Presidential Press Secretary leaks 'wrong' information, acts 'propaganda agent'
By State House Correspondent 07/07/2014
In their passion to play holier-than-thou and to appear like they are doing their masters a favour, some political elements have gone overboard to make good on their political master plan of portraying the previous government as corrupt and wasteful.
A case in point is that of the newly appointed Presidential Press Secretary and former editor of Malawi News, Frederick Ndala. He has been exposed as being the man behind the latest article where the oldest weekly in Malawi, Malawi News, reported that State House had incurred a scary bill of over MK500 million in the last two months of Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda's reign, and that most part of it was through hotel accommodation and food.
The paper quoted a source as saying the last two months of the previous administration was characterized by wastefulness and spending on non-essential areas at State House. Our investigation has, however, revealed that the 'source' being quoted by Malawi News is actually Ndala himself.
In fact a credible source at the Ministry of Finance has expressed utter surprise at what he calls "the alarming levels of deceit and misinformation" by the Malawi News and the anonymous 'source' the article is quoting.
"For any good or bad intentions, I wish to inform you that this bill or debt (MK500 million) spans a longer than it was depicted in the Malawi News," said the Treasury official, who boasts decades of experience at the ministry.
He said as it was the case all the time, at the end of every financial year, the Ministry of Finance requests government department and ministries to compile outstanding debts for 'settlement' consideration during formulation of the upcoming national budget.
Most of the departments and ministries, according to the source, have debts carried over from as far as 10 years ago and that State House is not an exception.
Said the budget expert from Ministry of Finance: "When State Residences was asked to furnish Treasury with this information, they did and most of the debts date as far back as 2011 when the late President Bingu wa Mutharika was at State House.
"So, the MK500 million being talked about includes some unsettled debts incurred in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Nothing is strange here because most government departments do not operate and function on cash basis."
According to the source, the figure (MK500 million) has already been revised to about MK406 million because the outgoing management at State House had utilized the June 2014 budget allocation from Treasury to settle some of the said debts.
He challenged that any newspaper or media house worthy their salt can verify this information with Treasury and they will discover that the Malawi News article was created just to "throw mud at the former administration"
It seems Mr. Ndala must have mis-computed his terms of reference, and probably found the silent office interludes at State House as disconcerting and uncomfortable. In his overzealousness 'to be seen to be working' and breathe some life to a new job, he has resorted to the old ways of spinning misinformation and deceit about real or imagined adversaries. In this case, the previous People's Party administration of Joyce Banda is the one in the dock.
Since assuming the mantle of presidential office, Prof. Peter Mutharika has preached the word of reconciliation, political inclusiveness and social economic development. But that message has often appeared clanging; disjointed and not in harmony with the actions of some of his newly-hired lieutenants. A good example is Frederick Ndala, a journalist from the old school, who is famous for his laissez-faire approach to serious issues.
A State House source who was reluctant to pass judgment on his colleague at this early stage, said he was already worried at the new Presidential Secretary's work ethic considering the nature of his job.
"We might not be privy to the criterion that was used to hire Ndala, but it widely believed he was hired on the strength of his wife. It is alleged his wife, who works for the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), was instrumental in smuggling classified information to the then opposition DPP to be used in their plot against the former administration of Dr. Joyce Banda," he said.
He said if President Peter Mutharika is really serious about doing things differently to what Malawians are accustomed to, then people like the new Press Secretary is not the type of people to help him actualize that vision.
Said the State House source: "Barely a week on the job, Ndala is quickly proving to be an old dog that cannot be taught new tricks. He seems to rely on the old ways of throwing mud at innocent people who are perceived adversaries. His must be a PR Chief Officer for the President and not a useless propaganda agent".
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