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MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE
Edition No: 12 26 July
1996
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Online
The fortnightly update of news from
Malawi
MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is written by Malawian journalists in Malawi and 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, the 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.
MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is brought to you by a co-operation between South Africa Contact and Inform-bbs, the leading alternative information network in Denmark.
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In this edition:
Feature: HELL IN MALAWI'S PRISONS
Articles:
1 K200 MILLION GRANT FOR POWER PROJECT
2 THE WAR AGAINST POLIO
3 GUARD AND PRISONERS PUNISHED AFTER DRINKING SPREE
4 MALAWI TO GET ITS FIRST 5-STAR HOTEL
5 RETRENCH OR PERISH
6 PRISONERS PLEA FOR CLEMENCY
7 MALAWI POLYTECHNIC CLOSES DOWN
FEATURE: HELL IN MALAWI'S PRISONS
Life in Malawi's prisons is turning out to be hell, report human rights activists who visited the country's biggest central prison in Zomba, south Malawi.
Although government is making an effort to reform the institution - largely due to the prodding of international organisations like the Red Cross and Amnesty International - Malawi's prisons remain death traps.
Executive Director of Malawi Democratic Institute of Economic Affairs, Shyley Kondowe, leading a delegation that visited the maximum security prison in Zomba, said that statistics on the health of inmates and their general welfare are chilling. Kondowe said, referring to the health of inmates, that there is a high prevalence of diseases such as tuberculosis and scabies.
He said that between January and June this year, 26.4% of the inmates at the prison were suffering from TB and in addition, 58.8% of them had TB/HIV related complications with 17.6% of prisoners having full-blown AIDS.
What is even more pathetic is that medication for the patients is almost non-existent. "There were cases where some prisoners who have TB were being given aspirin because drugs are not available,'' said Kondowe. Apart from the lack of drugs, Kondowe said, the prison's medical system is greatly undermined by lack of personnel and equipment. The incidence of disease is exacerbated by the diet, which Kondowe described as ''extremely low.'' Prisoners are still served only one meal a day which makes it even more difficult for inmates suffering from TB to recuperate.
Kondowe said his group encountered a case where nsima (the local staple food - a thick porridge), that had been prepared some two days earlier, was still being served to the inmates. "The beans that served with nsima are rotten," Kondowe said. He said this results in a high rate of deaths, a rate always on the increase inside the prison walls.
Kondowe said eight people had died during the past two weeks at Zomba Central Prison alone, representing a death rate of one person every two days. ''We saw a number of sick prisoners sleeping out on the floor, left for dead, and uncared for. They were in a very pathetic situation because nobody was attending to them.''
Most prisoners have no blankets and there is overcrowding in the cells, some of which house as many as 20 inmates when they are obviously designed for far fewer people. Prisons Public Relations Officer Winston Manyela bemoaned the situation and blamed the lack of facilities like blankets, uniforms and other basic equipment for prisoners on the meagre financial allocations made by the government.
Kondowe also commented on the fact that some 800 remandees on homicide cases have not been taken to court. Director of Public Prosecutions, Kamudoni Nyasulu, also blamed this on the inadequate funding by the government.
Given enough funds, he said, he would hire lawyers in private practice to deal with the cases adding that unless there is an adequate cash injection into public prosecution, trial of the 800 remandees held in the various prisons would not be completed within the next two years. He said his department currently needs US$500,000 to prosecute the homicide remandees, some of whom have already spent two years in waiting in prison.
Some human rights organisations are recommending the establishment of a special tribunal to examine the cases and grant the remandees bail. But, Nyasulu said, the setting up of a tribunal would not solve the problem. For a tribunal to operate, he said, it needs the involvement of legal aid, the judiciary and the prosecution. "If there is money, why not give it to these three sections?" he queried.
Kondowe also said that torture equipment, such as straight jackets, was still being kept in the prison. He said this was a violation of human rights, adding that some prison authorities might be tempted to use them on the inmates. He recommended that they be taken to a museum.
ARTICLES:
1 K200 MILLION GRANT FOR POWER PROJECT
The German government is to provide a K200 million (US$13.34 million) grant to Malawi for the country's new hydro-electric scheme, Kapichira, in south Malawi. The signing ceremony for this took place on July 18 in Lilongwe.
Finance Minister, Aleke Banda, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Malawi government, said the Kapichira project would enable the country to supply adequate electricity to the country's urban, peri-urban and rural areas and will provide an alternative source of energy to ease the burden on fuel wood and charcoal.
The Acting German Ambassador to Malawi, Dr Wolfgang Klapper, signing on behalf of his government said the extension of Malawi's present electricity supply was essential for the country's future since demand for electricity would exceed current electricity production by the end of the decade.
The main financier of the project is the World Bank.
2 THE WAR AGAINST POLIO Malawi, on July 17, launched a countrywide campaign to immunise over 2,000,000 children against polio. It is estimated that the lives of nearly 300,000 children could be saved each year through the campaign.
The World Health Organisation-funded campaign is targeting children aged between one to five years. The Acting WHO representative in Malawi, Chris Forshaw, hopes that polio will be eradicated by raising coverage of routine immunisation and by supplementary immunisation.
The Malawi government has taken the opportunity to simultaneously administer supplementary oral vitamin A, the deficiency of which is said to be ''very common among Malawian children under 5 year of age.
3 GUARD AND PRISONERS PUNISHED AFTER DRINKING SPREE
A prison sergeant at Ntcheu prison in central Malawi has been posted to Mzuzu prison in the north as punishment for bad conduct after he took four prisoners under his guard on a drinking spree.
The prison official, Chikana Moyo, took the four prisoners to work at the prison's vegetable garden, about a kilometre away from the prison yard. While there, he decided to take them to a beer hall where some of them had one too many. One of the prisoners could barely manage to stagger back to the prison camp. One collapsed on the way. When they arrived back at the camp, they aggravated other inmates who reported them to the prison authorities.
Prison authorities have now posted Chikana Moyo to Mzuzu as a disciplinary measure, while the four prisoners have been transferred to Maula prison in the capital, Lilongwe.
4 MALAWI TO GET FIRST 5-STAR HOTEL
Malawi's first five star hotel is to shoot up in sight of the New State House in Lilongwe, which is slated to be turned into an international conference centre.
Cabinet has approved a K780 million (US$52 million) project to be undertaken at the extravagant - K700 million (US 46.67 million) - State House built by former president Kamuzu Banda, in order to convert the presently under-utilised facility into a commercial entity.
Deputy Chief Economist in the Economic Planning and Development Ministry, Dr Henry Ng'ombe, said a 200-rooms hotel will be built in the complex yard to supplement the tourist facilities being planned for the premises, adding that the present buildings will be commercialised by offering international conference facilities and other recreation services.
Several local companies are lined up ready to participate in this colossal venture with foreign companies also bidding for partnership shares. The project is expected to start before the end of this year.
5 RETRENCH OR PERISH
The World Bank Resident representative in Malawi, Arif Zulfiqar, said July 18 that the government could choose to retrench some civil servants and succeed with the civil service reform programme, or avoid retrenchment and perish by perpetuating inefficiency and unnecessary public spending.
Zulfiqar said that the World Bank could not make the decisions for the government though the bank was committed to assisting the Malawi government in its reform programme.
He was reacting to the Secretary to the President and cabinet Alfred Upindi's recent statement that government had shelved the retrenchment programme due to financial problems.
Zulfiqar said that if the government decides not to retrench, it should be prepared to face problems like strikes for salary increases, since it is not possible to offer attractive wages to the present oversized civil service. He also said that any improperly planned salary increases now would result in a budget deficit and possibly a rise in inflation.
6 PRISONERS PLEA FOR CLEMENCY
Prisoners serving various sentences in Malawi's jails still face problems communicating with the outside world despite claims of transparency and reforms.
Several inmates had to secretly smuggle letters out of Zomba Central Prison during a visit there recently by a group of human rights activists.
Several letters, one of which is believed to have been written by ex-army Colonel James Njoloma and addressed to President Bakili Muluzi asking for clemency, were passed on to the visitors.
Njoloma is serving a 14-year sentence after a court martial found him guilty of organising a mutiny. He is kept in the section of the prison reserved for prisoners awaiting capital punishment.
Prison authorities said, however, that they were surprised that prisoners had to secretly send letters out of prison. They said the system was open. A member of the prison authorities did, however, confirm that all letters from prisoners are opened by the prison authorities and vetted before they are sent out.
7 MALAWI POLYTECHNIC CLOSES DOWN
The Malawi Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi, was closed indefinitely on July 18 until the authorities concerned address demands by lecturers for salary increments.
The closure has resulted in students not being able to take their examinations. The students were advised to vacate the campus on July 19 and wait until the salary issue is resolved.
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From: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk (Africa_news Network) Subject: Malawi News Online - (12) Date: 04 Aug 1996 09:00:37 GMT Message-Id: <1262350302.33125308@inform-bbs.dk>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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