Pressmen, when you started your journey to state house, what type of a conference did you expect? Media-centred or presidential image-building centred?
What you had is what made you get it all wrong.
The president articulated various things audibly to prove to the nation and the world that he was not incapacitated and the choice of words did not only show alertness but also sound judgement of what he said . He managed to deter Teleza Ndanga from coerxing him to concede the gap in information management during his stay in USA. He never conceded!
While Teleza might have been caught off guard with a mare dare to accuse the president of the mismanagement of information, the President proceeded to shoulder all the blame of information black out and serving the whole big whips of the politburo. An excellent tarkle there!
In a way, that was a Presidential way to silence her but in that he achieved the goal of making his position more clearer than ever to shame the media who wanted to take advantage of the conference without necessarily preparing for that type of politicking.
In accounting for his prolonged stay in USA, the President managed to indicate meetings that still hugely cast doubts if they really happened at all. But to nail home the meetings happened he made references to the shortfalls that are at home and absence of journalists to cover him. On this, I could see that Mutharika was jamming in signals of lies.
Almost all other meetings than that at UNGA also raised my eye brows. Meeting Malawian Ambassador in USA, and a one day stay in the hospital where he did not spend a night, still leave some gaps of days he did not explain what was happening.
That is if you may take one investor per day you would come up with alot of investors met or in the contrary would indicate some kind of plenty of time not accounted to.
This is history and the President has probably justified the strong rumour we had been served with as a country. The rumour has it that the President enjoyed ‘robust health’ with medical equipment attached to him as evidenced in the photos that were captured as the President alighted from the Qatar jet.
What the conference intended to address?
At home demands that emanated from general outlook of the President plus attachments of medical item, put the country to allow a quick assessment of their President if he was fit to work or not. That came with the demand to have him medically assessed and pave way to the Vice President inorder to allow him more time to recuperate should he have been determined sick.
Today’s conference has settled that and the pressure on the Vice President is lifted!
This is very good and encouraging development to note. The President has claimed that if he was ill, there was nothing to hide. He quickly pushed it to our mind that we all have to concentrate of development (and not his health).
If how the President looked during the Press Briefing is what will endure hereon, his health may be no longer a good subject to talk about. Kudwala sakakamizana. The calls for him to resign is are, from that foundation, lifted!
As a matter of moving on, all are hence invited to participate in the Government agenda but be fast to check malfunctionings, malpractices and report them as you desire with due respect of not turnishing the image of anyone.
In conclusion, the Pressmen are, once again reminded to be alert when meetings of this kind are set up in such a political environment and the people who boo and or clapp should be among the media fraternity unlike party cadres and hired sympathisers.
Next time make sure that the media is given ample time and the interaction between the media and President should be free of effects of party zealot to allow the media comfortably extract more information on which to report. Let the party zealots watch the interview on television or listen to it from radio(s).
