Malawi risks missing out on international financial aid unless its Parliament reconvenes to quickly approve a budget, the United Nations representative in Malawi warned on Monday. The budget debate adjourned indefinitely on Friday when speaker Rodwell Munyenyembe fell ill during a heated exchange over a motion to impeach President Bingu wa Mutharika.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika on Sunday finally launched his own political party, three months after resigning from the party that won him controversial elections last year. ”We want to end hunger… we want to develop this country,” Mutharika told 15 000 supporters who thronged a football ground in Blantyre.
Seven years after his death, Malawi’s government has started building a 000 (R3,7-million) mausoleum for its former president Kamuzu Banda, who led the poor Southern African country to independence and later proclaimed himself ”president for life”.
The International Monetary Fund on Monday said Malawi’s government has asked for international aid following a poor harvest of its staple maize crop. Malawi needs 2,1-million tonnes of maize each year to feed its 11-million people. Drought has reduced this year’s harvest to 1,3-million tonnes.
A former mayor and senior politician in the party of Malawi’s former president Bakili Muluzi was convicted on Monday for fraud and theft of public funds and sentenced to three years and two months in prison. John Chikakwiya is the ex-mayor of the commercial capital, Blantyre, and served as governor for the south.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika says he refuses to forgive two journalists who wrote that he was afraid of ghosts and that they will have to defend themselves in court, state television reported on Friday. ”It was a total lie designed to destroy my character … that’s why I will not forgive them,” Mutharika told a rally in Lilongwe on Thursday.
A group of 42 asylum seekers have arrived in this Southern African country from Somalia after a two month trek covering more than 2 200km with little food, water or rest, officials said on Wednesday. The men said they were forced to continue their walk after being refused refugee status in Tanzania and Mozambique.
Close to 800 murder suspects in Malawi have been awaiting trial for a long time, some of them for as long as 15 years, a government body overseeing prisons said in a report on Tuesday. The Malawi Inspectorate of Prisons criticised the government for failing to try 763 suspects, some of whom have been waiting for years, saying it was a ”gross violation of human rights”.
President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi was thrown his first curve ball in Parliament last Wednesday since his dramatic defection from the United Democratic Front, on whose ticket he ascended to the country’s top job in May last year. His appointment of the first woman inspector-general of police, Mary Nangwale, was rejected by Parliament.
A group of lawmakers in Malawi plan to launch a bid to impeach President Bingu wa Mutharika later this month, alleging that he violated the Constitution, a party spokesperson said on Tuesday. Discussions to impeach the president were held last weekend at the residence of former president and United Democratic Front leader Bakili Muluzi, who is engaged in an open feud with Mutharika.
Two Malawian journalists, arrested and charged with publishing false information for reporting that President Bingu wa Mutharika had moved out of a palace because he feared it was being haunted, have been granted bail, their lawyer said on Wednesday.
Two journalists in Malawi were arrested on Tuesday and charged with publishing false information for reporting that President Bingu wa Mutharika had moved out of a newly built palace because he believes it is haunted. Mutharika angrily denied the reports when he returned on Saturday from a trip to Belgium, saying: ”I have never feared ghosts in my life.”
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/ 11 February 2005
Malawian President Bingu Mutharika’s tenure is becoming increasingly tenuous after the largest opposition, the Malawi Congress Party, joined the ruling United Democratic Party (UDF) in demanding that he step down. Mutharika resigned from the UDF last Saturday after a bitter nine-month stand-off with his predecessor and current party chair Bakili Muluzi over his tough stance on corruption.
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/ 31 January 2005
Malawi’s ruling party said on Monday it has decided against expelling President Bingu wa Mutharika from its ranks despite a bitter power struggle with his predecessor. Following a day-long meeting on Sunday, the governing United Democratic Front said it is ready to continue talks with Mutharika to try to bury the hatchet.
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/ 24 January 2005
Judges from Malawi’s high and supreme courts of appeal have gone on strike to press demands for a fleet of 26 new four-wheeled drive vehicles, a court official said on Friday. The judges said they want the new 4X4s because they regard themselves as equals to other top governmental officials and are entitled to the luxury vehicles.
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/ 20 December 2004
Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika over the weekend finally moved into a controversial -million palace that until now housed Parliament, a top official said on Monday. The building, with 300 air-conditioned rooms, is widely seen as a folly of the country’s founder president, Kamuzu Banda.
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/ 17 November 2004
Police in Malawi are to question former president Bakili Muluzi and the education minister over the murder of a prominent anti-government Muslim cleric two years ago, the chief prosecutor said on Wednesday. They will be quizzed as ”potential witnesses” to the murder and not as accused persons.
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/ 12 November 2004
About 300 Malawian employees of the South African supermarket chain Shoprite Trading Limited have returned to work after their two-week strike failed to win any concessions from the company. The workers, who were striking in support of their demand for better wages, suspended the strike after the company advertised in the local press for workers to replace them.
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/ 5 November 2004
Malawi police arrested eight ruling-party youth militants on Friday in connection with the murder of a prominent, anti-government Muslic cleric two years ago. ”These people are suspects in the murder of Sheikh Bugudad el-Bannh,” police spokesperson Willie Chingalu said.
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/ 31 October 2004
The United Nations on Saturday pledged -million to support a growing population of orphans in the poor Southern African nation of Malawi. ”Malawi will have one million orphans by the year 2010,” said Stephen Lewis in the administrative capital, Lilongwe, at the end of his four-day official visit to Malawi.
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/ 27 October 2004
Police in the Southern African nation of Malawi on Wednesday arrested a former finance minister over graft allegations involving the illegal sale of strategic grain reserves, which led to a food crisis. A police spokesperson said Jumbe was arrested at Blantyre airport while on his way to South Africa on a private visit.
Although blessed with natural wonders, Malawi is struggling to woo visitors and fulfil the poor Southern African country’s ambition of turning tourism into a strong generator of foreign currency. Malawi, which dubs itself the ”Warm Heart of Africa”, boasts a slew of national parks, game reserves, mountains and Lake Malawi — Africa’s third-largest freshwater lake.
A Malawian court on Monday sentenced the former general manager of the state-run petroleum commission to six years in prison over a  000 (about R160 000) bribe he took from a Britain-based company. ”I think a term of six years will be appropriate … corruption retards economic development,” the judge said.
A top aide to Malawi’s ex-president has been sacked from his post as head of the state-run bus company over allegations of corruption involving purchases of buses and spare parts, an official said on Wednesday. President Bingu wa Mutharika fired Humphrey Mvula after he was arrested by police two weeks ago for corruption and fraud.
Every morning, residents of Malawi’s sprawling commercial hub, Blantyre, wake up to deafening noises as hundreds of thousands of people pour into the city to try to make a living. According to a new study, Malawi has emerged as the fastest-urbanising country in the world with an urban population growth of 6,3%.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is giving Malawi three months to improve its finances before it will resume talks on fresh aid, the southern African country’s finance minister said on Wednesday. ”The IMF wants to see if the new government can establish a new track record,” Goodall Gondwe told the daily Nation newspaper.
Malawi’s main opposition grouping said on Thursday it has rejected an offer from new President Bingu wa Mutharika to join his government in exchange for dropping a lawsuit challenging the outcome of the elections. Mutharika and former president Bakili Muluzi made the offer to the coalition’s leader Gwanda Chakuamba during a meeting on Monday, according to the opposition.
As Malawi’s courts grapple with the electoral challenge lodged by the opposition Mgwirizano coalition to last week’s poll, the country’s new President, Bingu wa Mutharika, is trying to win hearts and minds with talk of poverty alleviation and corruption busting. "Malawi is not a poor country," he said at his swearing-in ceremony.
Malawi’s main opposition on Tuesday filed a suit for a re-run of last week’s presidential polls won by the ruling party as the European Union questioned the results of the impoverished country’s third free polls. Meanwhile, the Malawi Congress Party, which came second in the presidential polls but gained a parliamentary majority in general elections held the same day, said it would not join the new government.
President Bakili Muluzi’s hand-picked successor was sworn in on Monday as Malawi’s new leader, as opposition supporters waged running street battles with security forces over the result of the impoverished Southern African country’s third multiparty elections.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66760">Rioting in Malawi over election results</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66775">Mixed feelings about president-elect</a>
Bingu Mutharika has been billed as a seasoned economist who can help lift Malawi out of its economic misery. But he has also been dismissed as just another corrupt politician with little to offer the tiny southern African nation of around 12-million people that ranks among the poorest in the world.
Riot police fired teargas at opposition supporters who rioted in townships in Malawi’s economic capital Blantyre on Sunday after the candidate of the ruling party was declared the winner of the presidential election. The offices of the ruling United Democratic Front party were torched in Chitawira township as opposition supporters put up barricades.
Mixed feelings about president-elect