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MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE
A fortnightly update of news from Malawi
Edition No: 18 19 October 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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Articles:
1 GOVERNMENT SUED OVER NOTEBOOK SCAM
2 DUTCH WOMAN IN FAMILY FEUD
3 ONE KILLED IN INDIAN HEMP HAUL
4 AFORD WITHDRAWS CASE
5 MALAWI BANS TOBACCO ADVERTISING ON RADIO
6 UDF DISOWNS DEFECTOR'S PROBLEMS
7 COMMISSION DISMISSES ACCUSATIONS
8 POLICE PROBE CHIHANA ON ALLEGATIONS OF
CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT
9 DISILLUSIONED CHIUME TAKES SWIPE AT LEADERSHIP
10 COMMISSION SEEKS MORE POWER
11 CHIHANA'S GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY
SUGGESTION DERIDED
12 ROOF COLLAPSE INJURES FIVE
13 MCP PROTESTS ON FOREIGN LAWYERS
14 PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS CHANGE CLUBS
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Articles:
1 GOVERNMENT SUED OVER NOTEBOOK SCAM
A local company is suing government for K6 million (US$200,000) for breach of contract in connection with the supply of learning materials for free primary education after the central tender board is alleged to have irregularly cancelled a tender agreement. Anne Phiri of Premier Trading Company told the high court in Blantyre on the second day of hearing in the "note book scam case" that the tender board cancelled a tender she had been awarded to supply slates to the ministry of education. According to Ms Phiri, Sam Mpasu, former minister of education lied when he told the court that the reason why government urgently purchased notebooks instead of unbreakable slates was that her company had failed to meet the tender requirements.
Another company, FieldYork International of UK, is also suing the Malawi government in connection with irregularities in the supply of free primary school exercise books and other materials. In the case Mpasu has sued The Democrat newspaper for defamation following an article the newspaper carried alleging that Mpasu received hefty kickbacks in return for awarding the notebook contract to FieldYork.
Mpasu, while admitting there were irregularities in procedures has denied there were any shady deals.
A letter dated September 15 1994 tendered in evidence, from the Central Tender Board informed Premier Trading of the board's approval of the latter's quotation for the supply of 1.2 million unbreakable slates and 2.5 million pencils. A few days later the contract was cancelled saying it had been an error.
2 DUTCH WOMAN IN FAMILY FEUD
An irate Dutch woman married to a Malawian clergyman on recently ordered her watch guard to shoot relatives of her husband who were involved in a family feud with her over property. In the shoot out, an expectant woman was shot dead while three men sustained gunshot wounds.
The Dutch woman, Anne Robinson, married to Pastor Lewis Chikhwaza of the Bible Faith Ministries of Blantyre sustained multiple injuries when a horde of angry villagers descended on her executing instant justice.
The feud is centred around a 50 acre piece of land belonging to Chikhwaza in Bvumbwe, on the outskirts of Blantyre. Robinson admitted she had ordered the guard, Laison Bandula to open fire at a group of villagers who were shouting at her over the feud.
3 ONE KILLED IN INDIAN HEMP HAUL
Police in Nkhota-kota, central Malawi, killed one person and arrested 13 others when they intercepted the biggest ever Indian hemp haul with a street value of K6 million (US$200,000 ).
The police mounted a roadblock after receiving a tip-off. The 10,000 kilos of hemp was being transported from Nkhota-kota to the capital, Lilongwe.
According to the police, the dead man, identified as Davy Phiri, once served a jail sentence for dealing in hemp.
4 AFORD WITHDRAWS CASE
The Blantyre High Court on October 8 accepted an application by Aford to retract a case seeking to declare that President Bakili Muluzi violated the constitution by continuing to appoint cabinet ministers from the opposition after the break-up of the coalition between Aford and the ruling UDF. They also wished the High Court to rule that the speaker of the national assembly erred in not declaring the seats vacant.
Aford's lawyer Bazuka Mhango said he had made the application in view of the upcoming round table talks involving all three political parties represented in parliament and mediated by the Malawi Institute for Democratic and Economic Affairs (Midea). Justice Duncan Tambala accepted the application and saying Aford was free to take the case back to court should the talks not bring forth the desired results.
5 MALAWI BANS TOBACCO ADVERTISING ON RADIO
Malawi has hit itself where it hurts most. It has banned the advertising of tobacco through the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation radio. Tobacco is Malawi's biggest foreign exchange earner accounting for 74% of export earnings, and employing thousands when the crop is in season.
Chief of Health Services, Dr Wesley Sangala, said although the World Health Organisation spared Malawi the anti-smoking lobby's pressure against the growing of tobacco due to the crop's economic importance to the country, it was still required to ban advertising of tobacco products in the media, especially radio and other places like buses and billboards. Through a letter to the MBC, and BAT, the country's only cigarette manufacturer, the Health ministry instructed the radio station to immediately stop advertising tobacco.
Sangala said, however, Malawi was one of the few countries in the world that would not be pressured to stop tobacco growing until the country found alternative income sources. Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) president, Andrew Mzumacharo said he was shocked at the development describing it as "total suicide on the part of the government". He said Malawi had been left out by the international community on the anti-tobacco smoking campaign and therefore found no reason for the government to ban tobacco advertisements saying the ban would affect the tobacco industry which has a big local market.
6 UDF DISOWNS DEFECTOR'S PROBLEMS
The ruling UDF, on a massive recruitment exercise, has said it did not inherit the personal problems and would not pay for the legal expenses of Charles Kamphulasa, its latest catch from the opposition MCP.
Kamphulusa is answering to charges of conspiring to murder Catholic Bishops in 1992 along with other MCP officials. The defence costs for Kamphulusa and other co-accused officials in the case, except MCP treasurer general John Tembo, were being paid by the MCP.
UDF Southern Region governor, Luke Jumbe, said that Kamphulusa's defection had no strings attached to it.
7 COMMISSION DISMISSES ACCUSATIONS
The Electoral Commission which has been accused of financial mismanagement has dismissed the accusations describing them as being "full of malice". This followed an article recently carried in The Nation newspaper, alleging that K15 million (US$1 million) had been misused during the two years the commission has been operational.
Commission's Press Officer, Morgan Mayani, one of the few senior permanent employees at the secretariat and presently largely responsible for authorising expenditure, said a report by auditors which pointed out anomalies in the financial records of the commission had been discussed with the auditors who only demanded that in future the commission be strict with the way it controls expenditures by insisting on returns for expenses on such items as fuel.
Mayani said the commission strongly felt the report had a malicious motive. "People would like to undermine us in view of the Ndirande by-election," he said adding that some cabinet ministers, such as Lands and Valuation minister Peter Fachi, have clearly stated that the commission should be replaced because the UDF does not like the decisions it makes on certain issues.
8 POLICE PROBE CHIHANA ON ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT
Although accusations of rampant corruption in government have come from several quarters, it is only Aford President Chakufwa Chihana who has been probed by police causing speculation that the move by police was politically motivated. Chihana was the first person in December last year to accuse the ruling UDF government, at that time in coalition with Aford, of corruption. He was then second vice president, a position he relinquished in May, this year.
In August, the same charge was made by Rolf Patel, a former minister in the government. He made the allegation after he had been ditched as cabinet minister in a reshuffle.
Muluzi, defending his government, said there was no corruption and has hit back at his detractors saying anyone accusing government of corruption should provide evidence.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau said a few weeks ago that when need arose it would ask police to investigate allegations of corruption, so that when police went to probe Chihana on the charges, it was thought that they were acting on instructions from the bureau. But ACB director Gilton Chiwaula denied having sent police to probe Chihana saying that his organisation was not yet operational because, among other things, it did not have a secretariat.
9 DISILLUSIONED CHIUME TAKES SWIPE AT LEADERSHIP
Former exile Kanyama Chiume has taken a swipe at the country's political leadership saying it needed changing because it is composed of "reminiscences of dark days" of the past regime. Chiume was one of the leaders of small parties which embraced with zeal and put their trust in the formation of the Common Electoral Group in the run-up to the general elections as the only way to dislodge the dictatorship of Kamuzu Banda.
He said that the real direction of the present leadership depended on the "fatness of the financial carrot dangled before individuals". He has offered to mediate in talks over the political impasse between Aford, MCP and UDF by convening a meeting at the end of this month involving concerned Malawians, diplomats, political and religious leaders and trade unionist to discuss the appointment of ministers from the opposition without consultation with their parties which he said diluted multi-party democracy and could plunge the country back into the vicious cycle of one party dictatorship.
Chiume said the situation is being aggravated by weaknesses in the constitution which gave room to the executive arm of government to deliberately flout constitutional conventions and ethics.
10 COMMISSION SEEKS MORE POWER
Malawi's electoral body is seeking more powers from parliament to enable it to punish any political party involved in violence in the run-up to an election. Electoral Commission's chairperson, Anastazia Msosa, said the commission will soon lobby parliament to amend the Presidential and Parliamentary Election Act to empower it to suspend any political party that disrupts the electoral process.
The need for more power for the commission comes in the wake of increasing incidents of violence during political campaigns by supporters of rival parties. Presently the commission cannot act on any incident of violence during campaigning until one of the aggrieved parties complains to the commission in writing. Even when the commission receives such a complaint, it has to rely on the police to investigate incidents and this can take too long. This has caused a lot of dissatisfaction among the members of the political parties.
11 CHIHANA'S GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY SUGGESTION DERIDED
Aford president Chakufwa Chihana has been criticised as being unrealistic and that his views cannot be taken seriously. This follows a statement he made recently proposing a government of national unity to resolve the current political squabbling. Chihana told a rally in his northern region stronghold that only a government of national involving all the main political parties, UDF, MCP and Aford would iron out the present political impasse in the country.
MCP vice president Gwanda Chakuamba and UDF publicity secretary Cassim Chilumpha wondered how Chihana, who had failed to work in alliance with both the UDF and the MCP, would now manage to bring all the three parties together saying it was Chihana who ditched the MCP, with which his party formed an alliance soon after the general elections in 1994. Soon after he went into another marriage with the ruling UDF. Chilumpha and Chakuamba said they found Chihana's proposal "very strange and not feasible".
In an editorial, the daily Nation newspaper, which has never had good words for Chihana, described the Aford leader as a political prostitute. The Nation is owned by Mbumba Achutan, daughter of Finance Minister Aleke Banda.
The country is awash with stories that Chihana has been holding private talks with Chakuamba on the possibility of forming another alliance against the government. Both Aford and MCP walked out of parliament during the last session in protest against President Bakili Muluzi's appointment of Aford MPs into the cabinet without consulting their party.
12 ROOF COLLAPSE INJURES FIVE
Five people were injured on 15 October, one of them seriously, when a portion of a Blantyre hotel roof collapsed.
Among the more than 30 people who escaped unhurt from the tragedy at Ryall's Hotel was Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Bingu Mutharika. Mutharika was holding discussions with Malawian businessmen on how to conduct business in the Comesa region.
The hotel is now likely to close for renovations. A senior officer at the hotel who opted for anonymity said the hotel's structural engineers were now set to recommend temporary closure of the hotel where cracks had been visible in the walls for some time.The source said the hotel, the oldest hotel in Malawi built more than 55 years ago, was in bad shape and needed complete renovation.
13 MCP PROTESTS ON FOREIGN LAWYERS
Lawyers for the Malawi Congress Party in the Press Trust appeal case on October 15 protested against the admission to the bar of two British lawyers hired by the Attorney General to represent him in the proceedings. The appeal case started on October 15 in the Supreme Court in Blantyre. The Attorney General wants the Supreme Court to reverse the High Court ruling which declared null and void the Press Trust Reconstruction Act because it was passed without the required quorum in the national assembly.
The foreign lawyers are Patrick Elias, QC and Andrew Dobson, solicitor. The case is being presided over by Mrs Justice Msosa, Justice Isaac Mtambo and Justice James Kalaile. Solicitor General Steve Matenje, who is leading the state counsel in the case argued that the foreign lawyers were already admitted to the bar by both the Chief Justice and the Law Society of Malawi.
However, Temwa Nyirenda counsel for the MCP, said section 98 of the Malawi constitution, under which the office of the Attorney General was established gives the Attorney General powers to engage only public servants who are his subordinates to represent him in constitutional matters in court. Nyirenda said the two lawyers were neither public servants nor subordinates of the Attorney General and were thus not eligible to represent him in the case.
14 PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS CHANGE CLUBS
Two South African-based Malawi professional footballers, defender Meke Mwase and midfielder Hendrix Banda, have signed with a newly-launched Port Elizabeth premier league side, Michau Warriors.
Both players have been debuting with Jomo Cosmos before Michau Huisamen owner of the new club lured them to his new outfit. The transfer of the two was reported in South Africa's latest soccer magazine, Soccer News.
In their first encounter against veteran Umtata Bush Bucks, Hendrix Banda is reported to have played a pivotal role in propelling his team to victory having caused havoc up front.
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From: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk (Africa_news Network) Subject: MALAWI NEWS ONLINE - #18 Date: 31 Oct 1996 09:00:58 GMT Message-Id: <1262325591.15285446@inform-bbs.dk>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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