The MOU was initiated by government to iron out the misunderstandings.
MISA-Malawi acting chairperson Anthony Kasunda informed members of the media institution that it was not part of the communication.
MISA, not invited to the meeting
"I would like to inform membership that MISA-Malawi is not party to the communiqué signed on Sunday. You may wish to know that as an organisation, we were not officially invited to the meeting and that is why we never attended," said Kasunda in the communication. He said MISA Malawi does not share the contents of the communiqué because it does not reflect the wishes of the membership.
"We have made the same position clear to other stakeholders," he said.
The issue of the MOU has exposed the deep-rooted problems that have rocked the government and the media. Barely two days after what government said was an agreement between the two parties, the media claim government arm twisted them intoto entering into an MOU.
"We should have been tougher," said some media managers. Deputy CEO for the Nation Publications Limited (NPL) Alfred Mtonga argued that the section of the Penal Code 46 is bad for the operation of the media industry and therefore became part of their bargaining chip.
His counterpart Dr. Tikhala Chibwana GM of Blantyre Newspapers Limited (NPL) argued that while the old law focused on foreign publication, the amended law now even includes local publications. This was in contrast to what Information and Civic education Minister Symon Vuwa Kaunda argued during the negotiations that the changed law is better than the new one.
The MOU therefore agreed that this new law be repealed. The initial Saturday meeting agreed to meet on Sunday after it ended in a stalemate. Media managers that were at this negotiating table claim that government went behind the backs of other media houses and ambushed a selected few into signing a communiqué that signalled the terms that were agreed. Now the media players are accusing government of ambushing them into a document they doctored and defaced completely and whose contents now stopped reflecting what was earlier own agreed on.
However, one of the members from the government side, Dr. Hetherwick Ntaba, President Bingu wa Mutharika's spokesperson argued that no media manager who was involved in the process should now turn around and say they were ambushed. He said this is why they signed on the dotted lines.
