The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has disclosed plans of introducing the National Addressing System with an aim of enhancing security of the nation.
MACRA Director General Daudi Suleman revealed this on Monday during the MACRA organized training for Police Public Relations Officers on cyber related issues and how to effectively and proactively communicate to the audiences under the them ‘Policing in the Digital Era’.
Suleman said under the National Addressing System, MACRA will record and keep the names of all streets and houses in the country with the help of traditional leaders which will help to easily locate exact place of a person who has committed any crime.
“The National System is a critical component in the development of any digital economy as we move into a digitized economy, there’s a need for us to be able to allocate a specific plot, building regardless of where they are in Malawi both in rural and urban areas therefore the addressing systems create the foundation for the E-commerce, they create foundation for a secure society because now for us to locate a specific house you just use the physical address” said Suleiman
In her remarks Inspector General of Police Merline Yolamu has commended the idea of introducing National Addressing System saying it will help in fighting crimes in the country.
“Let me say that we are stakeholders in the MACRA initiative, as regulators we think they’re taking a step ahead and it’s going to assist the police and PRO’s to locate and find suspects easily” said Yolamu
Yolamu has further advised the Police PRO’s to make use of the information shared at the training which she believes will help to deal with the imaging issues of cyber crimes and other related crimes.
She added that the training also will provide skills and knowledge of how to communicate with the general public as well as knowing what is actually happening locally and globally.
President of Public Relations Association of Malawi, Benson Linje advised the PROs to provide information proactively and fast as journalists work on deadline before the trending of fake information.
