It is saddening to hear that The Chronicle, one of the most reliable independent newspapers in Malawi, since 1993, has closed down business for a reason that the owners Rob and Pushpa Jamieson are accusing The Guardian of having poached its entire brilliant and reliable staff.
In a letter last week headlined ‘Staff poaching from The Chronicle’, Jamieson said that his paper believe that The Guardian had a definite political agenda to silence the independent private media that do not toe a particular political line.
The Guardian Newspaper whose offices are in the personal house of state President Bingu wa Mutharika in Area 47, Lilongwe is being run by Duwa his daughter.
The first to leave The Chronicle were Mundango Nyirenda, now Chief reporter, and Chikondi Chiyembekeza, Senior Business reporter and Levison Mwase, Senior Political reporter.
In the month of November 2006 alone, two other staff members Arnold Nnelemba and Boniface Kadanzi have joined The Guardian from The Chronicle. The departure of Boniface, an accountant, was the last straw for the paper to endure since he was the nerve center of the newspaper.
"Despite the meager salaries that The Chronicle has been offering over the years, I will continue to have fond the memories of the place. The Chronicle has had a reputation as a reliable investigative paper that called a spade a spade. Honestly speaking, I learnt a lot and offered a lot during the time I was at the newspaper.
“The truth is that I personally would not like the paper to die but the owners should do a serious overhaul of the structural and salary structure of the paper. The owner have no-one but themselves to blame for the disgraceful bowing out,” explained Mwase.
In her response to Jamieson accusations through a press release, The Guardian Managing Director Duwa Mutharika said she maintained what presidential press officer Chikumbutso Mtumodzi told the media that the real reason why Jamieson felt it necessary to attack her and other members of her family was because President Bingu wa Mutharika refused to buy the newspaper at $1.4 million as per Jamieson’s offer.
Duwa also accused Jamieson of rude behavior towards First Lady Ethel Mutharika after the three met in Scotland. “I would also like to remind you of the first time you met my mother and I. As I sat with my mother at a function in Scotland you approached us, introducing yourself and asked if we were enjoying our visit.
“We politely responded that we were. At that point you shocked us by stating and I quote ‘Good, then if you are impeached you will have some place to come and live.’ As you sauntered away, my mother…and I sat in shock, confused by your rude behaviour and lack of manners,” she said.
Chairperson of National Media Institute of Southern Africa Martins Naminga who has also worked with the fold newspaper said what the two newspapers have done is uncalled for, only aimed at trying to create a media war which is unfortunate to the media landscape in the country.
Currently, NAMISA stands that a roundtable discussion cannot take place with the two institutions since both letters copied to the secretariat indicates that the proprietors of the two newspapers have personal matters.
Blantyre Newspapers Limited, Lilongwe Bureau Chief Maxwell Ngambi said the owner of The Chronicle newspaper should take a leaf from Capital Radio which lost almost the entire newsroom to the newly Zodiak Broadcasting Station including the Director of News, but it survived.
“When Capital Radio learnt of the situation, I am told and stand to be corrected that management improved salaries to match Zodiak. Is this bad or good for journalism? The obvious answer is that it is good for journalism,” he observed.
About the Author: Owen Nyaka worked with the fold paper as a journalist on Politics, Features and Environment Desks.
