LILONGWE (MaraviPost)–Members from the family of the country’s first leader Kamuzu Banda have threatened Times Media Group Managing Director, Leonard Chikadya, with dismissal if he entertains negative stories about Malawi Congress Party leader, Lazarus Chakwera, to appear in any of the group’s subsidiary brands.
Times Group, which is owned by the family, runs three newspapers namely; Daily Times, Malawi News and The Sunday Times. It also has Times TV and Times Radio under its roof.
Inside information indicates that the family have pressed the board of directors to put a tight check on the content of the five brands so as to stop anyone from advancing ‘alien’ agenda.
“The family has been informed that some journalists at Times Group are being used as mercenaries for monetary gains to degrade the brand of Chakwera and MCP through the newspapers. This has angered the family who in turn have asked Chikadya to do something or face the chop himself,” he said.
The journalists in question include Deogratias Mmana, Gregory Gondwe and Charles Mpaka and some unnamed editors.
There are strong indications that Chikadya will see to it that these journalists writing ill about Chakwera should face the chop when the company retrenches staff sometime in March next year. Times Group is the most job insecure media house as it retrenches some good number of its employees almost every year.
Stories that have opened a can of worms include one which was carried in Daily Times saying National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) agents have accused Chakwera of fuelling chaos in the country through demonstrations, another in Malawi News about K300 million vehicles at Parliament and the one this week accusing the National Assembly of spending K213 million illegally.
It is not yet known if wind of the issue has already reached the newsrooms of these media brands.