences especially following the Chinsinga episode which has turned into a movement fighting for academic freedom.

22 April 2011

Malawi: The Power of a Blog Post

The two-month old stand-off between the university lecturers in Malawi and their employer has led to the closure of the University of Malawi's main colleges. But no one would have known that things were so bad if one blogger, Boniface Dulani, had not written a post titled "Mutharika's dictatorship hits a new low: Unima's Blessings Chinsinga summoned by Inspector General of Police" on February 12, 2011.

14 April 2011

MalawiSoc: Tracking Malawian blogs and news

Clement Nthambazale Nyirenda is a final year PhD student in the Hirota/Sakurai Lab in the Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science at Tokyo Institute of Technology and a lecturer, researcher and consultant in Electronics and Computer Engineering at the Malawi Polytechnic.He is the founder of MalawiSoc, a social bookmarking site devoted to news and blogs about Malawi.

10 November 2010

Global: If there is no water, there is no life

The Twentieth gathering for the World Water Week (WWW) took place in Sweden's Capital Stockholm from the 5th to the 11th of September 2010 with the theme The Water Quality Challenge-Prevention, Wise Use and Abatement. According to the organisers, “urbanisation, agriculture, industry and climate change exert mounting pressure on both the quantity and quality of our water resources.”

13 September 2010

Malawi: Bloggers discuss freedom of speech and 2014 election

Malawian bloggers are currently discussing the nomination of Malawian president's brother as the ruling party presidential candidate for 2014 elections and recent arrest of a Presbyterian senior pastor Rev Levi Njombole Nyondo. He is alleged to have uttered seditious words at a funeral service.

26 August 2010

Malawi: Barefoot Solar Engineers Win Best African Electrification Award

Japan-based Malawian blogger Clement Nthambazale writes about a Solar Engineers Project, run by barefoot engineers, which has won Africa’s biggest Rural Electrification Award. The solar project, which has electrified Chimonjo village in the central Malawi district of Salima has brought a new dimension to the rural villagers' lives.

18 May 2010

Sub-Saharan Africa: Catching Up with Online Transparency Projects

The rise of multiparty democracy in Africa has led citizens and civil society to demand more transparency and accountability from their governments. New technologies can buoy their efforts, but such initiatives face major obstacles including infrastructure, lack of political will, and a shortage of techinical skills and personnel.

1 May 2010