Catalysts of infighting is politicians who only have personal goals to achieve at the expense of the common good.

The High Court sentencing Wednesday of UDF regional secretary McDonald Symon on sedition is a wake up call to politicians who have loose mouths. In Malawi, politicians think and believe that their mettle is in speech and careless speech.

The sentencing of Symon to nine months imprisonment has sent warning signals to those who think and believe that the political podium has infinity of freedom of speech and expression. For such people the ruling Wednesday must have reminded them that any freedom or right is accompanied by responsibility. We hope the lessons are straightforward and all politicians will take a cue from them.

However, we would like to cite examples of evils that emanate from politicians’ careless and unguarded speech. Almost all countries that have experienced civil war, the catalysts of such infighting have been politicians who only have personal goals to achieve at the expense of the common good.

Although Malawi is never short of politicians who speak like they are possessed by evil spirits, as a country we are just lucky that the seeds of hatred they sow in the process have not gone to the extent of civil wars. We just have to thank God because some hate speeches we have heard in the past 12 years of multiparty democracy had all the ingredients of civil war.

This though does not mean some innocent people have not paid dearly due to such unguarded speeches. The young democrats that Symon wanted, 4000 from each of the 193 constituencies, were notorious for beating up people with dissenting views to those of their political masters. The wrath of the young democrats still remains vivid today, two years after they were trimmed to size by the Bingu wa Mutharika administration. As such, mobilising such thugs, no matter how well intended the task might be, they can certainly become a loose canon.

On a minimal scale, the present political stand off between opposition parties and government is a product of hate speech from politicians in the two camps. In case our politicians do not know, politics can be practised in a civilised way by engaging in constructive dialogue. Our politicians should be ashamed for lending weight to the belief that politics is a dirty game hence the players have to be dirty. But we all know that there are living examples of modern democracies where politicians unite people instead of sowing seeds of division between differing camps. This is the brand of politics we want in Malawi.

The belief that politicians are as strong as their careless speech has no room in this day and age. We need a brand of politicians who get to the political podium to preach peace, development and all what stands for good. It is only then that people will begin to respect politicians and remove the mentality that there is a dirty game.

Yes, Symon has been convicted for careless talk on the political podium but there are many out there who still believe they can be counted among the best through hate talk. To them we say now is the time to think twice before the long hand of the law catches up with you.

Encouraging fundamentals such as strong political will at the highest level to tackle difficult matters such as corruption in Malawi says British Envoy
BY Anthony Kasunda
06:42:55 - 11 May 2006

BRITISH High Commissioner to Malawi Richard Wildash has observed that Malawi’s political situation remains complicated.

Wildash, who has been in the country for three months now, said this last Thursday in Blantyre at a reception organised in his honour by British Honorary Consul Krishna Savjani.

The British envoy said the country’s Judiciary was being asked to rule on very complex constitutional issues, thereby being heavily burdened in the process.

Wildash said there were some encouraging fundamentals such as strong political will at the highest level to tackle difficult matters, including corruption.

“But the context remains challenging,” he said. “The political situation is complicated; the Government are in a minority in Parliament.”

He added: “The courts are being asked to rule more and more on constitutional conundrums of greater complexity. NGOs struggle sometimes.”

Wildash said his government would continue to help some key pillars of the democratic structure such as Parliament and the Judiciary, which although functioning, were heavily burdened.

“We’re doing what we can to help. Some good institutions have been set up to deal with key challenges,” he said, citing Malawi Human Rights Commission, Anti Corruption Bureau, National Aids Commission and Malawi Electoral Commission.

Three weeks ago, Wildash asked the Executive to refrain from interfering in the functions of the Judiciary to promote the rule of law and democracy.

The envoy was addressing legal practitioners at an annual dinner dance organised by Malawi Law Society (MLS).

On press freedom, Wildash noted that “there is a free press, even if its professional or ethical standards sometimes leave something to be desired”.

He said his government’s support including the DfID’s £65 million, a third of which would go to the national budget, demonstrates the confidence in government’s sound macro-economic management.

Wildash also said Ministry of Defence under the Defence Cooperation Programme in Malawi was the second biggest in the sub-region, after South Africa.

Malawi meets IMF targets

May 10, 2006,

By Frank Jomo

Blantyre (AND) A report from the Reserve Bank of Malawi indicates that Malawi has met International Monetary Fund's Poverty Reduction Growth Facility target for the month of March.

A report posted on the bank’s website show that net domestic assets were above their March target of K12.7 billion by K1.4 billion while reserve money was K19.5 billion up by K2.1 billion. The Malawi Revenue Authority collected taxes to the tune of K8.2 billion against K6.4 billion collected in February. However, government overspent in the month, spending K24.9 billion up from about K19 billion in February. This, according to analysts owes much to maturity of treasury bills and interest whose gap was financed by domestic borrowing. Meeting PGRF targets is good news to poor nations like Malawi because it leads to debt cancellation.

Mr Bakili Muluzi’s empire collapsing

by Henry Chilobwe, 07 May 2006 - 07:07:32

The vast economic and political empire that former President Bakili Muluzi built within 10 years of his rule is fast disintegrating hardly two years after he reluctantly walked out of Sanjika Palace. It appears as if the centre of both his economic and political bases can no longer hold and things are falling apart for a man who in his hey days could have people of all shades of colours and status mingling around him whenever he coughed to signal attention. At the pinnacle of his power and grip over the country, Muluzi, who just before the 2004 general elections was fondly referred to by his party followers – especially the ever joyful dancing women – as Atcheya (Chairman of his United Democratic Front party) was a multi-millionaire who travelled the entire country splashing wards of the precious kwacha with total abandon. Hundreds of people flocked to his public appearances in the hope of pocketing a chunk of the money he always threw around. Muluzi was a businessman even before he ascended the presidency in 1994, but his companies were largely struggling to remain afloat. However, when he became president he soon turned into a renowned sugar baron, founded an investment and trade bank that never really saw the light of day, owned vast landed properties and partnered with several established entrepreneurs in various fields. In short, during the 10 years of his rule his businesses interests and undertakings rapidly burgeoned and flourished such that other business magnates in the country were ready to partner with him. Today the bliss his business enjoyed seems to be vanishing by the day. Time hardly passes without an organisation or individual businessperson surfacing to claim that the former president owes one huge amounts of money for transactions conducted when he ruled the country. With more than a billion Kwacha debt burden on his neck, Muluzi soon found himself in a shadow of his own exploits. The rock-solid business empire that once flourished is fast turning into mere memoirs of the tycoon Muluzi had become in his heydays. Towards the twilight of his reign Muluzi had embarked on an ambitious project to set up the Trade and Investment Bank, which had it succeeded might have assured him of a lucrative post-politics retirement life. The project died in its budding stages and it was booted out of Delamere House in Blantyre for failing to pay K8 million rentals. Sheriffs descended on the bank on February 7 last year and seized computers and furniture, which were only worth thousands of kwacha. They auctioned these weeks later. Soon after Muluzi relinquished power the trend continued with debtors swooping on him and resorting to court action to recover their money. On the heels of managers for Delamere House, six months later, was the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), which demanded MK111 million from Atcheya as duty for vehicles he imported between 1999 and 2004 but were released without any duty being paid on them. Liquidated Finance Bank also lunged for his neck over a MK50 million loan that Atupele Properties Limited (a family business concern) obtained in 2004. With interests this debt came to MK93 million at the time the bank wanted to be paid. The High Court in Blantyre last year ruled that MK50 million be paid by Muluzi’s property agents and managers, Knight Frank, and MK43 million by Atupele Properties. -Story by The Nation (MALAWI)

Comment

MORE arrests will HARMONISE THE country

The former Udf government ran the country as if it was a fish drying industry where everyone is allowed to do whatever as long as they are making sure that there is more fish on the reeds to dry. No prefessionalism required ,as long as you know how to remove gills and the inside of the fish , that was all which was needed to earn a position in the then udf government.

The Udf took for granted all government businesses and the most known fact which contributed to these failures was the reason that the party was mostly surrounded by many insomnia talkers who mimicked politics during day hours and had little idea how things are run since they had no desire to learn the political process of thing because they were all copy cats of many systems of old time governments which have existed in Africa during the end of the colonial era.

Living standards of many Malawians were depleted by enormous poverty which hit the nation very hard due to the mishandling and cooking of government books by the untrained udf crooked financial apparatus which were stationed at all top levels of government.

The Udf practised politics outside the the books and rules of politics. The invented their own prototype of government similar to that of the late Mobutu Seseko. They only thing which was lacking these udf zealots was only diamonds but they paid themselves large sums of money from the donors pockets.

Values in the country were diluted beyond recovery, worse than the mcp and the colonial days. Malawi was experiencing a never ending Dejavu with how the udf ruled this nation.

Since His Excellency Dr Bingu Wamutharika has engaged his priorities to financially secure and politically protect this nation from any ills , there is more hope now glowing in the lives of many Malawians than it was before during the rape and molestation days and years of the udf.

These arrests which are taking place today should not stop but continue to purify and purge the sins which the udf government committed to this nation.

Moya has the right timing because he knows that the full progress of this nation cannot be manifested to the optimum capacity without destroying and uprooting elements of the Udf which are emulating some spasms in certain areas. Therefore to anticipate such abnormalities ,would bring a negative side on the procedures to developing this nation. No room and door should be left opened or uncleaned for the bad people and liars who would like to see this country not get ahead. Their history shows us that they hate to see the fellow Malawian people living a prosperous and a better life. They have failed this nation and betrayed the people of this nation.

These arrests will bring us peace and harmony. This time there will be no supreme rescue for chilumpha and his cohorts. We need to see more coming.

mukavango.

Court denies Malawi VP bail on treason charge

02 May 2006 17:08:28 GMT

Source: Reuters

(Adds court rejecting bail, quotes, byline) By Mabvuto Banda LILONGWE, May 2 (Reuters) - Malawi's vice president was denied bail on Tuesday on charges he plotted to assassinate President Bingu wa Mutharika, with a judge declaring he remained too much of a security risk to set free. A lawyer for Vice President Cassim Chilumpha, who was arrested last Friday, asked the court in the capital Lilongwe to free his client on the grounds that under Malawi law both the president and vice president enjoy immunity from prosecution and arrest. But Judge Chifundo Kachale refused, saying the question of immunity had not been decided by the appeals court. "Even if this court was competent to release the vice president on bail I would find it very difficult to do that because the offenses are very serious. Doing that would, in the view of the court, not be in the interest of security," Kachale said. He then formally charged Chilumpha with both conpiring to assasinate the president and to overthrow the government, handing the case to the country's High Court for trial. Chilumpha's laywer Fahad Assani said he would launch an immediate appeal on Wednesday. Chilumpha's arrest marked a dramatic turn in his political stand-off with wa Mutharika, who attempted to have him sacked as vice president earlier this year but was blocked by the country's high court. On Monday, the United Democratic Front (UDF) party -- which wa Mutharika abandoned but to which Chilumpha and former state President Bakili Muluzi still belong -- said his arrest could be ordered only by parliament. "The arrest procedure should have proceeded with a public announcement of the incident and then a constitutional process of impeaching the vice president should have been invoked," the UDF said in a statement. Mutharika won office under the UDF flag but ditched the party in a power struggle with predecessor Muluzi after launching an anti-graft drive which won praise from the foreign aid donors who play a key econonic role in the impoverished southern African country. Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Henry Phoya told Reuters last week that Chilumpha ordered a prominent businessman to hire a professional hitman to kill the president. Chilumpha's lawyers call the charges a political witch-hunt. Phoya said Chilumpha told Yusuf Matumula -- who was also arrested -- to go to an unnamed country to hire an assassin. The unnamed hitman would be a key witness in the case, he said. Police also arrested three opposition leaders in connection with an alleged plan to overthrow the government and said more arrests were imminent. The arrests marked the latest twist in a crisis that has seen the opposition calling for the president to be impeached and foreign donors warning that aid to the country of 11 million people could be in danger if wa Mutharika were ousted.

Malawi vice president arrested on treason charges

Blantyre, April 29, 2006



Malawi's embattled Vice President Cassim Chilumpha was arrested on treason charges, after a court prevented the government from firing him, his lawyer and opposition officials have said.

Chilumpha is accused of holding meetings at his official residence in the commercial capital, Blantyre, at which members of his United Democratic Front (UDF) party conspired to topple President Bingu Wa Mutharika's government, attorney Fahad Assani said.

"This is the continuation of political vindictiveness," Assani said.

"There were no such meetings at Mudi House. The meetings that took place there were normal political meetings ... There is nothing wrong for a leader to meet his officials."

Police spokesman Willie Mwaluka confirmed Chilumpha's arrest on Friday night, but declined to comment on the reasons.

The president and vice president, once allies, have waged a political feud since Wa Mutharika resigned from the then-governing UDF to found his own party, accusing his former party of trying to blunt his clampdown on corruption and his moves to modernise the economy.

UDF spokesman Sam Mpasu accused Wa Mutharika of abusing his powers by having Chilumpha arrested.

"The vice president is immune from prosecution while still in office, just like the president," Mpasu said.

"This is clear violation of the laws of Malawi."

Mpasu claimed police had no warrant when they arrived at Chilumpha's residence last night and arrested one of his bodyguards. They later returned for the vice president, forcing a door and windows to gain access to the building, he said.