LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi Police at Kawale 1 Township in the capital Lilongwe are keeping in custody a 35-year old man for allegedly defiling a 16-year-old old mentally challenged girl. Continue reading Malawian man in Lilongwe arrested for defiling an imbecile
Almost half of the students at Mzuzu University in the northern city of Malawi are going back to their respective homes following a strike by both academic as well as support staff. Continue reading Mzuzu University shutdown as academic & support staff go on strike
Malawi president Peter Mutharika, 76, predicts he will be around during and beyond the 2019 presidential polls. He knows so judging from the condition of his innards which he claims are like those of one who is 30 years old.
Mutharika was explaining his absence from the country for several weeks after attending the United Nations General Assembly in the United States. He dismissed talk that he was seriously ill and calls for his resignation.
No human being knows their expiry date and Mutharika is welcome to say whatever he wants about his self life.
If the president got incapacitated, the vice president would take over, according to the
country’s constitution.
Despite having provisions to take care of the eventuality, the development would still create problems in the ruling DemocraticProgressive Party (DPP) given what happened in the past.
The opposition of course can only watch from the sidelines but Malawi isn’t short of creative people like former President Bakili Muluzi. Would this present an opportunity down the line?
Vice President Saulosi Chilima would take over from Mutharika if he couldn’t continue. But Chilima, the most punctual politician in a country where leaders aren’t conscious about time, is reportedly unpopular among some DPP members since he is a johnny-come-lately. He joined DPP in the run-up to the 2014 elections to shore up its appeal among young voters and spruce up its battered image — in 2011 police killed 20 people in anti-government protests. Before his sudden 2012 death, Bingu was a dictator of sorts.
A political junkie ought to be familiar with what happened when Bingu died but it bears repeating for those who don’t know or need a refresher. Bingu’s succession was contentious. After his death, there was a blackout on his health status for three days. His estranged vice president was automatically supposed to step in, a fact which didn’t sit well with some old guard who worked in cahoots with each other to circumvent the constitution and stop her ascendency to the presidency.
Joyce Banda, who became Malawi’s first female president and Africa’s second female head of state in the modern era, had been fired from DPP. On the face of it, Bingu, who’d been grooming his younger brother Peter to succeed him, expelled Banda from DPP.
Back in 2004, Bingu was also a johnny-come-lately to the then ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) of President Muluzi who anointed him as his successor against the wishes of the party. Bingu became president but later founded DPP after leaving UDF while in power in dispute with his mentor whom he accused of exerting his influence over him.
Bingu’s wish to be succeeded by Peter became a reality two years after his death. He routed Banda in 2014 elections but two years on, Peter’s less than stellar leadership has seen the economy and security continue to spin out of control. After secretly going under the knife in the United States earlier this month, Peter is trying to prove that he is in good health and in control but the chatter of Chilima taking over isn’t going to die down soon. It’s de-javu.
Like his predecessor Banda, the law is on Chilima’s side but he doesn’t have a real political constituency because he isn’t a legislator. And perhaps more like Bingu and Banda – they both were partyless presidents at one time – Chilima would need strong public support to govern. So far, partyless presidents in Malawi have shown to throw out the window all norms of political morality to remain in power.
But Chilima in the driver’s seat could be different from what Malawi has experienced so far. He was well off when he was drafted into DPP from the private sector unlike most Malawi politicians (read as lawmakers) who can barely survive in the private sector and are known for continually demanding higher pay and sometimes threaten to shut down government if their demands aren’t met.
But Chilima’s background and conduct would perhaps not be enough for some influential long-standing DPP members who would resent an “outsider” leading them. They would work against him either by preventing him from taking power or by undermining his administration.
Fast forward to 2019. There’s another player Malawi hasn’t heard much from since joining cabinet from the party which produced Bingu and DPP. Atupele, the son of Muluzi, is UDF leader. Analysts view his joining DPP as calculated to bolster his credentials for a future presidential run after his unsuccessful bid in 2014. I would go on a limb and say DPP disunity could increase the young firebrand’s odds in 2019.
While DPP and UDF are different, they’re like twins — similar in some ways but different in others. It’s their similarities that naturally draw them together. The question then becomes, in 2019 would it be farfetched for the senior Muluzi — he made Bingu UDF leader, his son joined DPP government and the multi-million dollar corruption case against him is crumbling — to work his magic and bring the two parties together with Atupele, a legislator, getting on the DPP presidential ticket?
*The author is a former founding editor of Maravi Post
Calculations by the Malawi News, Malawi’s oldest weekly, suggest that over K270 million may have been spent by President Peter Mutharika and his entourage on the recent outing to the United General Assembly (UNGA).
The paper says the K270 million is enough to fund Mzimba District Hospital for over two full months.
Mzimba Hospital, and all major hospitals and health centres in Malawi, are overwhelmed due to poor funding from government with meals for patients – in some hospitals – reduced, because the over-stretched hospital budgets cannot meet the cost of feeding patients.
In Mzimba Hospital, over 20 children die every month before they reach the age of one due to lack of care and access to basic medical attention due to insufficient government funding.
The K270 million is based on a minimum of 45 people that are likely to travel with the President for such a trip over a period of 15 days during which the group was in New York.
It excludes additional five days that Mutharika and other government officials who are still in the US have already stayed.
Sources at Foreign Affairs say Mutharika is entitled to $700 a day when he travels outside while the First Lady pockets $400 dollars.
On the other hand, senior officials like ministers and principal secretaries as well as directors also receive $400 a day. Junior officers get $300 a day for a foreign trip.
The paper quotes a former diplomat who did want to be named who revealed that even if government was to reduce the size of the entourage, the number of people on the trip could still not be less than 45 and argued that during such times government officials take advantage of the summit to go for a vacation and do some shopping.
Therefore if, for instance, 45 people were given $400 per day it would translate to $18,000 (K13.1 million). For a period of 15 days and that amounts to K197 million.
As per these news links,
ZBS: “How APM’s Large UN Entourage Eats Into Your Pocket” published in September 2015 when the Malawi delegation spent not less than K238 million and approximately K352 million after factoring in accommodation and airfare,
and
Daily Times: “Peter Mutharika’s UN entourage sparked debate” published in January 2016 where the Daily Times estimated that Mutharika’s trip to the UN cost the taxpayer over K330 million;
the profligacy has now become a habit under the leadership of President Peter Mutharika and his party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The UNGA spending tours have now become an annual pilgrimage, enjoyed by those close the Malawi president who – most of the times – include relatives, traditional leaders and shaddy characters defecting from the opposition to join the gravy train.
The former diplomat also claimed that among the personal members of staff who travel with the President is an accountant from Office of President and Cabinet (OPC) who pays for meals and other bills despite the people already pocketing allowances.
“Maybe if it was Washington DC but New York is just a town and during this time the country is always busy promoting its tourism and life is expensive because prices of goods are doubled, it’s hard to imagine how much the tax payer is coughing for such a luxury,” he said.
Asked on whether the President is justified to prolong his stay to attend to other equally important post meetings, the former diplomat wondered as to which people in particular Mutharika was holding meetings with.
He said according to his experience most delegates leave earlier or after speeches by heads of state.
“You must understand that subcommittee meetings by government officials which include ministers and representatives from different NGOs take place before the speeches and such discussions form part of the agenda of the summit. What happens these days is as if the summit is a black box analogy and one doesn’t know what exactly happens there,” said the source.
Mutharika left the country through Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) on September 15 on a private jet to Johannesburg for the summit which took place from September 19 -23.
He was expected back home by the 25th but he has prolonged his stay.
Kasaila last week challenged the media to use its expertise and capacity to establish as to how big the country’s delegation was and how much it cost the taxpayer.
Earlier Kasaila had pledged that government would disclose the details but backtracked arguing that the executive does not owe the media an explanation and that such information would be given to Parliament when need arises.
Last year (2015) 102 visas were issued by the US Embassy in Lilongwe for the Malawi delegation.
Our source at the US Embassy in Lilongwe said Malawi protested with the US on how the number of visas for the delegation was divulged to the public.
He said this year the embassy was extra careful as the US law does not allow it to reveal such information unless there is a court order.
“In this case the onus is on the Malawi government to reveal to Malawians the number of people who travelled to America for the UNGA if it so wishes,” said our source at the embassy.
Going by the graphs above, and considering the general economic sufferance by the general populace in Malawi, something is definitely wrong with the priorities of the current administration.
Most worrisome is the fact that Mutharika and his goons seem to be keen to stick their middle fingers to the many Malawians complaining about the fact that the administration has long since abrogated its duty to the very citizens who gave it the mandate to manage their wealth, or to be more accurate, to further worsen their acute poverty.
BLANTYRE (MaraviPost)-Barely a year after The Maravi Post exposed Carlsberg Malawi Limited’s of polluting Nankhaka River in the capital Lilongwe, the company has once again been accused of heavily contaminating Mudi River in the commercial city of Blantyre.
The pollution of Mudi River has prompted an eco-monitoring non-governmental organization (NGO), The Institute of Sustainable Development (ISD) to petition the company. Continue reading Beer brewer, Carlsberg Malawi Limited accused of polluting Blantyre’s Mudi River
