Lack of financial management skills crippling community radio stations

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has blamed the lack of capacity in most community broadcasters in the areas of basic financial management and governance as factors hindering their service delivery.

Speaking during the launch of a training on financial management and corporate governance in Lilongwe on Monday for central region community broadcasters, MACRA Board Member Stella Chuthi said the training will assist community broadcasters to manage their finances efficiently.

“As broadcasters, you cannot effectively achieve this goal if your finances are not well managed. Neither can your station be effective if you do not apply good governance principles,” she said.

She said as a regulator that wants to see the ICT sector perform and grow, they felt it is proper to provide support where necessary especially in financial management and governance.

Chuthi said as part of technical audit, they request broadcasters to submit financial statements to assess their performance. Unfortunately, most do not produce them due to lack of skills in that area.

She said similarly with governance, some community broadcasters are operating without Boards and this is a challenge in terms of decision making and accountability.