State House must verify things before going public: Don’t embarrass President Chakwera

In Nyasa Times editorial last week, we saluted Sate House Director of Communication Sean Kampondeni and press secretary Brian Banda for the Weekly Briefing initiative.

We hailed the initiative because we see it as an important avenue for the public to be reliably informed with regards to what the presidency is up to.

However, we are shocked with the recent Monday briefing which, to be honest, was defined by series of misleading information that left the public disturbed and misinformed.

We heard, from Pastor Kampondeni, that President Lazarus Chakwera would be meeting two senior executive members of the United Democratic Front, Mr Kandi Padambo and Mr Lance Mbewe.

Later, we saw a correction that the engagement is not with the UDF Secretary General alone, but an ongoing engagement with the Secretaries-General of various parties that together represent the Centre for Multiparty Democracy—as such, it should also be noted that Mr. Mbewe is not part of that engagement.

Not only that.

We also heard from Pastor Kampondeni that President Chakwera met in camera with Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa at Parliament building and also discussed national matters on Thursday.

The meeting, said Kampondeni, followed the debate in parliament when the President answered questions from lawmakers.

However, opposition leader of Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa told the media that he did not hold a meeting with Chakwera as indicated by Kampondeni.

Nankhumwa said he only bid the President goodbye alongside the rest of Parliament leadership following Thursday’s appearance in Parliament by the President to answer questions from members of the house.

It wouldn’t be too much to ask: What the hell is going on at State House?

We want to believe that the State House is a high office and you don’t expect its bearers to be going public with unverified information.

We expect Kampondeni  as Chakwera’s spin doctor and his lieutenant  Brian Banda to verify everything before going public. The gaffes and errors witnessed on Monday are shocking and, frankly speaking, they are embarrassing and must be not tolerated.

We must underline here that if Kampondeni and Banda don’t have anything substantial to share with the public, it is imperative they remain quiet and leave Chakwera to run this country.

We want to believe that the two have addressed circumstances that led to the said gaffes. Let’s spare this embarrassment to our President.

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