(MISA/IFEX) – Pramod Kalaria, the millionaire owner of the Lilongwe-based company Farmers World, has reportedly embarked on a campaign to buy up copies of “The Chronicle” weekly newspaper as they hit the streets. “The Chronicle” reports that as of Tuesday 18 July 2000, the paper, which hits the streets on Mondays, could not be found […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Pramod Kalaria, the millionaire owner of the Lilongwe-based company Farmers World, has reportedly embarked on a campaign to buy up copies of “The Chronicle” weekly newspaper as they hit the streets.
“The Chronicle” reports that as of Tuesday 18 July 2000, the paper, which hits the streets on Mondays, could not be found anywhere in Lilongwe. Vendors and personnel at shops where the paper was generally sold said people had bought the paper lock, stock and barrel and gave no explanation. At a shop at Lilongwe International Airport, sales staff became suspicious of two people seen wandering around who had twice counted the number of copies of the paper in the shop. When sales staff confronted them, they proceeded to buy the lot.
The campaign is apparently linked to a report in the paper which questioned the appropriateness and validity of immigration laws in protecting Malawian jobs. The paper said in the report that the Farmers World company was importing Indians into the country to work in positions that could easily be filled by Malawians at a time when unemployment levels were escalating in the country. One vendor in Lilongwe reported that he was approached by a person who bought all fifty copies of the paper that he had. He was also promised that any further copies of the paper that he could source would be bought off him, even at five times the cover price. Apparently, sufficient funds were allocated for the purchase of up to 5,000 copies of the paper at the higher rate.
On learning of the developments, Robert Jamieson, managing editor of “The Chronicle”, said the action by Kalaria deprived regular readers of the paper. “Unfortunately, this single act shows just how ignorant and uncaring people are of the right of citizens to receive and give information as enshrined in the Malawi Constitution. One would have thought that this kind of behaviour died with dictatorship in 1993. How arrogant can these people be to go against the law so openly,” Jamieson said.
