Friday, 10 September 2010 20:44

BLANTYRE—Hello everyone, you are listening to victims of terror at MBC. Now the news bulletin by Maravipost.com: Employees at the state-run station have sent a distress signal—SOS—to bring to an end their nightmare which some have described as the "worst" ever.

The employees are pointing the finger at their boss, Bright Malopa, as the one responsible for turning the place into hell which has seen at least 15 members of staff members sent on forced leave. Malopa was appointed director general following the merger this year of MBC radios and Television Malawi (TVM).

The charges against the director general are in a document “Bingu should save us from Malopa” which Maravipost.com has obtained.

 “Mr. Patrick Khoza has never received a letter relieving him as DG for MBC. But Malopa immediately brought Chimwemwe Banda to his office and she has been making very queer decisions,” reads part of the document.

Malopa is also accused of telling staffers that “degrees or no degrees” mean nothing as he is the one who calls the shots and that both the president and his younger brother, Education Minister Peter Mutharika, depend on him thus nothing could happen to him.

“Before his appointment was made, he had already claimed K900,000 as house allowances in advance and claimed he is a direct relation to President Bingu wa Mutharika and he cannot be intimidated,” the employees said in the document.

It’s not a secret that Malopa supports the ruling party and has said Peter Mutharika will win the presidential contest after the senior Mutharika leaves office in 2014. Observers didn’t see the appointment to his current position as one based on merit. Prior to coming to MBC, he was head of TVM and started working at the struggling station without any experience in the media industry.

The employees said at least one senior employee, Director of News Maxwell Kasinja, was given the boot without a board hearing.

 “His stooge Mzati Nkolokosa who has never done radio is the one controlling MBC newsroom.”

Members of staff said they are being sent on leave and others put in positions that do not match their particular skill set.

In Lilongwe, senior staffer Chiyembekezo Kapatamoyo has been given a 14-month holiday and the same fate has befallen camera man Felix Washoni.

Marcus Muhariwa, with no experience in radio, has been sent to head Mema studios newsroom with Monica Mmanga.

There’s “chaos”, staffers say in the document with one affected employee telling Maravipost.com that the prevailing situation is worse than the one that existed when the Malawi Congress Party (1964-1994) and the United Democratic Front (1994-2004) were in power.

“In countries where these operate under one roof, they still operate as a separate entity, TV and radio. It is only management that works together,” staffers point out and then wonder, “Perhaps he did not understand the concept of the merger.”

The employees feel the merger was mishandled. “Management for MBC and TVM should have been brought together to draft staffing structures and apart from that TVM is the one that is being liquidated not MBC” but it appears that “TVM is swallowing MBC.”

The experience of most staffers from TVM doesn’t match that of MBC. Television is new in Malawi and it came a few years after the introduction of multi-party democracy in 1994.

MBC staffers feel Malopa is threatened by those who know more than him and prefers to surround himself with people who can’t question his authority.

“The worst part, Malopa, Chimwemwe Banda and Mzati Nkolokosa all of them have given themselves a new position of executive producer which will make them accompany President Mutharika everywhere,” employees say in the document and warn of impending disaster if nothing is done to remedy the station.

The staffers say Malopa can claim all he wants about his connections to powerful individuals like the president but “the truth Bingu should know [is that] Malopa’s decisions are affecting bonafide Malawians” who are exerting themselves to get the job done and feed their families.

Malopa couldn’t be reached as he was reportedly out of the country. He had gone to Namibia where the president attended a SADC heads of state meeting.--maravipost

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