Malawi: Ethanol-Driven Vehicle Under Test

A Malawi project investigating ethanol-based fuels is conducting road tests on an ethanol-propelled vehicle.

Supporters of the project argue that a switch to ethanol fuel would not only benefit the environment but also increase employment in the country's sugarcane industry and save on foreign exchange spent on fuel imports.

According to Freeman Kalirani, a lead researcher on the project -- based at Lilongwe Technical College and conducted jointly with the department of science and technology -- a modified Mitsubishi Pajero will be tested over a 350 kilometre route from Lilongwe to Mzuzu.

The five-year, US$1 million project, backed by the Malawi government, is investigating the practicability of flex-fuel vehicles that use either 100 per cent locally manufactured ethanol, or a combination of ethanol and petrol.

Until February 2006, all cars in Malawi used leaded petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol. Since then, the country has switched to unleaded petrol blended with 10 per cent ethanol. Proponents of ethanol use argue that continued over-dependence on fossil fuels has economic, social, climate and biodiversity impacts for humans and the entire ecosystem.

Kendron Chisale, Malawi's deputy director of science and technology, said a switch to ethanol would allow Malawi to comply with procedures aimed at emission reduction, as agreed by parties at the 2006 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Nairobi in November. "This will eventually mitigate climate change related disasters," he says.

Charles Mtonga, an economic analyst, told SciDev.Net that one advantage of using ethanol as a renewable energy source is that it can increase employment in the sugarcane industry. "It can also save on foreign exchange lost through importation of petroleum products," he said

But Mtonga cautioned against over-enthusiasm, calling for continued research on how vehicles previously propelled by petrol can best be modified to use ethanol.

He also warned that huge investments in production and installation of additional pumps would be required to make ethanol fuel available throughout the country.

Malawi produces ethanol from sugar molasses in bulk amounts at Dwangwa, in the central region lakeshore district of Nkhota-kota.

Steps across time

by Mzati Nkolokosa , 13 December 2006 - 09:11:20

The first and second presidents of Malawi had their own way of dealing with crises. Now the third president, Bingu wa Mutharika, seems to be different—altogether. First president of Malawi Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda had his own way of ruling the country, a way different from the other two leaders: Bakili Muluzi and Bingu wa Mutharika. In July, 1964, Malawians danced to the tune of freedom. On the eve of lowering the British Union Jack and raising the Malawi flag, people danced to hopes of a better tomorrow under self rule. But as one poet recalls, what was supposed to be freedom turned into a 30-year arduous journey of fleeing into exile, detention without trial and mysterious deaths. Two months after independence, Banda faced opposition from his own Cabinet. He dismissed three ministers—Kanyama Chiume, Orton Chirwa and Harry Bwanausi. Three others—Yatuta Chisiza, Henry Masauko Chipembere and Willie Chokani—resigned in protest. This was a Cabinet of educated men and women, principled, too. They knew the dignity of resignation, a powerful lesson missed by many who stick to positions even when they are implementing ideas against their conscience. Banda soon turned into a dictator. (This is what we are forgetting. Banda was a dictator in whose time Malawians suffered a lot. It is a mockery of our history if we turn him into a secular saint.) Yet Banda won an overwhelming vote of confidence in Parliament. His chief opponent, Henry Masauko Chipembere, was placed under house arrest but ran away. Banda immediately announced new security measures to stop rebellion. He used tyranny to deal with opposition until 1991 when the heavy wind of change was inevitable and Banda was blown off into democracy. But before that he used tyranny. Period. Decade of Muluzi Thirty years of dictatorship came to an end in June, 1993 when Malawians, inspired by their inner desire for freedom, voted for multiparty democracy. The founding president of the multiparty democracy had his own challenges. Months after the May, 1994 elections, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the Alliance for Democracy (Aford) formed an alliance. UDF went into Parliament with 83 MPs in a House of 168 members. The rest were in the alliance basically to give Muluzi tough time. There was even talk of impeachment. But this crisis was managed. Muluzi hooked Aford into government by making its leader Chakufwa Chihana Second Vice-President. Other party officials were taken into the Cabinet. Twenty months later, Chihana ended the political marriage, but he lost some of his officials who remained in government. After the 1999 elections, Chihana came into government as second Vice-President, again. It seems this position in Malawi was solely created for Chihana because he is the only one who occupied the office and it doesn’t seem likely the vacancy will be filled. This second time, Muluzi was facing a crisis of leaving office. He, most brazenly, wanted to remain in office beyond the constitutional two terms. And Aford was a means of achieving this shame for which Muluzi has not yet apologised to the people of Malawi. In both cases, Muluzi used the appeasement policy. He bloated his Cabinet to 46. Perhaps Muluzi is not a political engineer. He was an engineer of appeasement, a policy that has always failed in world history. Political engineering—if at all there is that field—is a combination of liberty and economic growth. Muluzi failed on both. He left the country poorer than he found it. He robbed people of their freedoms. In the times of crisis he failed to manage the economy. His party’s Young Democrats were beating up people with alternative views. Further, Muluzi didn’t listen to brilliant minds in his party. People like Justin Malewezi and Aleke Banda were disgraced. Muluzi used appeasement, mistakenly referred to as political engineering. Enter Mutharika President Bingu wa Mutharika was supposed to be out of office by now, so said opposition leaders. Gwanda Chakuamba was exact, saying Mutharika would not be President by Christmas 2005. This is now about Christmas 2006 and Mutharika is still in office. Yet impeachment was not the first trouble for Mutharika. His reign has been a troublesome three years. Mutharika came into office with about 30 percent of the May, 2004, elections vote. The President’s inaugural speech on May 25, 2004, was a departure from UDF style. It became clear that Mutharika would follow a different style from that of Muluzi, a man who had just handed the presidency to Mutharika. The paradox was that Mutharika’s inaugural speech was welcomed by those who rejected him: the print media, the opposition, the civil society. That same speech was rejected by UDF because it was a bitter pill meant to heal the country’s ailing economy. The first visible trouble for Mutharika was the probability of the rejection of the 2004 budget. Members of Parliament who worked with UDF reveal that the party planned to reject the budget. Malawians were worried. The civil society felt sorry for a President who seemed powerless. This revealed the way Mutharika was to deal with crises. He went on public radio and television to plead for public sympathy by portraying UDF and MCP as rejecting the budget. The President went further to explain what a year without an approved budget means to people. “There will be no medicine, no subsidised fertiliser,” he said. “There will be no money to pay the MPs, too.” It worked. The country was against opposition MPs. Students from the universities of Malawi and Mzuzu besieged the gates of New State House to threaten opposition MPs. Some MPs had to hide in the dusty townships of the Capital City. This method worked again when the President was threatened with impeachment. The country turned up against opposition MPs. Now it is clear Mutharika seeks and uses public sympathy—legitimately or not—during crises and so far he has sailed through. The most recent search for public sympathy was at the weekend when Mutharika, whose administration has messed up the distribution of fertiliser coupons, accused the opposition of sabotage. The mess is Mutharika’s own but politically he has managed to convince some, thousands perhaps, that this is the opposition’s mess. There is one difference, though. Mutharika has been able to manage the economy while managing political troubles while Muluzi was busy appeasing political buddies at the expense of the economy. Interest rates have now been reduced. These might not be remarkable achievements. But an achievement is an achievement. Conclusion The theory that it takes one man to destroy a country is true. Zimbabwe, built by millions for decades and destroyed by Robert Mugabe in a couple of years, is a typical example. In the years to come, history will analyse the three leaders and choose who, among them, was close to a democrat, one who ran a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Feedback: mzatinews@yahoo.com

Uhuru should learn from Malawi

Rather than being former president Daniel arap Moi’s man, as recent events indicate, Uhuru Kenyatta’s style as president of Kenya might have been much like Malawi’s after Bakili Muluzi and Zambia’s after Frederick Chiluba.

Both of these men assumed that their replacements (Bingu wa Mutharika in Malawi and Levy Mwanawasa in Zambia) would be friendly to their legacies and continue to advance their interests once they had stepped down. How sadly mistaken they were.

Robert Alu
Dar es Salaam

Malawi cuts rates to 20%

13/11/2006 13:57

ilongwe - Malawi's central bank on Monday cut its bank lending rate by five percentage points to 20% because of lower inflation and an improving economy, a bank spokesperson said on Monday. "Inflation has been dropping tremendously this year," central bank spokesperson Mirriam Wemba said. "We can (now) forecast that by December next year, the (inflation) rate will drop to (around) eight and five percent," she added. The International Monetary Fund, which last month cancelled 90% of Malawi's debt burden of $2.9bn, wants to see inflation for 2006 reduced to single digits in the impoverished southern African nation. The National Statistical Office put year-on-year inflation at 12% in August. Financial analysts welcomed the central bank's decision, adding the reduction in rates was long overdue. "This will stir production and growth," said Sadwick Ntonakuntha, economist at Malawi's chamber of commerce.

Creditors continue to write off Malawi's debts

afrol News, - Malawi is enjoying a great deal of benevolence from its creditors that continue to cancel the country's huge debts. First, it was the Paris Club that announced that it would write off Malawi's stock of debts on 19 October.

Now it is the turn of Japan that has done tremendous efforts to lobby for Malawi to have its debts written off by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund through the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).

Malawi owed Japan US$ 250 million, which amounted to over half of the cancelled debt. The two countries went further to sign a new grant of kwacha 860 million (US$ 5.9 million) for the improvement of rural health facilities.

Debt cancellation signals a major victory for the economic policies of President Bingu wa Mutharika.

However, Malawi continues to sign more debts and grants so as to grease its economy and improve better living conditions for its citizens.

It signed a grant agreement with African Development Bank (ADB) amounting to US$ 22.2 million. The grant will allow Malawi to finance small holder crop production and marketing project.

The agreement was signed by the bank's group Vice President for Sector Operations, Mrs Zeinab El Bakri and Malawian Ambassador to Egypt, Mr M'Madi Yahya in Tunisia, an ADB statement stated.

Mrs El Bakri emphasised the importance the bank group attaches to portfolio quality improvement and timely fulfilment of the grant conditions.

"As the Bank undertakes to support this operation, we look forward to working closely with the government to ensure its timely implementation and also build synergies with other Bank activities in the sector in order to alleviate poverty and increase the income of the population of Malawi," she said.

Ambassador Yahaya commended the bank for its" relentless efforts" in supporting Malawi's development programmes. "We do not take this gesture for granted. The government of the Republic of Malawi would therefore like to assure you that it will continue to follow the laid down procedures in implementing Bank-funded projects," he added.

The project comprises the development of irrigations and the mitigation of environmental impact as well as support to farmers in crop production, management and marketing. It will cover 19 of Malawi's 28 districts.

It was also said to contribute to poverty reduction and food security in rural Malawi by increasing productivity and income of rural households. This was to be achieved through the intensification and diversification of the existing cropping system and improvement of the marketing system which will significantly increase production, productivity and incomes of small farmers while improving household nutrition and environmental management of natural resources at the same time.

The estimated number of beneficiary households was said to be 8,756, or a total of 45,531 people of which 4,000 were households headed by women. About 76 percent of Malawi's rural population was to benefit, directly or indirectly, from the market improvement activities, according to the bank's optimistic figures.

Give credit where it is due MCP
By Daily Times - 24 October 2006 - 03:55:44

There is this fallacy about opposition politics: that their sole role is to criticise government and criticise, even when that government is doing very fine for its people, especially on the economic front.

Sadly, that is what seems to be the malady of Malawi Congress Party (MCP), and their decision to stay away from the party that this country erupted into after the yoke of international debt was lifted, was not understandable then and is still not understandable now.

The stance taken by MCP, the refusal to give due credit to those in this country who spent sleepless nights for this country to be given debt relief, is a stance that will ultimately not win this party many sympathisers and votes.

For the record, the debt that Malawi was relieved of was not accumulated in the period that the DPP government has been in power. Much, if perhaps not all of that huge debt was accumulated during the period when the MCP and later the UDF were in power.

Some people in this country are not entirely convinced that the debt we all collectively were responsible to pay back to the World Bank and IMF was entirely put to good use. There are many people convinced that whereas it was the rest of us condemned to paying back this debt, some of that money was abused that it eventually found its way into some people’s private pockets.

In fact, it is true that with our low productivity, with our perennially underachieving economy, the burden of the debt was enormous and it’s a wild guess how long it was going to take this country to pay back. Other people say it was going to take generations.

Again for the record, attempts to have the debt forgiven, partially or wholly, did not start with the government of Bingu wa Mutharika.

The previous administrations tried and failed to win donor confidence to have the debt wiped out because, by and large, the donors were afraid that they would throw good money after bad.

The IMF and World Bank were not entirely convinced that if they relieved us from paying for money some of which our leaders had squandered, we would not go on and do more of the same.

Remember that for a long time, Malawi was being asked to trim down on the size of its bloated cabinet, to cut down drastically on domestic and international presidential travel and to spend wisely within our means because some of our expenditure was becoming too much of a strain on the national budget, even delivery of service to crucial public institutions was suffering as a result.

So, there had to come a government that was to convince the Bretton Woods Institutions that it meant its word, that it had the political will to bring this country back from the brink of spending as if money kept falling like manna from heaven.

The MCP knows that the IMF and the World Bank did not just wake up and declared us free from debt. There was a period that they monitored this government and if there was to be a moment that they doubted the sincerity of this government, we would have long been left in the woods.

It’s very interesting some of the things the MCP has said, but it takes a strong man to salute the good done by an adversary.

It is by admitting that the DPP-led government did us good by winning the confidence of the IMF and World Bank that the MCP will show that it has come of age.

Malawi paying a price for the political choice we made in 1994 and 1999 electing Dr. Bakili Muluzi as President whose government recklessly borrowed from the domestic market, leaving us and our children with a huge debt burden to settle Honourable Folks, coming from a background of financial mediocrity that led to frequent closure of the donor aid tap during the Bakili Muluzi administration, the news that multilateral donors have now forgiven 90 percent of our USD2.9 billion external debt is quite a remarkable achievement by the Bingu wa Mutharika administration. Congratulations Mr. President and your government! I fully understand the excitement that led to the special presidential address to the nation through MBC and TVM on Friday night, hours after World Bank, IMF and Ministry of Finance announced the good news at a joint press conference in Blantyre. The debt relief means we won’t have to spend K15 billion annually servicing the external debt for the next 20 years. Quite a big save indeed and, used prudently, can make a difference in the social and economic spheres of life. I think I’m justified to assume that part of this money will be spent on drugs for our public hospitals so that they can stop being called “departure lounge” for the grave. Education, too, needs attention if our children are to avoid getting jobs fraudulently by using fake certificates as is already the case now. We do not only need chalk, books and other material resources but also well-qualified and properly-trained teachers to take over from the secondary school dropouts who are currently cheating pupils in the many unregulated public and private schools that came with multipartyism. In agriculture, there’s need for an urgent and serious campaign to wean villagers from rain-fed farming which makes us beg for food virtually annually when Lake Malawi and Shire River have fresh water flowing along the entire length of the country from Karonga to Nsanje the whole year round. Why not combine rain-fed and irrigation farming so that we can harvest three to four times as is already happening in the Manthimba Irrigation Scheme in Thyolo? How I wish the previous regime had controlled borrowing from the domestic market. We would’ve been saving much more than K15 billion annually! Unfortunately, domestic debts incurred by the previous regime to finance imprudent public spending are 100 percent the burden of yours and mine. Only that as we are struggling to pay, it’s better to realise we are paying a price for the political choice we made in 1994 and 1999. We elected Dr. Bakili Muluzi as President whose government recklessly borrowed from the domestic market, leaving us and our children with a huge debt burden to settle. I hope this should teach Malawians to be more critical in future elections. But while Mutharika seems to be making enviable strides on the economy, his political performance is a disaster. Media reports portray Mutharika as a person who is desperately using bare hands to prevent political turbulence from destroying his political pillar, DPP. As the Attorney General’s office is trying, through the courts, to save the political careers of MPs who defected to DPP from other parties represented in Parliament, Mutharika himself, has a tough time convincing the MPs and other MPs that his party is anything but quick sand. Reports indicate that this week he had an audience with some of the defectors who allegedly wanted to go back to the parties that sponsored them before the courts rule on section 65, trying to convince them that they are safe in DPP. As this is happening, the Hon. Joyce Banda has quit DPP as secretary general, former Attorney General Ralph Kasambara and regional governor for the South Samson Msosa have quit the party altogether. Have we seen the last of these resignations? Hard to tell. There is absolutely no basis for optimism, especially considering that DPP is predominantly made of “recycled” politicians who ditched their old parties not so much for the love of Mutharika (there was none in 1999) as it was for the money and opportunities contained in his presidential wallet. Mutharika is likely to be significantly detracted from the business of running government if he has to get involved in patching up holes that easily appear on the walls of his unstable DPP. The question is: is it worth it? To build DPP, Mutharika had to poach from MCP, UDF and other parties, thereby souring relations with leaders of these parties. They are so bitter that they don’t even attend public functions. Sometimes they vent their wrath on innocent Malawians like Tumalisye Ndovi who has been denied the opportunity to serve as director of the Anti Corruption Bureau for no clear reason. DPP has also been a cause of strained relations between Mutharika and the civil society. They don’t like the use of vehicles from statutory corporations for carrying DPP supporters to presidential functions. Yet, for all the trouble, DPP still remains too weak numerically in Parliament to enable the Mutharika administration to push important bills on its own. Am I the only one who sees the folly of depending in Parliament on the goodwill of the same opposition parties the government side poaches from in its desperate efforts to make DPP an effective ruling party?

Debt relief good, and Bakili Muluzi's UDF's failure to obtain it while sadly digging potholes for those coming behind them to crash into.

06/09/06—Admittedly, one of the best things that has happened to Malawi in the past 12 years is the writing off last week of 90 percent of the country’s foreign debt—over K406 billion—by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. This sweet news would not have come at a better time than now for Malawi which badly needed this respite from donors.
As many commentators have said, no one can take away the credit from President Bingu wa Mutharika’s administration with Goodall Gondwe at the helm of the Finance Ministry for achieving this feat. This is especially so considering how remote debt cancellation looked only two years ago.
As we give credit to government for killing this beast and bringing its carcass home, mention should be made of the fact that the development has not just come like manna from heaven. Government was required to follow a strict fiscal regime to reach the completion point to qualify for debt relief. Debt cancellation has come through traversing a path the former government, for all its bragging about as a government that had economic development and the welfare of the people at heart as its number one agenda, not only failed to tread but also sadly dug potholes for those coming behind them to crash into.
One thing that was evident on the journey to debt relief was political will. Against all odds, government was not swayed by the need to be politically correct and kept faith with the strong desire to bail the country out of economic malaise. Honest Malawians will not be shy to admit that they never saw anything close to this—economic prudence—from the previous administration.
I am actually reminded about rude statements we usually heard like “I would rather be poor looking up than down, Ndimadya kwanu? We are a sovereign state so nobody should push us around”, etc. And if what someone has said that bad politics is barrier economics is anything to go by, then conversely, and for all its altercations with the opposition, the Mutharika government has been practising good politics. Which is why I believe even the opposition, well-known for their meanness in appreciating government’s work, have been generous in showering praises on government, a point I need not belabour.
With this good news, maybe it is about time we started afresh politically as well. We should do away with hate politics that has characterised most of the post-single party era. We should bid farewell to politics of vengeance. Let us avoid tit-for-tat. Such politics confirm people’s worst fears for hypocrisy which has come with government’s much-touted stand on zero-tolerance against corruption and graft in high offices. This is because tit-for-tat implies that government is selective in dealing with vices it is supposed to root out without looking at anybody’s face. An-eye-for-an-eye means that as long as you do not offend the powers that be you are safe even if you may have a cupboard full of skeletons.
Government could also do well to take debt cancellation as an opportunity to look back at the stumps it has crashed into along the way. The road has not been rosy. Government has made so many mistakes most of them with disastrous political and financial consequences. The most recent ones being the arrest of Vice President Cassim Chilumpha and 10 UDF cadres in connection with their alleged roles in Mutharika’s assassination plot. Government should ask itself if it is doing the right thing that nothing is happening on the assassination case six months after the arrests. Is the long delay in holding a judicial review justifiable?
Another grey area President Mutharika may do well to revisit is the hiring and firing of senior government officials which he has been doing willy-nilly. While it is his prerogative to do so, one wonders if he can justify such. Are all the people he has been firing unsuitable?
Lack of constitutionalism is another cancer in the Mutharika administration that needs to be removed. The calls for impeachment for violations of the Constitution may have been exaggerated but were not from without. And the fact that those peddling impeachment have not gone very far in materialising their objective does not absolve Mutharika of the blame. The President should have been in the forefront of defending rather breaching the supreme laws of the land. The list is long of things the President would have done better during the two years of his rule. But I think I have made my point.
As for the money freed by the cancellation of debt, the bottom line is that debt relief will be meaningless if the money freed from the development is not used to spur economic growth. With this money, let the masses see change in their lives.

A Monumental event in the history of Malawi as Malawi finally qualifies for debt relief


The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank on Friday announced a $2,9-billion debt-cancellation deal for Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries where 60% of the population lives on less than $1 per day.

The boards of the IMF and the World Bank -- two major sponsors of Malawi's economic reforms -- said this week that the country qualified for relief by completing the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative.

"This is a historic moment and very exciting news," Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said. "It's a major milestone and a stepping stone to getting Malawi out of poverty."

Gondwe, himself a former IMF director, said Malawi will save about $110-million every year as a result of the debt relief, which wiped out more than 90% of Malawi's debt.

"It's one of the biggest things that can happen to a country," and should help boost Malawi's economic growth of 2% annually to a target of 6%, the minister said.

Malawi has won praise from international donors since President Bingu wa Mutharika took office in 2004. The former economist has tried to modernise the economy and clamped down on rampant corruption.

But the reforms have had a heavy political prize. Mutharika's party narrowly survived an impeachment attempt by former allies, who accused the president of abusing his office. His former vice-president stands accused of treason in allegedly plotting to kill him, and there is a seemingly endless stream of political crises and high-profile court cases.

The IMF's country director, Thomas Baunsgaard, warned that Malawi needs to "look carefully at borrowing to avoid accumulating debt and avoid getting into a similar debt situation".

"Debt relief alone is not enough ... Malawi needs to tackle corruption and strengthen public financial management systems," he said. "The cornerstone is to continue fighting corruption. The government should be vigilant in that area."

At least 60% of Malawi's population of 12-million live in poverty, on less than $1 a day. A high rate of HIV/Aids infection has compounded the country's problems. -- Sapa-AP

Zambia and Malawi discuss anti-graft crusades


Lusaka - Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika and his Zambian counterpart Levy Mwanawasa Tuesday discussed their respective crusades against graft which have led to political repercussions for both leaders.

Mutharika told reporters after a closed-door meeting with Mwanawasa that "corruption is a cancer which must be fought by all governments," and pledged to continue the crackdown against graft.

"We are following the footsteps of Zambia in the fight against corruption," Zambian state radio quoted Mutharika as saying.

The two presidents held private talks in Ndola, a small Zambian mining town about 400km north of the capital Lusaka.

Mwanawasa and Mutharika have both launched vigorous anti-corruption crusades that have targeted their respective predecessors Frederick Chiluba and Bakili Muluzi.

Mutharika had faced impeachment proceedings after the dragnet was widened to include his predecessor and now estranged mentor.

Malawian prosecutors have charged Muluzi with 42 counts of corruption, theft and breach of trust for allegedly siphoning off $12-million of aid funds into a private bank account between 1999 and 2004.

Former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba faces charges of stealing $507 000 in state funds.

Chiluba went on trial in December 2003 in one of Africa's most high-profile corruption cases but the proceedings became bogged down in procedural problems and the case was dropped almost a year later.

He was later re-arrested and went on trial again in November 2004, charged with stealing $488 000 in state funds.

Mwanawasa's support in northern Zambia, Chiluba's birthplace, waned after the former president went on trial. - Sapa-AFP

International Pop Star Madonna finds a new Passion: Malawi

Mphandula, Malawi - The village headman here has never heard of Madonna, the pop star. But he knows Madonna the philanthropist.

Madonna has announced plans to raise at least $3-million (R20,4-million) for programmes to support the nearly one million children in Malawi who have lost parents to Aids. Mphandula's head man, who bears the same name as his village, said Thursday he had been contacted last month by organizers and told some of the money will build a feeding and education center for orphans in this village 50km from the capital.

"The orphanage project is about serving humanity. It will mean so much to us. We can only ask God to bless this person for her kindness," said Mphandula, who uses only one name.

Malawi is among the poorest countries in the world, hit by years of drought as well as an Aids epidemic. According to the National Aids Commission, the HIV and Aids pandemic has left close to a million orphans in this southern African country. Aids mainly affects the economically active age group of 15 to 49.

In most villages, many orphaned children being cared for either their slightly older siblings or grandparents.

"We have too many child-headed households here. We also have very old people looking after very young orphans. In both scenarios, food becomes a nightmare since the young ones cannot find enough to feed themselves and their siblings while the old ones do not have the power to look for food," Mphandula said.

A piece of land for the project has been identified but work has yet to begin.

Madonna joins a growing list of entertainer-activists who have focused on Africa. Angelina Jolie in Namibia and George Clooney in Darfur are among those who have given Africa money and, perhaps more importantly, shared with it the global attention their celebrity status draws.


Madonna outlined her plans for Malawi in an interview with Time magazine in its issue on newsstands Monday.

She was quoted as saying she plans to raise at least $3-million for programmes to support orphans in Malawi, and is giving $1-million to fund a documentary about the plight of children here. She is expected to visit in October.

She has also teamed up with developing-world economic expert Jeffrey Sachs on programs to improve the health, agriculture and economy of a village in Malawi, and she's met with former US President Bill Clinton about bringing low-cost medicines to the country.

Sachs has launched a series of comprehensive projects to transform villages in Africa, and Clinton last month announced a campaign against rural poverty in Malawi that will focus in part on combatting Aids.

Most of the farmers of Mphandula, where Madonna's orphan center is planned, live in mud-and-thatch huts, wear shoes only on special occasions and rarely can afford to eat meat.

The village has no electricity and only a few households have radios. No wonder few had heard of Madonna.

"I hear Madonna is coming here," said Michael Soko. The excited 24-year-old was the only one among 30 people interviewed in Mphandula who had heard of the Material Girl as entertainer.

"I know her song Holiday," he said. "We used to dance to it in school."

-story by Raphael Tenthani

Parliament makes history
by Andekuche D. Samalani Chanthunya, 04 August 2006 - 06:02:17

The tension that has been existing in Parliament reveals two things. The first is that our Parliament is a circus full of boring clowns. The second or perhaps most important is the absence of sensible policies.
It is the second revelation that has led to the halt of the development process in our nation. Parliamentarians remain too loyal to their leaders and political parties and in the absence of concrete policies one is only left to wonder if at all this Parliament will achieve anything in its five-year term.
In the three years so far, this Parliament has threatened to shoot down three budgets; has had more than three near punch-ups; has been prematurely adjourned more than 20 times; has rejected a Police Inspector General.
This Parliament has had chaos leading to the death of its Speaker; it has stopped or attempted to stop the implementation of the Malawi Rural Development Fund; denied giving government the access to a multi-million kwacha grant; recently rejecting several budget allocations; it has spent millions of taxpayers’ money discussing impeachment, Maybach, Section 65 etc and has seen the largest number of defections.
Parliament is made up of politicians and politics is about creating opportunities for fellow citizens, politics is about solving problems and helping those most in need. Politics is about new ideas of a country’s direction.
Politics and policy are inseparable. Unfortunately, only politics of obliteration exists in this Parliament. This renders this Parliament the most ineffective ever in Malawi. Even the one-party state Parliament, though rubber-stamping government’s policies still got things done.
Malawi seems to have come to a democratic deficit where Parliament has separated itself from policy formulation (since the parties lack policies) consequently leading to the detachment of Parliament and the common individuals who fund it.
The trouble perhaps is the lack of seriousness on the part of those in the circle. Policy statements from government or the President’s speeches are commented on by members of the civil society who only got to know of the issue through press reports; a UDF publicist who neither listened nor read the statement; an MCP spokesperson with totally no idea of the policies background.
All these interviewed and then reported by a journalist who does not understand the policy or statement in the first place. Then there is the political scientist who jumps at every opportunity for publicity ignoring the importance of research and all this gets to the ignorant man in love with political gossip. In the end, we are all losers.
The most painful thing is that MPs are doing all this at the expense of the taxpayer whom if given a choice would have spent that money wisely, perhaps in educating their children or maintaining the health of their parents in the village.
A parliament that fights 50 percent of its life and is half-empty in the remaining 50 percent is definitely not what Malawi needs at this point.
It is for this reason that many people—the hard working people who walk to Capital Hill every morning; those who spend the sunny days running for passing vehicles at Tsangano; those who cross rivers by jumping from one stone to the other; the people who work in their fields daily; the boys and girls who unfortunately go to school on an empty stomach everyday not forgetting the students who fail to do their best because they lack enough resources; the majority of these support President Bingu wa Mutharika and his government over the denial to raise salaries of MPs.
I loathe blaming education qualifications of MPs for I know many people with less or no education at all have achieved great political status the world over.
But if one votes against the budget allocation of funds to the Ministry of Information because they fear that public broadcasters—whom every now and again broadcast against them—will benefit from the funds, I fail to find any reasonable ground than lack of intellectual force behind their reasoning abilities.
What the MPs need to know is that, when the people’s turn to vote comes they will know who stood by them. Thirteen million people cannot be deprived a chance to a better life just because a few selfish individuals wish to live better themselves.

Thinking Malawi first: A poetic perspective

by Bright Molande, 12 July 2006 - 06:51:04

The twilight of independence went, with sunken hearts, out of the cloud the dust of the dances. President Bingu wa Mutharika retreated, not amused. The “real opposition” was celebrating its own way—howling, strutting below the darkening sky and bragging their gift to scorn their own Independence Day. But the humble, sober and patriotic opposition attended the celebrations: Justin Malewezi and Aleke Banda—names that historically, stick thicker political respect than John Tembo and George nga Ntafu. They oppose on principles and know what is partisan and national. They know Malawi is the only motherland we have and we do not owe our living to anybody but ourselves. But what patriotism does one expect of the UDF and MCP leaders that we know? Perhaps, all they see in their shared, still picture is Bingu, Bingu, Bingu! They see more of a still picture, coloured with what Mutharika has done to their wounded parties than a national vision. The MCP and UDF henpeck the eyes of a national visionary like vultures bent on seeing Malawi reduced to a useless carcass. They are hellbent on seeing Mutharika down from the high political walls. Unfortunately, government has cracks in its image. It ought to reinforce its advisory team—sealing the cracks. Whatever the cracks, it is little about where we are coming from, not so much of where we are, but where we collectively intend to go from here. The fight for rallying us to think Malawi first remains a challenge for the present administration. This thinking will not pour into our craniums like rain. It must be programmed, even if it means a dosage of brainwashing to make us think Malawi first. Without planting such foundations in the mindset, the walls of our oneness cannot stand, not forever. There are lessons from Africa. “Perhaps the biggest obstacle to African integration is a psychological one; learning to think as an African first and foremost, and not, for instance, a Ugandan, or even an East African,” writes Sarah Grainger in Focus on Africa, April 2005. The progress towards African Union that arrived at the Togo 2000 Organisation of African Union (OAU) on a 200-vehicle convoy that carried the idea and the flamboyant Colonel Muammar Gaddafi never began in any serious way. Half a decade gone, the path to the African Union remains winding and uphill, and faded far up beyond. Some, including the South African Reserve Bank Governor, one who ought to be an economic spokesman of an African superpower in the union, are not sure if we will get there. The idea of the AU is caught up with pessimism because it was never planted from real foundations. The goal to create strong African-based institutions that would “compete in tough global environment” spelt out in the Gaddafi vision looks far-fetched to some. Maybe there is no patriotism, which is essentially psychological. But remember those times when Africans were beginning to think Africa. When Kwame Nkrumah was ousted from the seat of the President of Ghana in a CIA operation, next door, Sekou Toure did not simply invite Nkrumah to seek refuge in Guinea. “Sekou Toure declared his intention to step down as president of Guinea to allow Nkrumah to take his place” on 2 March 1966, an announcement which “was greeted with thunderous applause,” writes June Milne in New African, February 2006. Nkrumah only accepted to become a co-president of his neighbouring country. This is the highest peak of Pan-African thinking one can ever think of. Imagine Mutharika being asked to lead Zimbabwe while Mugabe voluntarily steps down, imagine! But if we cannot think Africa first, we must, at least, think Malawi first. One thought when John Tembo publicly confessed that Mutharika has a vision, he did not just mean Mutharika but that the State President of Malawi has national interests. Or did Tembo mean it? One thought Muluzi was reasoning Malawi first when he confessed, at the height of their wrangle, that Mutharika “sends the right message on the economy to the people and donors” (Malawi News, July 30 – August 5, 2005). But to what extent have these opposition giants behaved like Sekou Toure? How much have they allowed this very visionary Mutharika to peacefully run their own country towards the vision they too claim to see? Our collective behaviour issuing from thinking Malawi first can change our political and development progress. Unnecessary political henpecking, regionalism and ethnicity will vanish like a wisp of smoke out of the window, slowly but largely permanently. Then not even a Cabinet minister will think of “serving Mutharika”. We will serve Malawi. In fact, thinking that “I serve Mutharika” (or his government) is to wrong Mutharika. That thinking portrays Mutharika as a self-seeking individual who owns and runs a country like his estate, when he is not. Correct to say “I serve the people with or under Mutharika”. Noone will serve Tembo. These national attitudes must be reprogrammed. Then, we will tell our leaders nothing for the sake of pleasing them. We will tell the President only the truth that serves, not his pleasure, but the people. He will take pleasure in hearing truth, no matter how ugly. Politics of bootlicking, flattery, gossip and appeasement will die out. Thinking one Malawi, we will see a Goodall Gondwe calling for a political rally in Thyolo; an Uladi Mussa mounting a rally in Mzuzu; a John Tembo freely speaking in Mulanje while Aford plants a headquarters in Lilongwe. We will liberate ourselves from our current silly self-imposed politically suffocating prisons. That day, our business community of Asian origin will come out of their present social self-prison. Then, we will all see a common path to our future. Mutharika will not be seeing ships carrying cheap cargo from the Indian Ocean while naïve scribes who ought to be selling Malawi’s face only see “white elephants” floating on Shire River. We will share a common vision. But perhaps, the sharpest axe hacking our vision apart is a psychological one. We must relearn, be programmed to think Malawi first. We must plant a seed of patriotism in the collective mind of the people which must be the inner foundation and fuel for living our vision. We must collectively and consciously work for it. But this is also a season of faith in Mutharika’s lieutenants that the ministries of Information, of Culture and that of Education will tailor and ingrain a positive development propaganda that makes us have faith in ourselves that we can sprout and take off towards greater heights. -Bright Molande is a poet and lecturer in literary theory, University of Malawi— Feedback: amolande@chanco.unima.mw

US grants Malawi $20mil to fight corruption

June 25, 2006, By AND

Lilongwe (AND) The governments of Malawi and the United States of America this week launched an ambitious K2.9 billion ($20.9 million) programme that will assist the country to combat corruption and tighten fiscal mismanagement.

Economic Planning and Development Minister David Faiti launched the programme, called Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold program, in Lilongwe, Malawi, alongside United States Ambassador to Malawi Alan Eastham.

Under the programme, which will later see Malawi qualify for a full Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), the US government will provide $20.9 million over a period of two years.

Eastham said the program will help the Malawi government to strengthen institutions responsible for investigating and prosecuting corrupt activities and put systems in place to achieve fiscal management by ensuring accountability and transparency.

“This programme is a threshold of a larger programme that the US government is undertaking around the world. An effective implementation of this program will help the Malawi government to qualify for a much larger and comprehensive program,” said Eastham.

He said money from the Millennium Challenge Threshold programme will also support training of prosecutors, judges, and investigators of corruption for them to effectively deal with corruption cases.

Eastham said the money will also be used to strengthen the National Assembly, the Auditor General, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the Malawi Police Service, the Accountant General’s office, the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), the National Audit office, the Ministry of Finance and other government institutions.

“This will help to improve the budget process by tightening fiscal management systems, achieve more frequent and professional government audits, and improve management of domestic and international debt, among others,” said Eastham.

He said part of the funds will also be used to improve the investigative reporting of the media as well as civil society organisations as watchdogs against corrupt activities.

In his speech, Faiti said the Malawi government, under the leadership of President Bingu wa Mutharika, qualified for the Millennium Challenge Threshold programme because it has shown a promising track record in issues of good governance and the fight against corruption.

He said the programme will help the government to uproot main sources of corruption and strengthen prudent and sound economic management.

“Government is committed to the elimination of corruption, fraud and fiscal mismanagement as this help to ensure that the limited resources are used effectively to benefit that majority of our people and not into the pockets of a few,” said Faiti.

The Economic Planning Minister said he was optimistic that Malawi will meet targets set under the program and qualify for the Millennium Challenge Account.

“Malawi has demonstrated a commitment to undertake policy reforms necessary to improve conditions for development and is close to qualifying for full Millennium Challenge Account,” said Faiti.

US President George W Bush devised the Millennium Challenge Account as measure of US foreign aid from the traditional donations to investment. Under the programme, the US government gives substantial amounts of money up to $200 million to countries that have demonstrated a commitment to better the health and education of their people.

Lilongwe Bureau

Muluzi returns Monday to face Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau

by Mabvuto Banda, 21 June 2006 - 05:48:54

Former President Bakili Muluzi returns home next Monday, but it may not be a happy comeback because the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is lurking around with questions for his alleged involvement in the abuse of public funds through some diplomatic missions. A senior United Democratic Front (UDF) official on Monday said Muluzi is due back on June 26. The British Home Office gave Muluzi a six-month visa which expires this month after recuperating from two operations on his spinal cord. UDF spokesperson Sam Mpasu declined to disclose the date of Muluzi’s arrival Tuesday but said he is coming next week. “I know that he is coming back but I cannot disclose the date because we have information that they have prepared a warrant of arrest for Muluzi and want to arrest him upon arrival,” said Mpasu. Atupele Muluzi, son to the former leader, said the family is not aware of any such plans against his father. “As a family, we are just looking forward to welcoming him back after going through a major operation, but it is surprising that every time Parliament is meeting such rumours abound,” said Atupele. ACB Director Gustave Kaliwo said Tuesday the bureau only wants Muluzi to clarify on their latest findings regarding several issues. “I cannot say that we are arresting him, there are just several outstanding matters that we would like to clarify with him about the money that went through embassies that we understand was used by him,” said Kaliwo. He did not disclose how much money is involved. The ACB has been probing two former envoys — John Chikago, former High Commissioner to Japan, and Ziliro Chibambo, former ambassador to Mozambique. Muluzi has several outstanding issues with the ACB, ranging from probe on how he built Keza Building in the commercial city of Blantyre to allegations that he diverted close to K1.4 billion from donors into his personal account. The bureau is also yet to conclude the case in which it accuses the former president of buying over 100 vehicles without paying duty. He later donated the cars to his party, the UDF. Last year, the bureau summoned Muluzi to answer questions on his alleged involvement in the K1.4 billion case but that never happened and the bureau went ahead to confiscate his computers at his BCA Hill residence in Blantyre.

Death of a democrat?

by Bright Molande, 22 June 2006 - 04:45:44

It was from the darkening sky of 14 June that he came. Just on the day we cry Long Live Genuine Democracy, Chakufwa Chihana was landed after a long flight of his soul. Cry, the beloved Chihana. He was first to openly cast a stone against dictatorship as an individual. Now dead, Long Live Democracy! He was an epic hero, once though. While Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda was still a dictator, Chihana landed at Kamuzu International Airport in the dust of the storm of change and opened the Pandora’s Box. Change was here and no-one could stop it. Even vendors of the holy weed crawled out in white robes and sheep skins to preach democracy. Chihana briefly appeared from the clouds and soon disappeared in the dust of the storm of prison life. Only his two fingers rudely remain in our memory, pointing at the path to our destiny. But his voice was a little match that ignited the roaring fire that leapt and advanced to devour the ruling crocodiles and jackals that wagged their tails around Kamuzu Banda. They charged back, threatening to devour the preachers of our salvation. Kamuzu said “not in my name”. He whose voice echoed from Sapitwa to Nyika, “If I should die, my blood will be the fuel of democracy,” today, his death speaks of freedom better than his precious life. Alone, he braved trials of the times behind the prison bars of crocodile jaws while the Alliance for Democracy (Aford), the pressure group he led, caught the fire of change and roared across the nation. Even sceptical professors jumped in and sang, “Onward Malawian Soldiers, Marching as to Freedom.” It was a national cause. But, “Chihana came out of prison only to pack Aford back to kuthengere, digging its political bunker which has turned out to be its grave in the North,” a well informed analytical journalist at The Nation now laments. He became too wiser than his people. He forgot, no man is greater than his people. Aford was buried in the North, buried with the cherished dream of dragging the North to the centre without thinking nationally. Shame! Politically, Chihana lived the life of the dead long before his physical death. “Only Chihana and his daughter-in-law make Aford,” shall be the last of the leading headlines celebrating his political career. The corrosive disillusionment caused by Messiah still haunts our political nightmares. Former President Bakili Muluzi the (other) Father of Democracy dragged Chihana around like a kid puppet while he flowed downstream like a lifeless fish that could no longer swim upstream. And when Lucius Banda mourned in his song that “All he knows is just how to follow,” we knew the political stamina to lead was long lost in political power. And Muluzi mocked him, “some of these parties will end like curtains.” Chakufwa the Democrat picked up the wisdom and tore his party with his own hands. The democrat set out and retreated to Sapitwa—out of reach in his blind quest to become a god, now all gone and dead. As we bury the remains of this freedom fighter, will his disciples really bury his spirit? But Chihana deserved a state funeral, buried in a stately casket and not a coffin (although a “casket” is only American English while “coffin” is British English for the same thing we call bokosi). That must not speak of his social status but of what he was, once. He remains a man who truly fought for change. And, he served our bellies as a Vice-President as well in the fog of Muluzi’s democratic reign. Chihana’s political death was a national tragedy while his physical demise is only a sad end of an era, the tragic end of a life. He must be remembered and “mourned well” either way. Once, Chihana was a national hero. Times have been when he was cut out for a Hero’s Acre. And when a friend sends me a text message wondering, “mourning a villain?” That disturbs me. But then, even villains must be mourned without tears. To jeer at the dead is to be worse than a heartless villain. This hero who died twice needs a well of tears from the springs of our cracked hearts. After all, Chihana’s political death is a tragedy many of our politicians are bound to go if they are not seeing and living a vision of the changing times. We will bury them without our tears, lest we should sprout a curse of democracy on their mounds. But a messiah who came to fight a lion with two fingers on our behalf cannot be a villain. He must have meant well, once, but tripped in the fog of power lust. Chihana is a hero who only forgot us and sought himself in the foggy jungle of power where no self-seeker ever returns. When he fell, we all fell and broke the backbone of the nation. We are still recovering. While death is the loneliest footpath of the soul, Chihana’s political death was a collective steep slippery road of our country. He came with the political stamina to forbid Muluzi from doing the worst he has done to his people. He heroically faced the roaring lion and all his hungry cubs anyway. But perhaps, Chihana and Muluzi were only best as freedom fighters. The country still needed one measuring to intellectual stature of Dr Banda and President Bingu wa Mutharika to “see a vision” and mobilise us to “live the vision”. It appears, though, that Chihana walked out of the prison spell with his own Gweru colour dreams. They soon became political hallucinations that must have haunted him to his deathbed. Just like Muluzi, he saw no vision and therefore lived no vision. It is the death of Chihana the hero that I therefore mourn. He came as a political messiah and died even thus and thus. His political death dug social graves for underdogs in the squalor of poverty who can only welcome all such self-seeking politicians with greetings of the dead: The grave you dug below is all astir to meet you at your coming; Rousing the spirits of the departed to greet you—and You will find us waiting here Playing chess among the dead Calculating how you missed A grand move of a life chance And when you descend, first— Shaking skeletal hands of the dying Hugging creaking naked skeletons Wondering how you mounted Your Gweru dreams for power greed And sold your soul to power! O, how the mighty are fallen! How the mighty are fallen! —The author is a poet, literature scholar and social critic from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College —Feedback: amolande@chanco.unima.mw

Eyes into Africa’s bright future

by Mzati Nkolokosa, 21 June 2006 - 06:34:16

The first wave of partnership in Africa was in the 1960s. But it was not for long. Coups, disease, hunger and wars became part of life. Now there is hope and Africa is moving forward to realise rue independence. March 6, 1957, was a defining day in Africa’s history. Gold Coast, Ghana from this date, attained independence from Britain. The country’s founding President Kwame Nkrumah, speaking without a prepared speech or notes, was an inspiration to all Africa. “The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of Africa,” he declared. It was a speech from the heart. And Nkrumah meant it, because a year later, he called African liberation leaders to Ghana to strategise the continent’s independence struggle. The fruits were soon to be seen. Twenty African countries were independent by 1960. Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda was in Ghana and admired Nkrumah’s success. It was from Ghana that Banda was invited to help Malawi’s struggle for independence. Why did Orton Chirwa and others invite Banda when there were other Malawians outside the country? The answer is simple. Banda—and other educated Africans—was motivated by Nkrumah and supported the struggle in Malawi. Namibia’s founding President Sam Nujoma describes Nkrumah as a “progressive president, an accomplished academic, an incisive thinker, analyst and writer, and a legendary pan-African revolutionary.” Indeed he was, at least seen with an understanding mind and smelled by scholarly nostrils. Nkrumah knew the importance of industrialisation. In nine years he established 68 state-owned factories. He listed some of them in his 1963 book, Africa Must Unite: a distillery, a coconut oil factory, a brewery, a milk-processing plant and a lorry and bicycle plant. There were agreements for a large, modern oil refinery, an iron and steel works, a flour mill, sugar, textile and cement factories. The New African editor Baffour Ankomah says Nkrumah forgot factories for shoes, glass, meat, gold, fruit and tomato, chocolate and a radio and television assembly plant. This, says Ankomah, was in addition to building a huge hydroelectric plant at Akasombo—that major source of electricity studied in Malawi’s primary school geography, a motorway from Accra to Tema and free educational and medical services “that made Ghana a showcase for Africa.” Further, Ghana had a continental radio station broadcasting beyond Africa. The radio, say analysts, helped the African liberation struggle. “For unless we attain economic freedom, our struggle for independence would have been in vain, and our plans for social and cultural advancement frustrated,” says Nkrumah in his book. But this progress did not last. Nkrumah was overthrown on February 24, 1966, while in Peking (now Beijing) on his way to Vietnam with plans to end the American war. “It is difficult to imagine the greatly improved condition of the African people today if Nkrumah had continued in power in Ghana to lead the pan-African movement,” says June Milne, Nkrumah’s research and editorial assistant. “One of the most shocking incidents in Africa was the overthrow, in February 1966, of that great man. I don’t think we will ever recover from those events,” writes Zambia’s founding President Kenneth Kaunda in the New African of February this year. Nkrumah wanted and fought for a united Africa, one that could progress together. He thought a united Africa should have a one-word-name: Africa. “There is no time to waste. We must unite now or perish,” said Nkrumah at the historic OAU meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1963. “Kwame Nkrumah was [Ghana’s] leader, but he was our leader too, for he was an African leader,” said Tanzania’s founding President Julius Nyerere in Accra in 1997 when Ghana celebrated 40 years of independence. Scholars—and all critical minds—can only reflect at history with wonder. Major-General Henry Templer Alexander, last British Chief of Defence Staff in Ghana dismissed by Nkrumah, had no kind words for the architect of one Africa. Nkrumah “is not a brave man...nowadays he keeps himself very much confined,” says Alexander in his book Africa Tightrope Colonel Afrifa, who was part of the coup, says in The Ghana Coup, Nkrumah could have been a great man. “He started well...and became...the symbol of emergent Africa. Somewhere down the line, however, he became ambitious... and ruthlessly used powers invested in him by his own constitution. He developed a strange love for absolute power,” says Afrifa. What went wrong in Ghana between 1957 and 1966? “It is likely that historians will be asking that question for many years to come,” says The New Africans, a Reuters guide to the history of Africa’s founding leaders. Indeed it’s a question that needs an answer because the link between Nkrumah’s end and the rise of dictatorships in Africa is becoming clear. Why did, for example, leaders like Banda and Kaunda, who were close to Nkrumah, turn to one-party politics? Nkrumah established a one party state and controlled his Convention People’s Party (CPP) and all the organs of state; dismissed security chiefs and judges at will. Was Nkrumah just that bad to enjoy absolute power? Perhaps the challenges of his presidency can help explain. He faced at least seven assassination attempts. But one was most apparent. On August 1, 1962, a grenade was thrown at a village of Kulungugu, in northern Ghana, where he stopped on his way from meeting President Maurice Yameogo of Upper Volta. Four people died, 56 injured, most of them seriously. Nkrumah escaped without any injuries but saw everything that happened. It was a dehumanising experience. He later wrote of how a cheering crowd turned into “a screaming mass of people, blood stained, limping [and] disfigured”. The incident was followed by others. But the Kulungugu attack disturbed him. He lost confidence in Ghana Police and organised a private army with Russian help on January 2, 1964. On this date, a constable named Ametewee chased Nkrumah, fired five shots at him, missed, but killed the chief presidential guard, Salifu Dagarti. It was another disturbing and dehumanising incident but not the first, not the last. He had endured a lot which his friends—Kamuzu, Kaunda, Nyerere and others—heard. This is perhaps the reason why Nkrumah turned into a dictator. He was pushed into a corner and had no choice but to protect his life and the interests of his people. Some African leaders, like Kamuzu, perhaps became dictators, dealing with every opposition immediately, for fear of being the next Nkrumah, Africa’s model. The military coup that ended Nkrumah’s rule was organised by the CIA with support from London and carried out by local collaborators in Ghana, according to information released in recent years the West. It is easy to blame the US and Britain. But the major culprits were Africans who collaborated with the West. Since then Africa has mainly been a sad story. Portugal handed over power to Africans in Angola and Mozambique but civil wars followed immediately. Malawi was host to over a million Mozambican refugees in the 1980s until mid 1990s. Some remained and have become Malawians just like that confirming perhaps one of Nkrumah’s dream that Africans must be one, have one passport and move freely in their continent which was to become a country. There was war in Liberia, Burundi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Burundi, and trouble in Zaire. South Africa was struggling with apartheid. There was no peace in Ethiopia. People are still fighting in Somalia, Sudan, Ivory Coast and Uganda and many other counties. It has largely been a hopeless Africa, perhaps traced from Nkrumah’s troubles and fall. But all that is changing now. Of course, Nkrumah’s fall was a setback because all African leaders were affected. And Kaunda was not exaggerating the effects when he suggested that Africa would not recover from the coup and its effects. Yet there is light. Slowly Africa is moving and into the right direction. The wars in Mozambique, Angola, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone are over. Mozambique and Angola are prospering. Liberia has a highly educated President, Ellen-Johnston Sirleaf, who is a symbol of a bright future for the war-torn country. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has made significant changes to bring lasting peace and economic boom to his country. He was at the White House recently talking to President George Bush, sharing a vision while their ministers were signing treaties to boost trade. Rwanda remains the world’s best example on women representation in decision making positions. There are serious peace efforts in DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan and attempts at normalising Somalia. Nigeria, a country of coups and assassinations, has been at peace with a civilian president for close to a decade. That is an achievement and a pointer to a brighter future. Africa shares its fears and hopes. Most countries have held elections yet that is not democracy. The main challenge facing emerging democracies is rushed elections assumed to bring liberty and therefore liberal democracy. The good news is that now there is willingness, even pressure from within, for liberation and that starts with liberalising the economy which leads to political liberalisation because liberalised economy leads to modernisation. Dictatorships were brought down in the 1990s. The IMF, World Bank and donors were able to do this in Africa and elsewhere bringing hope that soon vanished because there was no meaningful replacement and countries were plundered in a way that is very difficult to reconstruct. Still there is a real chance for Africa to move forward. British Chancellor of the Exchequer writing in The Guardian in January challenged Africa, saying it is the continent’s time to move forward. “A century ago,” he said, “people talked of ‘what we could do to Africa’. Last century, it was ‘what can we do for Africa’. Now, in 2006, we must ask what the developing world, empowered, can do for itself.” Nkrumah, born September 21 in 1909, had a vision for Africa, for a big country to be called Africa, one that could take advantage of its natural resources—land, forests, fresh water and hard working people—to develop. Sadly he died on April 27, 1972, in exile in Guinea, without seeing that vision. Instead Ghana and Africa had become a land of coups, wars, hunger and disease. In Nkrumah’s words, these problems, coming after independence, forced Africa to make one step backward. Now, he said in a visionary statement in 1966, “we shall take two forward”. It is happening now. Africa is moving forward and it’s good news, sweet news. The sweeter news is that Malawi, with President Bingu wa Mutharika, is moving along with eyes fixed into Africa’s bright future. It is time to join Mutharika in serious, visionary thoughts about Malawi, a country in which we live, not for ourselves, but for our children and their children—from whom we have borrowed Malawi, a piece of land which we are expected to return better than we found it. —Feedback: mzatinews@yahoo.com

Malawi 06/07 budget ups agriculture, water funding

Fri Jun 16, 2006 6:26 PM GMT

By Mabvuto Banda

LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawi's Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe on Friday unveiled the budget for 2006/2007, sharply raising the amount of money allocated for agricultural and irrigation programs in the drought-stricken African nation.

"Never again shall we become so hopeless and force to beg for food," Gondwe said as he announced the increases for the ministries of agriculture and water and irrigation, both considered crucial to fighting hunger in Malawi.

Almost half of Malawi's 12 million people were in need of food relief last year following a drought.

The new budget raises the agriculture ministry's allocation to $43 million from $14 million and the water and irrigation ministry's funding to $14 million from $6 million, Gondwe announced.

He also pledged to continue the fertilizer and maize subsidy that is believed to have improved agriculture production.

The budget is seen as key for Malawi's ability to qualify for debt relief and resolve its chronic food shortages.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) board meets later this month to decide whether the impoverished southern African nation qualifies for debt relief. Gondwe has said it will only occur if legislators pass the budget.

"This is not only the responsibility of the IMF board and our executive, but it is also a responsibility of this parliament to pass the budget because it anchors the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PGRF) with the Fund, which is crucial to multilateral debt relief," he said in a speech.

The proposed budget also aims to reduce spending to 28.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2006/07 from 32.2 percent in 2005/06, while repaying domestic debt.

Gondwe, a former World Bank economist, forecast a drop in inflation to 10.4 percent by December 2006 from over 15 percent last year. Inflation has been on a downward trend in Malawi, hitting 16.1 percent in April following 16.6 percent in March.

He projected the economy would expand by 8.4 percent from a sluggish 2.1 percent last year on account of the anticipated bumper harvest, which was helped by good rains and the introduction of the fertilizer and maize subsidy.

Seeing a vision

by Mzati Nkolokosa, 07 June 2006 - 06:53:15

The UDF was in the news again last week, hitting hard at President Bingu wa Mutharika saying he has not performed.
“President Mutharika has done absolutely nothing in two years,” says a press release from the party citing the mausoleum for first President Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda as Mutharika’s only achievement.
This analysis from UDF is understandable. The party sees a picture while Mutharika sees a vision. UDF is in typical politics while Mutharika is in statesmanship—at least he is going into that direction. This, as one brilliant pastor said recently, means UDF is thinking of next elections while Mutharika is thinking of the next generation—our children and their children for whom we live today.
Seeing a vision is one fundamental question of leadership Mutharika has got right. It was cloudy during the 2004 General Elections campaign but crystal clear on May 24 when Mutharika was sworn into office and spoke in new tongues; when he spoke of a vision for Malawi in a speech titled: “My vision for Malawi”.
“Let me start my speech this morning by outlining my vision for Malawi,” said Mutharika in a speech that lasted more than one hour.
The speech, hailed by critical thinkers, was the beginning of differences between UDF and Mutharika. The party wanted pictures, temporary benefits, something tangible while Mutharika spoke of a vision and he has remained focused on his vision.
But most Malawians, like UDF, see the physical picture and not the vision which brings hope. The reason is known. Hope is invisible. Hope that can be seen, according to Greek philosophy, is no hope at all.
This is why UDF is fond of reminding people of how former president Bakili Muluzi delivered free primary education within months of coming into power. People saw their children learn under trees and hoped that classrooms would be constructed. People saw their children being taught by boys and girls who had failed Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) and hoped that some day, there would be qualified teachers.
But that was not to be. Years later K187 million meant for construction of school blocks went into the pockets of contractors who did not build a single classroom. Years later a tree fell on pupils at Mkomachi Primary School in the Capital Lilongwe killing two.
Is this the free primary education UDF is talking about? It is true the enrolment doubled to a little over three million. But free primary was not the only reason. The main factor was that people were motivated to send children to school because for the first time, there was a national propaganda to show that education is important.
That propaganda could have been anything different from free primary education. People simply needed a motivation.
Mutharika has a vision for education. That is why the universities are being funded reasonably for the first time in years. That is why teacher training colleges are about to revert to old programmes lasting two years.
That is not all. The removal of minibus touts and vendors from townships and cities is a vision that must be dissected carefully. The country’s cities and townships have become cleaner than a year ago. The deeper one is that order and sanity have returned to Malawi.
There is another deeper meaning. Mutharika is saying do meaningful businesses from which government can tax you and provide social services in return.
Minibus-touting was a chaotic business yet well organised. Touting managers had plots in town. They had boys, too.
The managers didn’t report for duty at all but received proceeds everyday and, in return, paid the touts. Government made nothing from this business yet they expected the Blantyre City Assembly, for example, to provide them with water and public conveniences.
The challenge is now with the city and town assemblies to formalise the work of touts. It’s not that the boys have been chased but the assemblies can employ them to organise minibuses in a formal way, not the chaos of months ago.
The chasing of touts was also a message that people should go back to rural areas. This is an important message because Malawi has highest urbanisation rates in the region. Thousands are flocking to cities when they have nothing to do. Thousands more are leaving Malawi hoping for greener pastures in South Africa, Europe and the United States.
Mutharika has always been adamant that Malawi is not poor. By saying so he is sending a message that you can be productive here, even the rural areas.
Some people in the villages have been working hard and are successful. They have built good houses when you and me—white collar job holders—are blaming landlords for hiking rental.
Take the example of the many success stories the media has highlighted. Think of Nation Achievers 2005, the Chingale Integrated Farmers Association which has a K7 million revolving fund in bank.
These are people who don’t need Mardef loans because they are self-reliant. Yet they are in rural areas. Instead of vending in cities, people must own shops at Thyolo, Kamwendo or Bwengu, for example.
Mutharika is building a foundation for a better tomorrow. Sadly, not all Malawians are helping him, not even some Cabinet Ministers who are lazy and seek cheap media publicity. Muluzi built walls. Mutharika is attempting a huge task of building a foundation.
The challenge is that by starting from the beginning, by being a seer or prophet, Mutharika risks being misunderstood.
UDF wrote off Mutharika’s claims as if the President does not exist at all. No wonder Muluzi’s policies focused on the visible (pictures—classrooms and numbers) not visionary (the intellectual backbone and the intellectual foundation) which Mutharika is constructing.
If Mutharika pushes for more reforms and sticks to his vision despite prophets of doom, generations to come will, for sure, sit, speak, study and conclude that once Malawi had a leader, a statesman who took Malawi to its deserved destiny.
—Feedback:mzatinews@yahoo.com

A pastoral letter authored by Roman Catholic Bishops and read in all the churches in the country on Sunday says that Malawi has witnessed a new era of the rule of law, good governance, accountability and transparency among other positive developments.

Roman Catholic church hails Malawi Government's positive developments

The letter states that in the past governments have raised false hope among the general citizenry only to discover that leaders are later corrupted by power. “We seem to witness a new Malawi where food security, education and economic planning are given the attention they truly deserve,” reads the letter in part. The leaders acknowledged efforts by the government donor community and civil society groups for their timely response during the famine period that hit the country five months ago. Other areas that the letter has highlighted include Agriculture subsides, the need for a legislation on pricing and selling of essential commodities in order to protect producers especially the under privileged. Tree cutting and faithfulness and abstinence to fight the HIV/Aids Pandemic were issues also tackled.

Malawi economy to grow 8.4 pct in '06 - finmin

Tue Jun 6, 2006 11:17 AM GMT

BLANTYRE (Reuters) - Malawi's finance minister said on Tuesday economic growth should pass the eight percent mark this year after good rains raised the prospect of better crop harvests in a country heavily dependent on agriculture.

Goodall Gondwe also told Reuters the annual inflation rate was expected to drop to 10.4 percent in 2006 from over 15 percent last year. He made his brief comments ahead of the unveiling of the 2006/07 budget in parliament next week.

"In 2006, real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is expected to grow by 8.4 percent on account of the anticipated bumper harvest due to good rains and the successful fertilizer and maize subsidy introduced last year," Gondwe told Reuters.

Growth last year was a sluggish 2.1 percent in the southern African nation of around 12.5 million which is one of the poorest countries in the world. It was hard hit by a scorching drought that left around 5 million in need of food aid.

According to the World Bank, agriculture accounts for 45 percent of Malawi's GDP, so any improvement on that score is bound to translate into faster growth.

The annual inflation rate was 16.1 percent in April and is seen falling because of increased supplies of staple foods such as maize.

Gondwe said his budget also aims to reduce expenditure to 28.7 percent of GDP in 2006/07 from 32.2 percent in 2005/06.

The budget is seen as key to increasing donor confidence as the country attempts to qualify for badly needed debt relief.

But it faces big political hurdles after threats from the opposition to torpedo it over a number of political disputes with President Bingu wa Mutharika. The opposition has a majority and so there is no guarantee that the budget will be passed.

-Reuters 2006

Saudi investors eye Malawi

June 6, 2006,

By ANDnetwork .com

The son to late Saudi Arabian King Prince Alwaheed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz-Saudi paid a brief state visit to Malawi over the weekend to investigate potential projects the business community from his oil rich country could venture into.

The Saudi Arabian prince and his entourage arrived at Kamuzu International Airport by a private Boeing 737 aircraft at about 14:30 and was welcomed by Malawi's Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe on behalf of President Bingu wa Mutharika. The prince and his 36-member delegation, mostly comprising the business community and journalists, visited the office of the president and cabinet and Capital Hill before proceeding to the New State House to meet Mutharika for talks on the country’s investment climate. “I have discussed with President Mutharika business opportunity investment climate favourable and useful to attract foreign investors to come to Malawi to start businesses,” said the prince, adding: “We have promised the president that we will study the projects that will attract business people from my country to come to Malawi to invest". The Saudi Arabian prince refused to mention projects the business people from his country could invest in saying the projects need to be evaluated first. “I have all members of the investment committees I formed to invest in Africa and in this case, Malawi. We need to evaluate the projects and come back to OPC in a very short time,” he said. Information and Tourism Minister Patricia Kaliati told the Malawi News Agency (Mana) in an interview that the two leaders also discussed the Shire-Zambezi Waterway Project and construction of a five-star hotel and conference centres in Lilongwe. “These are some of the projects President Mutharika told His Royal Highness the Prince of Saudi Arabia,” said Kaliati, adding that the prince has pledged to assist Malawi in many areas. “What they are looking forward to is to come and invest in Malawi. Government would grant them security,” said Kaliati. She said government has on her part pledged to provide tight security to the investors to ensure safety of their products. Nation Online

United States Praises Malawi, Morocco for Anti-Trafficking Gains

US State Department-Washington DC

Michelle Austein

Two African governments received praise for progress in fighting human trafficking and two countries were cited for doing enough in the State Department's 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report.

In its annual report to the U.S. Congress, released June 5, the State Department evaluated foreign governments' efforts to eliminate human trafficking. The report groups nations in one of four categories based on their efforts to control human trafficking, to prosecute those involved, and to support and assist victims of these crimes.

Governments that meet standards established in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 are placed in Tier 1. Tier 2 comprises countries that are demonstrating commitment to address their problems but have not yet achieved international standards. Tier 2 "Watch List" includes countries that show signs of falling backwards, while governments not making significant efforts to meet the standards are placed in Tier 3. (See related article.)

MALAWI, MOROCCO

Two Tier 1 countries, Malawi and Morocco, were praised for taking steps to prevent human trafficking in 2005.

Despite limited resources, Malawi made significant progress, particularly in the areas of prosecuting traffickers and educating the public to recognize human trafficking. Malawi, with support from international donors also produced and distributed 10,000 posters and 20,000 pamphlets to schools, welfare agencies, hospitals and youth clubs to educate the public about the issue.

Morocco fully complies with the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking, according to the report. Its international anti-trafficking cooperation "reflects the government's strong commitment to addressing the trafficking problem," the report said.

In February, Moroccan officials dismantled a large international network that was trafficking and smuggling migrants from India. Seventy suspects, including a police officer, were arrested.

SUDAN, ZIMBABWE MUST IMPROVE ANTI-TRAFFICKING EFFORTS

Sudan and Zimbabwe - both Tier 3 countries -- were cited for not doing enough to fight human trafficking.

Even though Sudan demonstrated initial progress on a number of fronts, "most of these efforts were not sustained," the report said. During the country's recently ended civil war, adults and children were forced to join armed groups.

To improve its anti-trafficking efforts, the Sudanese government should take steps to provide protective services to all types of trafficking victims and remove child soldiers from armed groups.

Zimbabwe showed "little political will" to address its trafficking problem during the past year, the report said. Zimbabwean children are trafficked internally for forced agricultural labor, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Trafficked women and girls are lured out of the country by false job or scholarship promises.

To further its anti-trafficking efforts, the report said, Zimbabwe should improve anti-trafficking legislation and launch a broad public awareness campaign.

Algeria, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Mauritania, South Africa, and Togo were among the countries listed on the reports Tier 2 "Watch List."