It has been worth it, says NPL CEO AchuthanP2 Ken Lipenga reflects on his time at NationP8

Alfred Mtaula on 20 years at Nation Page 5

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Time to celebrate 20 years together

Your Nation on Sunday looks slightly different today. Some columns and news spaces are not there. It is because the edition is carrying special features and items that are part of celebrations for 20 years of our existence. As indicated recently by our sister newspaper, The Nation, this year marks 20 years since Nation Publications Limited brands (NPL) brands hit the streets. First, it was The Nation, then Weekend Nation and your other favourite brand, Nation on Sunday. This came at almost the same time with your news and culturally-rich Nation Online. We are celebrating the 20 years with a very Big Thank You as our loyal and trusted readers, advertisers, business partners as well as moral supporters. 1993 is a long way and a lot of support. In fact, when the multiparty, independent print media came on the scene in the early 90s to fight Kamuzu Bandas dictatorship to take its rightful place among the free media of the world, there were about three dozen new newspapers, a variety of new magazines and media houses on the market. When we look back, 20 years later, they have all left the roads save for NPL. Our strong conviction for this survival is that you dear reader, advertiser and supporterwant us to live, not only for the simple reason of breaking monopolies that existed before. We are aware you want diversity in the countrys media and alternative avenues for all voices at all timeswhich is a hallmark of democracy. This is where, as a media house, we renew our cardinal pledge to serve you with the highest standards: to look for and stick to facts and fair comment. We will, as we have said over the years, seek the public interest without undue intrusion into privacy. We shall not serve any partisan interest apart from the greater national good. Ours is a mission to publish credible news and provide innovative media solutions that add value to you, our stakeholders. In fact, we see ourselves as more than just news, as we set our eyes to be the media house of choice in the country. This is why, during this celebratory period, we once again open our lines for suggestions for improvement for our brands so that together we continue building the country. Meanwhile, as we celebrate this year, culminating into main events in July, we will offer special packages to our readers, advertisers and circulation associates, to ensure that the 20-year-success is a shared occasion. We invite you to link up with our brand managers and/ or usual NPL contacts to see what is in store for you. In fact, on every 20th of the month, any one of our brands will have a package that makes us look back with pride and reflect for the next decades. Enjoy your Nation on Sunday.

It has been worth it

She has made coffee for staff, inserted and wrapped newspapers, interviewed sources and done storiesshe has been everything at NPL for the past 20 years. As the company celebrates 20 years of service in Malawi, Mbumba Achuthan, Nation Publications Limited chief executive officer, reflects on what has been a tough but exciting and rewarding journey. She talks to Bright Mhango.
Twenty years on and still going strong. Even stronger! How does it feel when you look back over this period? I was asked in a session just a few days ago to close my eyes and imagine all the people who had engaged with NPL over the last 20 years surrounding the office. I was asked to imagine the effect we have had on all those thousands of people, to imagine our impact on the country and all developments. It feels good to imagine that we have contributed something, I have contributed something. It has all been worth its while. So how did it all begin for NPL in terms of conceiving the idea of a company and getting off the ground? Hon Aleke Banda, other people and I had been working on various publications during the period leading up to the change to multiparty democracy. It was during this time that we started talking about what we could do thereafter that the idea of starting a newspaper was hatched. He approached Hon Dr Ken Lipenga who bought into the idea and became the founding editorin-chief and then we roped in the current deputy chief executive officer, Mr Alfred Ntonga, the production and distribution manager, Mr Alfred Mtaula, Mr Billy Mphande and a few others. We started off with a computer, typewriter, limited furniture and one car in a two-roomed office building. We started by coming up with an editorial policy and mission to guide us and this has

Achuthan: It feels good to imagine that we have contributed something

served us well to this day. Our first publication was The Nation produced twice a week, later thrice a week and which then turned into a daily. We then brought in Saturday Nation, now Weekend Nation, added Nation on Sunday and the rest is history. What is it that you would pick out as the key success factors in the growth of the company? There are several success factors that I will zero in on: Our editorial policy and mission has been the guide that newsroom has used throughout the 20 years. This has helped us ensure that we produce our products according to professional standards. It has helped us ensure that at all times our allegiance is to the people or the nation and not any individual or group. This has helped us maintain our credibility. The dedication, loyalty and quality of our staff has been the foundation on which all else has

been built and achieved. The consistency in the way we have maintained our relationship with our key stakeholders advertisers, readers/subscribers, vendors/agents, suppliers, and others has ensured that we have not only sustained and but also consolidated and grown the business. What would you say are the stand-out areas that set the NPL of today apart from the company of 1993? We have advanced technologically in that we now have a completely new state-ofthe-art printing outfit that ensures quality products produced costeffectively and on time. We are now able to reach most of our markets in the morning whereas in 1993 it could take two days to reach certain markets and it did not even make sense to distribute PAGE 4

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nation at 20

Down the memory lane

This is the second edition of The Nation, published in 1993

The lion sleeps: Former president Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda lying in state in 1997

Former Nation journalist Dennis Mzembe interviewing ex-Aford president the late Chakufwa Chihana

A crestfallen Mama mourns the fallen Ngwazi in 1997

Quotable Quotes
In my view, this is what education should be about: a development of mental faculty, in combination with an equal development of the personal character.Aleke Banda, speaking when he received computers from Beit Trust of England at Zomba Catholic Secondary School in April 1998 in his capacity as Agriculture Minister. My most memorable moment was when we used superb team spirit to produce a breakthrough investigative story on the Mwanza murders. This was an investigative story in which literally everybody at The Nation, including messengers and drivers, sweepers, watchmen, what have you, was involved.Dr Ken Lipenga, Nation founding editor-in-chief, on 20 years of journalism at NPL. Our clients should expect and demand a lot from us. I can assure you that we are geared to be your media house of choice and to provide you with more than just news.Mbumba Achutan, CEO, Nation Publications Limited, reflecting on NPLs 20 years of service.

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achuthan looks back at 20 years of npl

PAGE 2 to some markets because of the newspapers shelf life. We are also able to produce a product that can be full colour on any page with consistently good colour quality. We have diversified our product offering to include online news and a vernacular product that is bilingual and distributed fortnightly to the rural and peri-urban areas for free. This has led to our ability to reach a much larger audience. We have a trained workforce. The practice of journalism and the media business was very limited in 1993. All staff that came on board, save for the few who came from Blantyre Newspapers Limited, had to be trained literally from scratch. Today, we have staff that come trained and we simply superimpose the NPL style and give them the platform to practise their profession and gain the experience needed to enable them become journalists of note. At a personal level, in what way have you had to adjust the manner you have managed the company over the years? A: In the early years, we had to do a lot of multi-tasking. I led the organisation and did all the administrative work. At times I wrote, I delivered the product, I worked in the design studio, I made coffee for staff when we worked long hours, I worked in the print inserting and wrapping, I went out to help find and interview sources during the Mwanza murder investigations, I went out during Operation Bwezani I literally did everything. All leaders had to play a very hands-on role. All this was done while developing systems and standards, operational manuals all literally from scratch. This was the case because we did not have models we could learn from other than the limited offering from the main existing newspaper organisation at the time. With time we also got more opportunities to learn from other organisations all over the world and made all relevant adjustments. With time, we also brought in specialised teams to handle the different areas of the business and my role became more of a leadership role creating a platform for the team to make their contributions in full towards fulfilling our goals. When Bingu wa Mutharika went flat out against the company, you still kept your workforce, even employed more people, how did you overcome that hurdle? Firstly, we ensured that everything we did was according to our editorial policy and mission and all our other systems and standards. We ensured that we maintained our professionalism and remained true to our stakeholders. As a result of that we got their support. Our PAGE 5

The day I got a sober lesson

Few people know the pressures that reporters and editors go through from conception of a news idea right to the time readers are holding a newspaper to update themselves on events. Gracian Tukula sheds light on the process by sharing a personal experience.
I was only a few months on the job as a reporter trying to make a name in the trade. A Limbe businessman came to the office to give you a story. I was assigned to meet him and hear him out. It was a compelling story as he told me how government was trying to derail his investment which would significantly help the countrys economy. Listening to the businessmans account, I was convinced that the man was being given a raw deal and there was anger building within me to see that a government that had just come inBakili Muluzis UDF government was only four months old at the timecould afford to frustrate a well-meaning investor who could as well have chosen to take his money elsewhere. As I bid farewell to my source and made my way to my bosses for a debriefing sessiona discussion whereby a reporter briefs the editor on what has transpired in order to map the way forwardI was already thinking of my to drive here and give us this story. They have some interest. We need to have an idea of what that interest is, the lecture continued. The long and short of the advice I got was that I needed to look at all the players in the story and hear their own stories before I could decide on how to present it. I had hardly taken my seat the following morning when I was told that someone had called a few minutes before I walked in asking for me. Lest we forget, there were no mobile phones in Malawi in 1994. Before I could ask for more details on the caller, the phone rang again and it was the same caller. Gracian, you cant make me spend K2.50 to buy your newspaper only to find that the news I gave you is not there? Dont you know that I can give that story to the other papers and they will sell? the man went on without giving me the chance to answer any of his questions. Sorry Sir, I tried to contain myself. I have not abandoned the story, but there are a few things that need to be done to it. He would have none of that. From that dressing down, I had to join my colleagues who had just started the days morning meeting which starts by reviewing the days paper PAGE 6

Producing a newspaper takes a lot of trouble and team work

headline and introduction line. It was not going to be kind to a government that had made poverty alleviation its main mission. What a contradiction, I thought. I fully expected my editor to share my anger against government or, at least, the excitement that we had an interesting story. I was disappointed. As he listened to my brief, it was clear from his body language that he was not convinced and what he said later put his scepticism into context and left me with a lasting lesson which I have happily passed on to those that have come after me. Hey Gracian, cool down, was his opening remark. I can feel anger welling inside you, but avoid getting emotionally involved in stories because your judgement will be clouded. We definitely have a potentially good story here, but what we have so far is HIS story. We shall need to do much more in order to get THE story, the Nation story if you like. You can imagine how deflated I was but the perspective that followed helped to sober me up and renew my vigour to pursue the story further. You see Gracian, no one can come here to give you a story simply to ensure that you have a by-line the following day. There is a reason for someone

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The Nation child

Bright Mhango Staff Reporter
At 29, Alfred Mtaula had changed several jobs and growing up was not waiting for him; it was him that needed to catch up with growing up. Since getting his printing diploma from The Malawi Polytechnic, he had been out and about proving his academic qualificationsMontfort Press, Polypack Limited and the now defunct newspaper The Monitor. It was at The Monitor that he met Mbumba Achuthan, the CEO of NPL. I joinedlet me say we started NPL together with the likes of Alfred Ntonga, Dr Ken Lipenga, Mr. Mphande and Mrs. Achuthan in 1993. We drew together people from two newspapers: some like me came from The Monitor, Mrs. Achuthan and some from Blantyre Newspapers Limited. I started work as a production supervisor, said Mtaula, now production and distribution manager for NPL. For him, it was a risk; he had been production manager at The Monitor and to become a mere supervisor at a newly started newspaper was a plain gamble, but strangely the new package was more attractive. It was not just the package that attracted me; I had worked with Mrs. Achuthan at The Monitor and had seen the quality of leadership she provided, said Mtaula, lying back casually in an easy chair on the green lawns of his Area 47 home. Inside the house, his two children are playing some hip hop. They are now studying at Catholic UniversityDalitso doing banking and the younger one, Sandra, is working towards a social work degree. There was no Dalitso in 1993; the children Mtaula darlingly terms Nation babies were born while he was at NPL and since their father has not changed a job in their lifetimes. What makes a man who had changed three jobs in five years finally settle for one company and stick by it for a whopping 20 years?

The story of one of the longest serving NPL employees

Interview with CEO Achuthan

PagE 2 loyal readers, subscribers and advertisers stood by us because we gave them the product that they wanted and expected. At the same time, we have a workforce that believes in what they do and that works as a team. The external threat served to bring the team closer together in a determination to survive. It was, almost, a challenge that everyone took head on. At the same time, various business strategies were engaged to ensure survival and in some areas growth.
PHOTOGRAPH: NATiON LibRARy

Twenty years at Nation and still counting: Mtaula (C) poses with his children
The first obvious reason is that his mobility scared him; he wanted to settle down and grow up. I felt contented, I had moved up the ladder at NPL and was making decisions. NPL is the last company that will ever employ me. If I am to leave, then I am retired or gone to start my own thing, Companies are like family; if you work hard enough, you get what you want, declared Mtaula. And his survival kit is not that heavy. He advises youths to stay focused at work and take their workmates as teammates, not competitors. Achuthan vouched for Mtaulas survival toolkit and said he himself is a good team player and that is but one of his many pros that she saw. Mr. Mtaula came on board NPL from day one and his first wonderful quality is his loyalty. He takes this company as if it were his own, he contributes ideas and deals with issues positively and firmly. He is very timely and deadline conscious, said Achuthan. Not all has been rosy for Mtaula. The old machine Achuthan referred to haunted him when it performed dismally. He says he was blamed and if there was a time he could have walked away from NPL it could have been then. I couldnt leave because I did not want to prove the critics right, so I stayed and worked hard to make the machine deliver, said Mtaula. And that was not it. In this other year along his 20 years at NPL he had to be summoned by his superiors and his sloppy performance questioned. He noted how NPL has changed. It used to be a small unit, he said. Each person knew every other person, each wedding, funeral or hospitalisation was noted. Now the company is so big, you dont even know who is marrying, he said. One of the original founders of the NPL social football team Zabweka, dubbed after the erstwhile hit cartoon strip, he says he can visualise the first game NPL playedof course, they went down 6-2. His football side makes his most darling hobby up to now, apart from gardening and spending time with family. A staunch Arsenal fan, Mtaula loves watching the English Premier League. Mtaula is obsessed with quality. He concedes that he does not read the stories first in the papers; he flips through the newspaper looking for errors in designing. For the stories, his wife Sharon reads the paper and then narrates them to him. Professionally, Mtaula looks to the day following Kamuzu Bandas death as one of the most involving and interesting day. We printed over 50 000 copies. Everyone moved from the offices to become inserters. Food was supplied at work and even the CEO was there, he reminisced. For Dalitso, Sandra, Alfred, Sharon, NPL is not just a name; it is intertwined with their lives and destiny. And that is what NPL is to many other Malawians. It goes beyond the news. n

What would you cite as the lowest and highest points in the life of the company over the past 20 years? The results of the Mwanza murder investigation and the stories we carried on that and what followed remains a high point from an editorial point of view. Our survival of the harsh political climate and the fact that we came out of it even stronger is another. The acquisition of our brand new printing outfit also stands out. Most importantly, the constant recognition from our clients over the years has been a major plus. The low points have been the loss of our founding father, mentor and guide, Hon Aleke Banda. He never, one day, worked at NPL. He never went out to bring us business. He never influenced stories. However, he demanded the highest of standards and that is the biggest gift he gave to NPL. He always said: one day I want you to be like The Times of London. Where we erred, he expected us to have an intelligent and complete explanation. Where we did well he was our biggest supporter and a great source of encouragement. He was our inspiration. We have also suffered at the hands of the political systems where leaders have failed to accept that we are a mirror on society and have a watchdog role to play. The introduction of tough media laws was also a very negative PagE 6

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Days gone by at Nation

Tukula learned it the hard way in journalism

PAGE 2 before sharing on news ideas of the day. Soon after the meeting, I was on my way to Mapanga, Blantyre, where the businessman had intended to invest his millions, or so he claimed. When I reached the disputed land, what I found was a sorry sight and it dawned on me that the businessman was far from being the benefactor he had professed to be. I later spoke to the Blantyre City Council and the Ministry of Lands. What we had at the end of the day was a story of exploitation, bullying, corruption and sheer brutality by a man who set out to portray himself as a Good Samaritan. I felt good doing that story, not just because of the education I got in chasing it, but also due to the potential impact it was going to have. When I presented my copy to the editor, he was just as happy I was. Of course, he had to change here and there simply to justify his existence in the chain but in the end it went to the designers, whom we now call technical journalists. I saw from the dummy (sketch of the page) that the story would not only make the front page, but would, in fact, be the main story. I had to wait to see the designer make the first proof of the page, send it to the editor who made a few more corrections and sent the proof back to the designer with his signature. The designer made the suggested corrections and printed another proof which went to a second-eye to check for any possible slip-ups. When the final proof was made and editor signed that as his front page, I was assured I had made the front page the lead! I was looking forward for the following day. Or was I? Did I have another idea to enable me make the front page, let alone the lead, the day after? Such are the daily pressures of the reporter. There is never a chance to bask in the glory of yesterdays achievements. n

CEO Mbumba Achuthan (R), her deputy Alfred Ntonga (L) pose with former reporter Limbani Moya

Then reporter Gracian Tukula, now Nation on Sunday editor

In the days of old: Jacqueline Bizaliele, call centre supervisor

Former editor of The Nation the late Jika Nkolokosa

npl ceo talks about highs and lows

PAGE 5 development that came up. Your father was a politician, how easy was it to be NPL with his shadow? A: Hon A K Banda believed in setting standards. He set standards in the form of the editorial policy and mission. He set standards by making it clear what sort of publication he expected us to produce. He set standards simply by being an excellent performer in his own right, so he led by example. So long as the standards were maintained, we would not hear from him other than a word of encouragement or appreciation where relevant or engagement on ideas from time to time. He was, therefore, not intrusive, and he did not have any expectations of us other than that we produce the paper to the highest standards possible. He expected us to treat him and any political party or other group he was involved in as a newsmaker just like any other. Initially, people did not believe that we could be neutral and professional. Always upon hearing he was a part of NPL, people would be sceptical. But it was after engaging with us and our products that people were able to see that NPL operated professionally and was never a mouthpiece or tool for Hon Aleke Banda. In fact, Hon Aleke Banda suffered a lot of abuse and suspicion at the hands of his colleagues as a result of NPL s neutrality and perceived lack of support. Looking ahead, anything up your sleeves for NPL, the companys clients and the nation at large? With the acquisition of the new printing machine and accessories, our plans on diversification, that include new products and development of our current products, are on their way to fruition. Our clients and the nation at large can, therefore, look forward to NPL providing media solutions that are of superior quality and accessible to most. Should we expect NPL Radio or TV in the near future? Radio, TV, mobile and more. n

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A peek into life at Nation

The buzz of the newsroom Garry Chirwa, Senior News Analyst For over a decade now, it has been fun waking up in the morning, have a quick shower and then rush to work. Over the years, even when I am singing the blues, my big boss Alfred Ntonga cheers my spirits before I get down to work by taunting me about his favourite team Manchester Uniteds win or my beloved BluesChelseaswoes. One thing I have discovered is that when the Red Devils win, he is one of the first to storm into the newsroom and heads directly to me while shouting: Baba, mwachiwona chitimu? Kulanga mwana chifukwa cha zolakwa za atate ake! Then George Kasakula, another United diehard, usually chips in, in his deep Chewa accent, screaming: umnnh! Tamufinya mwana uja bwanji! Then it is time to have our daily morning desk meetings and the sports editor Michael Mmeya whips us on our daily tasks. We have a consortium of food groups and that is the time when I and my colleague little Gomezgani Zakazaka are found wanting and we sponge into consortiums, going round the desks asking for stuff like sugar, tea and powdered milk. In such cases, Aubrey Mchulu and gangly Paida Mpaso, whom Gome calls Sweden based for whatever reason, are always the first ones to take us to task by asking: Kodi inu bwanji simusonkha? Mumangopempha daily...kodi kumowanso mumapemphetsa chonchi? Lero iyayi. Ngati mufuna mulowe consortium. Another funny fella is Caroline Somanje who cant just stop talking and she comments on everythingwhether an update on TV or radio or people passing-by outside. I and Gome call her Mama G in reference to the Nigerian actress .After that, its back to business, getting down to work in order to meet deadlines and before you realise it its already past noon and then Mmeya suddenly says Abambo titi pati...ma deadline tu paja? Its been all fun. Probably that is why I didnt realise I have been around for this long and it feels good that we are clocking 20 this year! n

Being a marketer at NPL

Herbert Chagunda, Marketing Officer So what does a typical day in the life of a marketer pan out at NPL? Every day is unique and brings its own exciting challenges. Planning is key in my job, but working in the media industry means that monotony does not exist, hence the need to think on my feet when the situation arises. My day kicks off with a prayer, a few stretching exercises, then a hot shower, followed by a good breakfast. Thereafter, its time to hop into the car and drive to Ginnery Corner where our offices are. Once in the office, a typical day would start with me picking up on my emails, going through a copy of The Nation and what the competition has to offer. My job involves taking care of product marketing, brand management, promotions and sponsorships and corporate social responsibility, among

Getting the newspaper to the reader

Jenipher Chanika, Circulation Officer, Southern Region Circulation is about getting the product to the end user. In the case of a company such as NPL, the item to be delivered is the newspaper. Just like there is no news without a reporter, there is no newspaper without somebody to make it available to the person who needs itthe reader, the advertiser, the job seeker and many others. Indeed, what use is a newspaper if you produce it but keep it in the printing room? As a circulation officer responsible for the Southern Region, my duty is to make sure that newspapers are distributed to all areas in the region. Circulation is not only about distribution; it is also about sales, so I go out and sell NPL services, such as subscription, to clients to grow sales. All in all, it is a very challenging job, but I really enjoy it! n

A day in the life of a Nation sales person

Alfred Kanjere, Sales Executive People see adverts in our publications everyday but few understand how these adverts are sourced and processed. Being a sales person is one of the most exciting careers because no day is similar to the previous one as we meet people with different needs and expectations all the time. To succeed as a sales person, there is need for a great deal of planning. Our day starts with a brainstorming meeting. The sales team share ideas on how to effectively execute that weeks sales strategy. We discuss clients that may be difficult to deal with in order to share ideas on how to approach them. Having done that, we now do a call sheet. This is a detailed plan of how my day will be, where I will go, what time and what products I am selling. This helps superiors to track how we are faring and gives them insights to make timely

other key marketing areas. A day of a marketer cannot be complete without making some recommendations to management on how to take the brand to the next level based on market trends and research. Before you know it, time has flown by and it is time to clear the table and head back home for a good rest. n

interventions where need be. We have different products that appeal to different clients. One of our main roles is also to advise clients on which product best suits their requirement. We are on call 24/7 as customers can call for information even during weekends and odd hours. So when you look at a sales person, you are looking at money for the company and shareholders. You are looking at the face of NPL.n

lipenga travels back in time to his days at nation

PAGE 8 and poked hilarious fun at politicians and public figures of the day. The other contribution was the satirical cartoon Town Rat & Country Rat. I produced the concept and the ideas, which were then beautifully turned into powerful graphical images by the remarkably talented late Brian Hara. I guess it is this background which makes it possible for me to laugh at myself and see the humour in some unflattering cartoons of myself. I suppose what I said to Aleke that day long ago could easily have been said to me by my successors at Nation. But this is, of course, an incomplete story, which I have quickly scribbled as a way of congratulating the hardworking men and women at Nation, led by Mbumba and Alfred, as they celebrate 20 years of remarkable journalism. Congratulations, folks! Just keep working harder at achieving that sense of balance and fairness. I doubt if this will prevent them from doing more cartoons of me. Meanwhile, should you wish to know more then look out for my awardwinning memoirscoming soon. n

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nation at 20

Reminiscences of a time gone by

Dr Ken Lipenga Founding editor-in-chief
Every time I see a satirical cartoon of myself in the papers, which these days is rather often, Im reminded of a conversation I once had with my friend, the late Aleke Banda, founder of Nation. He had just been appointed Cabinet minister in the first Bakili Muluzi administration after Malawis 1994 multiparty elections. He was also in the powerful position of vicepresident of the then ruling United Democratic Front. I was then editor-in-chief of the Nation. A year or so earlier, I had been working with AKB, as Aleke was known among close friends and family, as a member of an underground taskforce he had set up to fight for change, under the umbrella of a pressure group called the United Democratic Front. This was just after Aleke had been released from detention after 12 years and after I had unceremoniously been sacked as editor-in-chief of the Daily Times for writing a subversive article entitled Of Galileo as Dissident. We used to sit down till late into the night, scheming and drafting all sorts of subversive pamphlets to undermine the one-party regime. The Nation, then a biweekly, was formed just after the 1993 referendum for multiparty democracy, with me as the first editor-in-chief, and Mbumba Achuthan, Alekes daughter, as general manager. I was given the task of designing the papers masthead, and I came up with the one you still see today, with its characteristic thick blue and thin white lines. I did the work on my early Macintosh computer in the tiny Nkolokosa house I had hurriedly moved into after being thrown out of the company house by my former employers at Blantyre Newspapers. Im immensely grateful to the folks at Nation for leaving the masthead largely unchanged over the years. My most memorable moment was when we used superb team close-up photo of the suspect only, which photo was splashed on The Nations front page for an edition which sold like the proverbial hot cakes. But back to my conversation with Aleke. You do understand, Hon. Minister, I said with a touch of a veiled threat, that although youre connected with this paper, well not hesitate to bash you and draw cartoons of you should you do or say anything that warrants that. There will be no fear or favour. If youre talking about editorial independence, he replied, then let me assure you that Ill never interfere with the paper in any way. The personality of Aleke was such that I had no difficulty accepting his assurance. And as it turned out, he kept his word. For sure, we had many occasions when we did not get on too well with the UDF government, and poor Aleke was always suspected by some of his colleagues of being somehow behind our hard-hitting anti-government editorials. This continued after I left Nation and ended up as yet another politician. From the beginning, Nation always aimed to be a highly objective and professional publication, and rubbing politicians the wrong way was always part of the agenda. But because Nation is run by human beings it has had its occasional moments of less-than-perfect journalism, both when I was its editor-in-chief and after. What I admire about the way the paper has evolved is that the team are always trying to do better and learn from whatever mistakes they may make from time to time. From a bi-weekly, the paper quickly moved on to become a daily, with many young journalists who had worked with me at the Daily Times coming on board. In later years, my own contributions to the paper included the introduction of a satirical column called Kongoros Calabash Tales, in which a motley group of not-so-sober buddies gathered in the Calabash Club page 7

Lipenga left Nation in 1995 to join politics

spirit to produce a breakthrough investigative story on the Mwanza murders. This was an investigative story in which literally everybody at The Nation, including messengers and drivers, sweepers, watchmen, what have you, was involved. I remember that we had to hide one of our sources in a motel for about a week, and his mystified wife kept coming to my house to demand knowledge of the whereabouts of her loved one. Then later another secret source told us he had traced the whereabouts of one of the men who had actually taken part in the killing of the four politicians in 1983, namely Dick Matenje, John Twaibu Sangala, Aaron Gadama and David Chiwanga. The Mwanza murders story was really a taboo story that no one would dare talk about for a long time. Even attempting to tackle it in 1993/94 carried serious risks. Our source told us he could take us to where the alleged murderer was. We decided to send him to the location, somewhere in the Zomba, with instructions to persuade the man to reminisce about his dark past. The source, who was a previous acquaintance with the suspect from their earlier days in the police, returned after two days and told us that this was indeed one of the killers. What was now needed was for a journalist to travel to the area and actually meet, talk to, and hopefully take a picture of the gentleman. I decided to be the one, and we resolved that I should be led to the place immediately by our source. It made sense for me to be at the centre of this story because I had also earlier travelled to Thambani with the earlier source we had been hiding in a motel, a former police photographer, (tracked down by Mbumba, I recall,) who showed me the place where the murders had taken place, as he was the one who took the pictures of the bodies the morning after. When we arrived in the village, I arranged to stay in the car about one hundred metres away. I told the source that when asked why he had returned so soon when he was there the previous day, he should say that he had found a maiden in the village that he wanted to marry and had, therefore, brought his uncle to start the process of proposing. He should then suggest that he introduces me, his uncle, to him. The source soon came back to me saying the man was ready to meet me. I went to meet him. We spent something like two hours with the fellow, and although I didnt exactly extract a confession out of him, he said enough to convince me that he had indeed been involved. When our man became suspicious of the camera, my source quickly explained that I had been fascinated at the prospect of meeting an old close friend of my relative and hoped to take a picture of the two of them together at this great reunion. Whereupon the man obliged. Although I aimed my camera at the two of them, I actually only took a very good

PHOTOGRAPH: NATiON LibRARy