BINGO!!! GOTCHA!!! EXCLUSIVE: 3 VETERAN JOURNALISTS BEHIND FAKE JOYCE BANDA POLL, JOYCE BANDA SPENDS MK67 MILLION Innocett Mawaya* Three of Malawi’s supposedly veteran journalists were the key people behind the publication of the fake poll results that catapulted Mrs Joyce Banda to be victor in next week’s Presidential poll, we can confidently reveal. They are; Mavuto Banda, Levi Zeleza Manda and Steve Nhlane. We can confirm that the fake poll that took the country by storm last month, with major media houses including The Nation and Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) covering it extensively, was written and cooked up in the office of Levi Zeleza Manda at the Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi. Mavuto Banda is a former employee of the Nations Publications Limited and now operates as a consultant whose clients include outgoing President Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda and the People’s Party (PP). Levi Zeleza Manda is a journalism lecturer at the Polytechnic and also claims to be media trainer and consultant. Steve Nhlane is a former senior editor at the Blantyre Newspapers and now works for outgoing President Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda as her Press Secretary. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS Our investigations have established that when the poll was cooked up by the three in Levi Zeleza Manda’s office at the Polytechnic, the document was taken to Lilongwe for approval by Mrs Joyce Banda. During the Polytechnic meeting, the team agreed to hire services of one Thomas Odala to occupy the position of head of the non-existent company, Research Tech Consultants the supposedly owners of the opinion poll. Odala was told to play according to script and lie to Malawians that the company was also conducting other election evaluations in South Africa, Mozambique and India. However, the company does not exist anywhere on this earth. As the trio were waiting for the presidential approval to have the fake poll published, Mavuto Banda was busy going around various newsrooms distributing money to ensure the fake poll received maximum publicity. ZBS and The Nation fell into Joyce Banda’s trap when they covered the fake poll extensively. Obviously, MBC was their food for the day. When outgoing President Joyce Banda gave the clearance to release the poll, Steve Nhlane sent the copy of the poll with an armed State House guard to the The Nation’s Lilongwe Bureau. There he was instructed to meet one Christopher Jimu, a young journalist who decided to smear his name in the mud, owning something that he didn’t know its origins and authenticity. The State House guard, waited until after Christopher Jimu was done with the story and went back to State House assuring Nhlane all was done according to instructions. The following day, the fake opinion poll was on The Nation’s front page as its main story. Meanwhile, ZBS were also highlighting the poll, lying to Malawians saying Joyce Banda was going to carry the day quoting the fake opinion poll. MILLIONS SPENT ON RUNNING PROPAGANDA We have established that through Mavuto Banda as her consultant on propaganda, outgoing President Banda has spent about MK67 million including the publication of the fake opinion poll. Other assignments that Mavuto Banda has carried out on behalf of the President include stopping journalists especially from the Nations Publications to write anything on Cashgate and portray the problem as having originated from far. Mavuto Banda’s work also includes palm oiling journalists especially from The Nation to smear on leading opposition leaders including Prof. Peter Mutharika, Dr Lazarous Chakwera and Atupele Austin Muluzi. Mavuto Banda has been rated to be one of the country’s most corrupt journalists. Levi Zeleza Manda, the shameful Polytechnic journalism lecture was recently chased from teaching at the Blantyre International University after students complained to management, the lecturer spent more time cracking silly jokes in class than teaching. Meanwhile, we have since established that Editor’s at Malawi’s oldest media house, The Times Group (Blantyre Newspapers Limited) are not part of the corruption deals that Mavuto Banda has been facilitating hence their standing firm against the story on the fake opinion poll. We can also confirm that the Chairperson of the National Media Institute for Southern Africa (NAMISA) a group that defends and promotes professionalism in the countrys media industry, Mr Anthony Kasunda is fully aware about the events we have listed here but because he works for the Nation Publications he has remained silent while freedom of press is being infringed upon *Views in this article are not of Malawi24 but of the author who writes in his own capacity.
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 16:16:33 +0000
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