MALAWI JOUNALISTS SPEAK OUT ON MUTHALIKAS CASH HANDOUT Media practitioners that had dinner with President Peter Mutharika at Sanjika Palace last Tuesday have been commenting on revelations that the Head of State gave the cash handouts of K50,000, saying they were rather ‘ambushed’ to receive the money. Times TV editor and columnist Graciun Tukula first went public about the money that was given to the media practitioners which triggered scatching attack from Malawi law professor Danwood Chirwa, calling it “bribery.” Media trainer Dr Levi Zeleza Manda told Nyasa Times that Chirwa, a professor of law at the prestigious University of Cape Town in South Africa, “is right” to accuse the President. Manda said the journalists were “ in a fix”because they were deceived to receive envelops purportedly containing documents of President’s media freedom literature yet to discover cash was in it. “Would it have been appropriate to give back the money there and then? If they were honest with themselves that money should have been declared to their newsrooms or donated to charity. That’s what happens elsewhere. I find the justification by some recipients that actually that money was their tax to be tantamount to justifying the looting called cashgate by fellow tax payers,” On Misa-Malawi internet discussion forum for media practitioners, the matters has dominated debate and also on social media platform , Facebook. It emerged through the discussions that Nation Publication Limited editor George Kasakula did not take home the blue envelop after realising it contained cash. “For the record, George Kasakula returned the money to Frederick Ndala [presidential press secretary] the same night. At least clap hands for him!” wrote BBC correspondent and Muckracking columnist Raphael Tenthani. Tenthani disclosed that he and other journalists have committed to channel the money for charity towards the health bill of former Malawi News editor Limbani Moya, currently in India to undergo a kidney transplant. He defended journalists for collecting the money. “Look, the whole thing was shambolically organised. When we got the invite some of us asked what’s on the agenda. We were told it’s an ‘interface’ with the President, he airs out his frustrations/concerns, we air ours. But come the day the President indeed asked for comments from his guests after his speech but MC Timpunza Mwansambo decided to curtail the whole thing. I’m not sure whether this was planned or Timpunza was just being overzelous. “Then Kondwani Nankhumwa [Minister of Information] lied to us that everyone should get a folder which contained the President vision on press freedom in Malawi. Everyone was surprised to see that the President’s ‘vision’ only included an embosed folder with a blank writing pad, an engraved pen and a white envelope! Some just sent the folders totheir drivers without checking what’s in there. So they discovered the ‘trick’ at home. “
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 01:43:17 +0000
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