(MISA/IFEX) - On 19 May 2006, a day after Information Minister Patricia Kaliati lambasted him in the presence of his junior staff and reporters from other media houses, the acting managing editor of the Malawi News Agency (MANA), Don Napuwa, was transferred to the Information Ministry headquarters.
Kaliati told the media that Napuwa was transferred to the Department of Research and Planning, a move she described as a promotion. Ironically, Kaliati said Napuwa was "lucky" not to be dismissed as, according to her, he was not performing adequately.
When the minister visited the MANA offices, she inquired about the display of President Bingu wa Mutharika in yellow colours. In Malawi, the colour yellow is associated with the United Democratic Front, a party that sponsored Mutharika to the presidency before he left it to form his own Democratic Progressive Party.
She also accused Napuwa, who has served MANA for 26 years, of mismanaging resources and told him to improve his performance.
Napuwa raised the government's ire when he asked visiting Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe about his succession plan. He received several verbal threats of dismissal for asking a "sensitive" question.
Asked about his new post, Napuwa said: "This is a delicate issue. I am one of the people working there."
There are widespread complaints about political interference in the management of public media outlets in Malawi. Some reporters have been dropped from accompanying President Mutharika after being assigned this role by their media outlets (see IFEX alert of 31 January 2005). Reporters are instructed on the nature of questions that they should ask at presidential press briefings.
In September 2005, Moffat Kondowe of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation was transferred to a special assignments desk after working in the newsroom for 22 years. The move came after he interviewed opposition MPs during a parliamentary sitting. Kaliati ordered his immediate withdrawal from reporting on Parliament and he was sent back to the main office.
