Up to 4,2-million Malawians face food shortages in the wake of a drought that reduced the poor Southern African country’s staple maize output by 24%, a report to assess Malawi’s harvest said on Tuesday. ”Malawi will require food aid of some 271 970 tonnes until the next harvest,” the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee said.
Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika on Wednesday pardoned 413 prisoners convicted of minor offences to mark the country’s 41 years of independence from British rule, his office said. He also said that celebrations will be low-key, as the government wants to use the money to buy maize for Malawians in need of food aid.
The success of land reform in Malawi will depend on the cooperation of traditional leaders who remain sceptical of the process because they believe the new legislation will erode their authority, said civil society leader William Chadza. Chiefs in Malawi have traditionally had the authority to allocate land to their subjects.
Malawi has launched a comprehensive welfare plan to mitigate the impact of poverty and HIV/Aids on its estimated one million orphans.
Malawian civil society has welcomed tax reforms and subsidies for agricultural inputs in the 2005/06 budget that will ease the burden of small-scale farmers plagued by poor harvests again this year. Unveiling the budget on Friday, Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe described the reforms as an attempt to "improve the economic buying power of individual Malawians".
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”.
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.
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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/ 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.
Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika on Thursday accused his predecessor of complicity in a plot by his own party to assassinate him — but said he forgave all those involved. Former president Bakili Muluzi’s spokesperson and a representative of the governing United Democratic Front rejected the claim as outrageous.
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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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/ 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.
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.
Forty years after independence, Malawi is still unable to ensure food security for its population, which is growing at a rate of 2% a year, according to the country’s national statistical office. More than one million, or more than 10%, of Malawi’s population are facing starvation this year, the World Food Programme has announced.
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%.
A five-year community participation project in Malawi has improved the quality of education in more than 2 000 of the country’s schools. The project aims to alleviate problems linked to a the glaring shortage of facilities, poor management and an inadequate number of teachers.
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.
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>
Voters in Malawi went to the polls on Thursday to elect a new president and Parliament in the third multiparty elections since the end of dictatorial rule in the Southern African country, one of the poorest in the world.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66621">Malawi: Slouching towards democracy</a>
Malawi is scheduled to go to the polls on Thursday for general elections — this amid polling delays, allegations of bias on the part of electoral officials and deepening poverty. The ballot had initially been set for Tuesday May 18, but was postponed by the High Court after complaints by a coalition of opposition parties.
Malawi’s electoral commission on Saturday said presidential elections will be held on May 20, two days later than originally scheduled, following opposition complaints over irregularities in the Southern African country’s computerised voters’ roll.
A Malawi high court on Friday postponed elections due to be held early next week, after opposition parties complained of flaws in voter registration. The coalition argued that there are serious flaws in the new computerised voters’ roll which, after being revised last Friday, saw the total number of registered voters drop by one million.
Malawi’s outgoing President Bakili Muluzi has threatened to expel observers from the European Union if they campaign against his government ahead of the May 18 elections, state radio said on Monday. Although he did not mention the observers by name, Muluzi was apparently referring to the EU team.
The World Bank has granted Malawi -million to resettle 25Â 000 farmers under a controversial land reform programme aimed at reducing poverty in the Southern African nation, its land minister said on Thursday. The World Bank is a major sponsor of the country’s tough economic reforms.
Malawi joined other countries on Wednesday in commemorating World Tuberculosis Day. However, the efforts of Malawian officials to curb tuberculosis (TB) are being dogged by the theft of TB drugs from state hospitals — a problem that is leading to the development of a multi-drug-resistant strain of TB.
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/ 16 February 2004
Professor Robin Broadhead, dean of the Malawi College of Medicine, specialises in children infected with HIV/Aids. The avenue of research that he is currently pursuing is the prevention of mother-to-child infections, a task hampered by the fact that most Malawian mothers breastfeed — there simply is no alternative.
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/ 10 February 2004
Malawi’s President Bakili Muluzi on Tuesday said his own brother Dickson died of Aids three years ago, as he launched the country’s first and long-awaited policy on fighting Aids. ”My own brother, third born in our family, died of Aids three years ago,” said Muluzi, who is a strong advocate in the battle against the pandemic.