The restructuring seen yesterday at the State House which has seen one Elias Wakuda Kamanga emerging as the only official spokesperson of the President and the state house does not mean that her other three press officers have fallen out of favour with her as others would speculate, FaceofMalawi can reveal.
In light of the five-months away elections, President Banda is leaving no stone unturned to drum up support for herself and her party so that they continue sitting on the helm after May 20. While she may have left Uladi Mussa to do the castigating and let Mutharika be battling in courts, President Banda has as well taken a deep interest on the media and will do everything to have her messages spread across, including employing propaganda.
In her silencing of her three other press officers, FaceofMalawi has uncovered that the President has sent the other three to work and mess up in various fields of the media that they are conversant with.
Their roles are below:
Steve Nhlane
The ex-editor of the Blantyre Newspapers Limited who was serving as the head Press Officer of the state house and the President has now been unleashed on the print media. Nhlane’s role is to see to it that President Banda gets a fair coverage in the country’s print media. To this effect, some journalists will be on the government payroll to write ‘sweet’ stories for the government. They will all be under Nhlane.
Tusekelo Mwanyongo
Once a Nyasatimes writer, a controversial figure, Mwanyongo has been given the role of looking into the social media with Facebook and online papers being the priority. Mwanyongo will be a coordinator of the social media team that praises Banda and discredits her competitors. At the same time, he has to make sure that some of the online newspapers are bought to be on the side of President Banda.
Brian Banda
The frequent Director of Ceremonies at President Banda’s functions will not only be there to congratulate ministers for attending President Banda’s elevating of chiefs or distribution of cows, the electronic media has been placed under him as well. Banda, once a darling of many with his Capital Straight Talk, is to oversee to it that the electronic media gives a better coverage of the state President. Using the connections he has in the media, he will also have to purchase some journalists to be on President Banda’s side. His headache must be Joy FM and Galaxy FM eventually owned by the Muluzi and Mutharika families respectively.
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