Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) acting Secretary General, Francis Mphepo, has taken a swipe at the media for \u201cspreading negative stories concerning the government and the party\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mphepo was speaking at a rally the party conducted at Masintha Ground in Lilongwe on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should say something about newspapers and what they are writing. The papers are saying bad things. Last night, they were circulating stories on the social media that a DPP vehicle was burnt with the aim of discouraging people from attending this rally. That\u2019s not professional,\u201d Mphepo said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cA few days ago, you wrote in the papers, especially The Times, that His Excellency is not doing well on the issue of suspending Roads Authority Chief Executive Officer [Trevor Hiwa]<\/a>. He appointed people to be handling such issues. Everything has its own procedures. If you don\u2019t have stories, find other things to do\u2026 Leave our president alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Mutharika, who spoke after Mphepo, also criticised the media for allegedly misrepresenting facts about DPP manifesto.<\/p>\n \u201cSome newspapers are saying we are not doing anything. They are saying out of 10 things… actually, there are 33,\u00a0they didn\u2019t understand. They said [out of 10 things] we have done well on two things only<\/a>. They don\u2019t know that we are doing well in many areas,\u201d Mutharika said.<\/p>\n He promised that his party would continue delivering on promises it made before 2014 elections.<\/p>\n The attacks on the media come against the background of a resolution made by media owners and managers on November 7 2016 in the so-called Mount Soche Declaration<\/a> that they would, among other actions, be forced to boycott presidential press conferences and give coverage blackout to Mutharika and his Cabinet ministers if the president and the DPP continued intimidating the media.<\/p>\n The Declaration cited Mutharika\u2019s attacks directed at Zodiak Broadcasting Station and the Times Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the Masintha rally, Minister of Agriculture, Water Development and Irrigation George Chaponda, Minister of Energy Bright Msaka, Minister of Health Peter Kumpalume, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu and Minister of Education, Science and Technology Emmanuel Fabiano delivered statements about what is happening in their respective ministries.<\/p>\n