By Wilfred Golden
Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA),says it is optimism that a 3 day capacity building workshop which the authority organized on Tuesday will help stakeholders in knowledge sharing on the legislative reform on cybercrime and electronic evidence in Malawi.
Kelious Mlenga Deputy Director of Legal responsible for consumers at MACRA said this during the opening session of the workshop in Lilongwe where he stressed on the need of having the workshop saying policy makers, law enforcement authorities as well as regulators and licensees will be empowered in the harmonization of Malawi’s laws to match with the international standards.
“As MACRA indeed we are part of this and we are the host because we are the one’s who have convened these people together, the importance of this workshop is that it is going to empower participants who form a wide range of speculum, we have got policy makers, law enforcement authorities as well as regulators and licensees which MACRA regulate.
“The importance is that the moment they have been equipped with knowledge and skills on the Budapest Convention they are going to understand their laws well, taking into account that MACRA initiated the review of electronic transactions and cyber security act which is the fountain of Cybercrimes act in Malawi, we are intending to break it into the pieces and one of it being a stand alone electronic evidence and cybercrimes act as we are developing it we are intending to fuse in the principles that are intended in the Budapest Convention,” Mlenga highlighted.
He also emphasized on the need for Malawi to be a member of Budapest Convention as once that has been done, it can help to curb cybercrime in the country as it sees no boundaries and it needs mutual legal assistance which always work when a country is part and parcel of Budapest Convention.
In his remarks, the European Union Ambassador to Malawi Rune Skinnebach, said that in this digital age, open, global free peaceful and secure cyberspace is the foundation for the prosperity, growth, and security of the society.
“Digitalization offers many empowering opportunities and development venues to achieve a better future, but it also comes hand-in-hand with serious potential vulnerabilities. Cybercrime is certainly all about networks and we cannot address the security challenges it brings in a vacuum.
“A fundamental aspect of “cyber” is it’s crossboader nature as an enabling underlying digital environment. By now we have realized that we cannot consider it merely technical, isolated topic. We have come to recognize it as a horizontal policy issue that requires a solid understanding of the policy options and implications across different sectors,” he said.
He also conquered with MACRA stand, saying there is a need for effective cooperation and working together in all levels in order to achieve global cyber stability.
Budapest Convention on cybercrime is the first international treaty on crimes committed via the internet and other computer networks dealing particularly with infringements of copyright, computer related fraud, child pornography and violations of network security.
