Edward Chitsulo: The eagle that soared high

The glass-walled newsroom in Fattani Building in Ginnery Corner seemed small as journalists listened to Edward Chitsulo’s presentations that were punctuated with jokes amid the points he made about journalism.

On a chilly March morning early this year, he turned the newsroom into a classroom as he shared a PowerPoint presentation titled Lessons from India in which he shared points about layering in news stories.

The whole newsroom watched as he presented and laughed their lungs out as he cracked jokes, while making analogies about an eagle’s life and some of its peculiar traits. Little did Nation Publications Limited’s (NPL) editorial team know that Chitsulo alias Eagle, was bidding farewell and that his lessons from India would soon be written in their minds as his last presentation.

The following day, the newsroom learnt about his admission for anemia at Mwaiwathu Private Hospital in Blantyre.

Journalists, relatives and friends visited him at the hospital, hoping it was one of those preening sessions an eagle takes; that he will grow back his feathers and come back as strong as ever to scour over high altitudes. But the wee hours of Sunday morning came with devastating news—Edward Chitsulo, the Eagle—was no more.

Just like eagles can spot prey as small as a rabbit at an altitude of two miles above the ground, Chitsulo was well respected for his sharp eye for detail in news stories. He is also remembered for his mentoring skills to a vast array of journalists.

Chitsulo, who hailed from Ntepere Village in Traditional Authority Likoswe in Chiradzulu District, was born on April 16 1958 in Harare, Zimbabwe and obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree with credit from Chancellor College, a Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from India and Post Graduate Diploma in Practical Journalism from the University of Wales.

Chitsulo taught at Livingstonia Secondary School between 1982 and 1985, which formed the foundation of his mentoring and training skills.

In 1985, he joined Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL) as a news reporter, but quickly rose through the ranks to the position of Editor of The Daily Times.

In 1992, Chitsulo joined ranks with his colleague and close friend Grey Mang’anda to form the Michiru Sun newspaper.

He worked for Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) as senior course manager between 1995 and 1998 before joining the Malawi Polytechnic as a lecturer in language and communication studies between 1998 and 2003.

Chitsulo also worked as public relations officer for the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) between 2003 and 2004.

He then joined NPL in 2004 as associate editor and rose to the position of managing editor until his death.

Among other contributions to Malawian media, he was also one of the founding members of Misa at regional level and contributed to the establishment of the Malawi Chapter in 1997.

He was also instrumental in the establishment of other key media institutions such as the Journalists Association of Malawi (Jama) now Journalists Union of Malawi (Juma), the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) and the Media Council of Malawi (MCM).

Chitsulo also held numerous professional responsibilities such as councillor for Media Council of Malawi, trustee of the Malawi Writers Union (Mawu) and the Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund and board member of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra).

In an interview on Sunday, Mang’anda and Levi Zeleza Manda said they were devastated with the death of their close friend.

“I am totally devastated. At the moment, I don’t think I have anything positive to comment,” said Manda.

NPL deputy chief executive officer Alfred Ntonga, who worked with Chitsulo for more than a decade, described his colleague’s death as a heavy loss not only to the NPL family, but to journalism as a profession.

Ntonga said Chitsulo was not an ordinary journalist as he was also a media trainer who has shaped most media practitioners that have gone through the corridors of the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) and The Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi (Unima).