A newspaper is under pressure from a cabinet minister following the paper’s publication of a story speculating that the minister wanted to resign from cabinet. “The Weekly Chronicle” led its 3 July 1995 edition with a story headlined “Patel resigns?”, in which an unnamed source disclosed that then-Minister of Mines and Energy Rolph Patel had […]
A newspaper is under pressure from a cabinet minister following
the paper’s publication of a story speculating that the minister
wanted to resign from cabinet.
“The Weekly Chronicle” led its 3 July 1995 edition with a story
headlined “Patel resigns?”, in which an unnamed source disclosed
that then-Minister of Mines and Energy Rolph Patel had tendered
his resignation to President Bakili Muluzi. The story also quoted
another “source” close to the President who denied that Patel had
resigned.
The day the story was published, Patel fired the Managing
Director of his printing company, Robert Jamieson, who is also
Chair of “The Chronicle’s” board of directors. Jamieson is
married to Patel’s sister, Pushpa Jamieson, who Jamieson says is
the majority shareholder in “The Chronicle”. According to
Jamieson, Patel also confiscated (Jamieson’s) company house, all
his personal belongings, and a company car as “punishment” for
allowing the story to appear in “The Chronicle”. Jamieson also
alleges that Patel tried to seize equipment from “The
Chronicle’s” office, but was prevented from doing so by the
paper’s staff.
Patel then took out an injunction against Jamieson preventing him
from publishing under the name of “The Chronicle”, or from using
the paper’s equipment and offices. Jamieson says the injunction
was rejected by the High Court because Patel did not own the
paper. Nonetheless, the pressure from Patel was such that Pushpa
Jamieson says she had considered temporarily closing down the
paper, but had since changed her mind. Her husband was cutting
short his participation in a MISA project management course in
Botswana and was to return to Malawi on 5 August.
Both Robert and Pushpa Jamieson feel the fight between Patel and
“The Chronicle” was “more than a family row…. I think the
problem is he (Patel) doesn’t like to be criticized,” says
Jamieson. “The Chronicle” used to be printed by Patel’s United
Printers, but the paper moved its account to another less
expensive printer earlier this year. Patel — who remains a
minister, although his portfolio was changed in last month’s
cabinet reshuffle — could not be reached for comment.
