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MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE
A fortnightly update of news from
Malawi
Edition No: 20 30 November
1996
MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is written by Malawian journalists in Malawi and brings you the news from their point of view. It is assembled and edited in Denmark by South Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement, publishers of i'Afrika, a quarterly magazine on Southern Africa.
The fortnightly news updates from Malawi are provided by our established network of journalists in Southern Africa. They will be followed, in the not too distant future, by individual news updates covering other Southern African countries, ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE being the latest.
MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is brought to you by a co-operation between South Africa Contact and Inform, the leading alternative information network in Denmark.
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In this week's edition:
Feature: PROBING INTO HUMAN RIGHTS ATROCITIES
Articles:
1. LAKE MALAWI BILHARZIA REPORT "UNTRUE"
2. POLICE PREPARED FOR ZAMBIAN REFUGEE INFLUX
3. BANK ISSUES NEW COINS
4. MALAWI STOCK EXCHANGE TAKES OFF WITH NICO
LISTING
5. POLICE ARREST GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN
HOUSE SCAM
6. FIRMS EARMARK 4,000 HOUSES FOR LOW INCOME
FAMILIES
7. MALAWI DEPORTS TEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
8. WOMAN DIES AFTER HOTEL BALCONY FALL
Feature: PROBING INTO HUMAN RIGHTS ATROCITIES
After a hesitant start, Malawi has taken the bold move of pushing for the setting up of an independent committee to probe into and record human rights atrocities committed under three decades of the dictatorial excesses of ex-president Kamuzu Banda.
A 9-member steering committee has been formed under the History Project of the University of Malawi and will seek opinions from civil society institutions on concrete proposals and modalities for government action. "We need to keep our past alive without being its prisoner. We also need to safeguard against the danger of sacrificing the truth in order to ensure a fragile peace," said Brown Chimphamba, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malawi. In an interview, he said there was a danger that human rights abuses would continue if details of past violations and their causes were not investigated.
At an earlier international forum on human rights, the participants, who included lawyers, the clergy, trade unionists and human rights groups, noted that forgiveness and reconciliation were not possible until it was known exactly what had to be forgiven. The forum also said the independence of such probes should be guaranteed to avoid being viewed as a party political initiative. The coordinating committee is, however, yet to meet the president who has powers to launch official investigations into any matter of public interest. Dr. Wiseman Chirwa, a lecturer at the University of Malawi, said the idea of the independent committee would be for "national healing." He said that people needed to clear their names in order, for example, to run for public offices but the probe would not necessarily mean prosecution.
The committee has already started interviewing members of Jehovah's Witnesses, a religious sect whose members were persecuted and banished from the country in the 70s for their refusal to buy party membership cards. "We thought of publishing people's written testimonies in the absence of a truth commission so that people don't forget what happened in the past and to avoid a repetition", said Dr Moira Chimombo, a committee member. The testimonies will also be a ready reference should a truth commission be set up in future. To ensure fairness, the testimonies will be corroborated with those of alleged perpetrators. The project is to be funded by various international agencies.
United Council for Dialogue, the newly formed grouping of political parties outside parliament, last week demanded that government set up the truth commission to establish who was behind the atrocities in the MCP regime. UCD publicity secretary Kanyama Chiume alleged that President Bakili Muluzi, as former secretary general of the MCP, might be implicated in the assassination plot of dissident Attati Mpakati in Zimbabwe in 1981. Mpakati, leader of the Zambia-based Socialist League of Malawi (Lesoma) is said to have been killed by agents of the previous government. But Presidential Press Officer Aladin Osman said it was wrong to assume that Muluzi was involved in the plot to kill Mpakati. He also said that the major snag to the formation of a truth commission was funds. Others, however, see the call for a commission as being motivated by the desire to make political capital out of the issue. Lt Col. Allan Kondowe, who worked with Mpakati in exile, said Chiume was only trying to make political gain on the demise of the Lesoma.
Malawi Institute of Democratic and Economic Affairs, Midea executive director, Shyley Kondowe welcomed the initiative of the university lecturers, saying finger pointing by politicians can distort the significance of a national truth commission. "As a nation that suffered or witnessed atrocities we need to know what happened and who did what," said Kondowe. "People who participated in any atrocities should not be allowed in any public office."
1. LAKE MALAWI BILHARZIA REPORT "UNTRUE"
Malawi could lose substantial revenue due to a reduced number of tourists visiting the country following reports in various international publications of bilharzia infestation of Lake Malawi . The publications warn against swimming in the lake.
A Reuters report from London released mid November quoted a Dr Martin Cetron and his colleagues at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, as claiming that recently they studied 1,000 foreigners living in Malawi and found that more than 300 of them had the bilharzia parasite in their blood. The centre claims that its data suggests that at least 5,000 expatriates or tourists have bilharzia from swimming in Lake Malawi. The report says that Lake Malawi may be promoted as a freshwater lake but in fact there is a good chance of bilharzia infection.
Secretary for Health and Population, Dr Winston Mukiwa dismissed the findings of the report, saying he doubted whether the study was genuine and adding that he did not know of any research done by an international organisation on the situation of bilharzia in the country. He argued that bilharzia existed in almost all parts of eastern and southern Africa and that it would be difficult for tourists, who normally tour several countries before coming to Malawi, to know exactly where they got the bilharzia parasite.
2. POLICE PREPARED FOR ZAMBIAN REFUGEE INFLUX
Fears of a possible influx of refugees into Malawi from Zambia following the elections there have spurred Malawi police into action. They have drawn up a contingency plan to receive what they believe will be hordes of asylum seekers fleeing their homeland, following the election results.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Kennedy Chirambo , warned policemen in a circular on November 7 that the situation in Zambia could bring civil disturbance which may result in some citizens fleeing the country and seeking asylum in Malawi.
3. BANK ISSUES NEW COINS
The Reserve Bank of Malawi on November 11 issued a new series of 20 tambala and 50 tambala coins. The bank said that the new coins, bearing the portrait of President Muluzi, will be used alongside the old ones of the same denominations but bearing the portrait of ex-president Banda.
The 20 and 50 tambala coins are the last in the series of new bank notes and coins that the bank has issued. The new K5, K10 and K20 bank notes were issued earlier this year.
4. MALAWI STOCK EXCHANGE TAKES OFF WITH NICO LISTING
The Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE), is now off the ground in earnest with the initial listing of shares of the National Insurance Company, (NICO). MSE Chief Executive, Rob Stangroom, said recently that as at October 29, 292,272 shares had been sold and by 11 November 600,000 shares had been traded.
At the close of the market on 12 November, shares selling at 200 tambala were trading at 220 tambala registering a rise of 10%. He described the initial 10-point high at the close of trading as a good indication that the MSE is off to a good start since this is the first time Malawi has ever had a stock exchange.
The 15, 000 shares that were listed on the MSE were part of the 20 million held by the Malawi Development Corporation in NICO. The state-owned MDC held 20% shares in NICO. MDC now has 5% shares in the company.
5. POLICE ARREST GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN HOUSE SCAM
Malawi fiscal police recently arrested three senior government officials for their alleged role in a house rent scam. Police arrested Under Secretary Rodrick Ndala, who works for the Mzuzu establishment of Malawi's second university, for allegedly leasing to the government and collecting rent for a house still under construction. Ndala is said to have defrauded the government of K60,000 ($2,000).
In mid-November police also arrested a businessman in the capital Lilongwe for claiming rent from the government twice for the same house. Fiscal police chief Joseph Aironi said the arrests were just the start of investigations into government officials and other people involved in the shady deals.
6. FIRMS EARMARK 4,000 HOUSES FOR LOW INCOME FAMILIES
Two Zimbabwean firms will build 4,000 houses in the city of Lilongwe in a joint venture project with two other Malawian institutions starting next year. The Malawi Building Society is a joint venture between Zimbabwe's GS Investments and Rapid Investments and the Malawi Development Corporation, Malawi Housing Corporation.
The company will construct over 4,000 low cost houses worth about K11.5 million (about $650,000). The two Zimbabwean companies operate similar projects in Zimbabwe where they have built over 5,000 houses.
7. MALAWI DEPORTS TEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Malawi has since November 7 deported ten illegal immigrants of Asian and African origin who were in the country without documentation. Deputy Chief Immigration Officer, Austin Kalembera said three of the illegal immigrant were Zambians who had no passports.
Other deportees included a Mozambican and a South African, five Asians of Indian origin and a Pakistani national. They were all arrested in Blantyre. Some of the five Asians had expired residence permits while the South African had dubious documentation. Kalembera said most illegal immigrants of Asian origin come on the pretext that they are investors.
8. WOMAN DIES AFTER HOTEL BALCONY FALL
A member of the Women's Guild in Blantyre's Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Synod who was with a delegation to South Africa is believed to have jumped from the 8th floor of her hotel in Durban on 22 November sustaining serious injuries from which she died later that day.
Mrs Rhoda Mutholo, 32, was among 17 members of a church delegation from Blantyre Synod's Botanical Garden project in South Africa on an educational tour on the maintenance of botanical gardens. Her colleagues said that Mutholo showed visible signs of distress the day before. Officials of the Blantyre Synod refused to comment.
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From: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk (Africa_news Network) Subject: Malawi News Online - #20 Date: 01 Dec 1996 14:42:26 GMT Message-Id: <1262329710.156259589@inform-bbs.dk>