By Christina Mkutumula

National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) has urged editors and media managers in the country to assist the authority in changing peoples mindsets on issues surrounding water resource management.

The remarks were made by the Chief Executive Officer of NRWA Dr Dwight Kambuku, at Chikho Hotel in Mponela, on Monday, when his organisation engaged editors and media managers from Central and Northern regions.

“Editors and media managers should help the citizenry to manage water resources and avoid any water-related catastrophe.

“This interaction today recognises the pivotal role that the media has in changing the mindset of the citizenry on water resource management issues,” he said.

He further stated that projections indicate that as a country, Malawi may have the worst water-related catastrophe for encroachers on the buffer zones of Lake Malawi and rivers in the next hydrological years.

“This is where editors and media managers become critical in disseminating warning messages to the populace to save life and property, by involving their reporters,” he said.

He said no individual can spur the country’s socio-economic development without sustainable water resources, hence the need to involve gatekeepers as they have an enormous task towards realization of the Malawi 2063 through publication and broadcasting water-related issues.

“For us to have sustainable water resources, editors and media managers are central by virtual of being gatekeepers of all the information from their media outlets,” he said.

He then expressed hope at the end of the meeting that the authority believes that editors and media managers will send messages to the masses on water resource management that could help to avoid catastrophe scenarios.

In his remarks, Secretary General for Editors Forum Gracian Tukula said editors and media managers are gatekeepers in the newsroom and make decisions saying it is important therefore to get the right knowledge of NWRA so that they can properly guide the reporters on how to come up with good stories.

One of the editors, Gloria Kanyangwa from Mlimi Radio thanked the authority for organizing the interface saying the knowledge that has been imparted to them will help how they can assign reporters to cover issues of water management.

The meeting was convened to share notes on how best the authority can sustainably manage and regulate water resources to avoid any water-related catastrophe among the citizenry.