The international PR firm that was contracted by President Joyce Banda’s government to save the reputation of her government in the eyes of the international community over the Cashgate scandal, Bell Potinger, has been alleged to be the one behind the removal of an article on the Al Jazeera website which was critical of President Joyce Banda and her ally, Tony Blair, in the Cashgate scandal.
The article titled: Africa’s false prophet: ‘Cashgate’ forces Tony Blair out of Malawi was authored by Allan Ntata who is also the author of the Licence to loot report which discusses the same issues of Cashgate scandal.
According to the article, Blair had been implicated in the Cashgate scandal in that he has been said to have pocketed money amounting to U$ 5 million in his ‘charitable’ acts of advising the President on governance issues.
The article makes further incriminating acts against Blair to the point of alleging that he was aware of the high level corruption and stealing of taxes that the Banda government was involved in.
However, just days after the article had appeared on the Al Jazeera website, it has been taken down with the site claiming that it had violated some of its standards.
Sources have, however, alleged that it is the work of Bell Potinger, a Public Relations firm, that have seen to it that the article was removed from Al Jazeera. Late last year, it was revealed that Bell Potinger had been contacted by the Malawian head of state to act as a PR firm for her government in clearing up the debris left behind by the Cashgate scandal.
