I am back

After a long silence which I am failing to explain myself I am back on the blog. My greatest apologies and I hope you will keep on enjoying my blog, please take a ride. Comments are most welcome as ussual.

BRIGHT SONANI

CIVIL SERVANTS RIPPED OFF WHILE GOVT. LOOKS ON

Government’s decision not to guarantee commercial bank loans for its workers has plunged civil servants into the jaws of aggressive lenders who, taking advantage, are charging them more than double the ruling market interest for personal loans.

 

The country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), while acknowledging that it currently has no powers to control such charges in a liberalized economy, has since described the rates as shocking. The revelations have also enraged rights groups who have since asked the RBM to intervene.

 

Investigations revealed this week that while commercial banks in the country charge annual interest of less than 25 percent, civil servants are charged more than 100 percent interest per year on loans taken from Blue Finance Company while Green Wing Capital slaps slightly over 50 percent interest annually.

 

The two new entrants—who base their charges using the simple interest formula instead of the widely accepted compound interest— exclusively offer their services to civil servants. Financial experts have condemned the use of simple interest on loans as wrong since, if we are to take the 50 percent interest, a borrower would have to pay 100 percent accumulated interest in two years.

 

According to a loan repayment schedule from Green Wing, a K100,000 loan will attract an interest of K152,000 if payable in 36 months, while for the same period a K200,000 loan would fetch K303,820 interest, a K300,000 loan K455,820 interest and K400,000 loan would have K607,640 as interest.

 

This means that a civil servant who has taken a K400,000 loan would have to repay interest and principal amounting to K1,007,640 after 36 months.

 

At Blue Finance, the loans are calculated at 15 percent interest per month using the simple interest formula. This means that a civil servant would cough a total of K2,160,000 in interest and principal on a K400,000 loan payable in 36 months.

 

The loans are payable in installments of six, twelve, 24 and 36 months depending on the amount of the loan and the income of the borrower.

 

Despite such interest charges and without clear conditions, a Nation on Sunday visit to both companies indicated that most civil servants are flocking to get what are being dubbed as ‘easy same day loans’ since they do not have much option on the back of mounting pressure to meet their financial requirements.

 

Blue Country Manager Brett Marshall admitted that their interest rates are usually more than 100 percent.

 

He, however, declined to confirm whether the rates at Blue are at 15 percent per month only saying that recently the rates were reduced by more than 40 percent.

 

Marshall said the major differences between micro-finance lending institutions like Blue and the commercial banks was that the latter raise their capital from the deposits from the public while the other institutions are privately funded.

 

“On top of that we don’t ask collateral which is a greater risk. When a company faces a greater risk it also expects high returns,” he said.

 

Marshall also said the interest rates are high because they are servicing a huge number of small loans as a result of the low income capacity of their clients which means a higher administrative cost.

 

Green Wing Managing Director in the country, who declined to give out his name, said their rates were high because they include an insurance known as credit life. He also said when a client dies they support the funeral with K20,000, a cost which he said is also factored into the interest.

 

He added that the interest covers a lot of risks since the loans have no security and collateral. The Green Wing chief also said differences in interest rates charged in the countries where the company gets funding through loans and the local ones also contribute to the high interest rates.

 

He explained that Green Wing rates are at almost 51 percent per year calculated using a simple interest formula.

 

“This rate is well below what a lot of lending institutions in the SADC region charge. If we take out all the elements that are factored into the interest you will see that our interest rate is at about 27 percent per annum,” he said.

 

In an interview, both Civil Servants Trade Unions (CSTU) and the Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) acknowledged that the civil servants are being reaped off but said this was mainly so because most civil servants have no option after government stopped guaranteeing loans from the commercial banks.

 

“The situation is pathetic. The major problem is that government stopped guaranteeing loans and government itself cannot even give you a loan or an emergency one which means as civil servants we don’t have much option but to still go where we are being reaped off,” said CSTU General Secretary Pontius Kalichero.

 

Kalichero said even his union was surprised with the coming in of these  two lending institutions because he said during their discussions with government they have been planning to have an institution which will be giving out the loans on a “very modest” interest and not what is being charged.

 

TUM General Secretary Davis Kalekeni said teachers are the most victimized in the whole set up. He, however, said Blue and Green Wing were not to blame since he said the two are here to do business and make profits.

 

“The issue is that there is no facility for teachers to access loans, the only form of loan is at regional level when your relative dies, as a teacher you are given a letter to get a coffin whose cost is then deducted from your salary.

 

“It is such a situation that has created problems whereby teachers are desperate and go wherever they can to get a loan at whatever cost because they have no option. The teachers are trying hard to get ways they can survive,” said Kalekeni.

 

The TUM General Secretary said although government stopped guaranteeing loans the decision was made without any consultations with the unions.

 

“It seems government is running away from its obligations to its own  employees. However, I don’t think as government it should do that, it has to come up with a solution to the situation,” he added.

 

Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) called on both government and the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) to intervene and stop the ‘exploitation’.

 

MEJN Executive Director Andrew Kumbatira said although the country’s economy is liberalized, government still has an obligation to protect its citizens especially the civil service.

 

“Liberalisation has to be managed and not to have the weak exploited. Technically speaking, in a liberalised economy, there is no limit to how much interest an institution can charge but every situation has to be managed to avoid pushing people to exploitation,” he said.

 

He added: “Government, especially the Reserve Bank need to do something to make sure that these lending institutions are not being turned into modern day katapila (usury). We appeal that they have to come in and check the situation.”

 

Director of Centre for Social Concern (CFSC) Joseph Kuppens said it was not the two institutions at fault but that government should have found a way of assisting civil servants who he said most of them already  have a burden of having salaries below the basic needs basket.

 

“In principle, you will need to expect that financial institutions will want to cover themselves if there is no guarantee (for loans) at all, by way of collateral. Therefore if government refuses to guarantee loans, it is to be expected that the service provider does charge more by way of interest,” he said.

 

Kuppens said if government can not increase salaries of civil servants to a comfortable level it would be only prudent for it to guarantee commercial bank loans so as to give civil servants access to credit to offset their poor salaries.

 

He said to assist in the situation government could be creative and since it would want to support the private sector, it can arrange some private sector to handle the loans or encourage banks who he said some of  them are already willing to make an extra step to make finance accessible to those who are less well off.

 

Kuppens said demanding “impossible interests is a formula for disaster” for those who are the beneficiaries of the loans because, he said while they are pushed into debt because of urgent needs, the civil servants may end up loosing everything when they are unable to pay back.

 

“In principle, the burden of lending and borrowing should be shared by both the lender and the borrower. But here profit has become the main and often only motive in any bussiness and this makes our society all the poorer,” he added.

 

However, RBM said it was powerless to intervene on the situation in the absence of an enabling law while ministry of finance said it would not be correct to push the problem to them since at no time has government guaranteed loans for individuals.

 

RBM spokesperson Mirriam Wemba, who sounded shocked with the figures when presented to her, agreed that the Central Bank was supposed to be supervising these micro-lending institutions but said at the moment there was no enabling law for RBM to do that.

 

“RBM only supervise banks, however, soon we will also be looking at such institutions. All we are waiting for is the enactment of the law,” she said.

 

Wemba said the drafting of the law was already finalized and it was only remaining with one or two steps before enactment. Secretary to the Treasury Landson Mwadiwa said in the civil service there has never been a provision whereby government would guarantee loans for its employees.

 

“If people were doing that, it was illegal. It is not normal for government to guarantee loans for individuals,” he said.

 

Mwadiwa explained that it would require an approval of Parliament for government to guarantee a loan for any individual.

 

He, however, said government has a provision to give loans to individuals but that “the demand for such loans has been too high and with the amount of finances available, the loans can not reach out to everyone.”

 

Mwadiwa could not be drawn to comment on the plight of the civil servants at the two lending institutions saying that is the responsibility of the Reserve Bank.

 

MULUZI’S ARREST

Kamuzu International Airport Lilongwe May 25, 2008: After the dramatic arrest right inside the Kamuzu International Aiport grounds at around 2.45 pm, the UDF Chairman was 30 minutes later whisked into a waiting Malawi Armed Forces Military Plane the 16 Seater Dornier which flew him straight to Blantyre.

Muluzi’s son Atupele confirmed that his father has been charged with treason.

However, government yesterday declined to immediately comment on the arrest which drew tension inside the city of Lilongwe with running battles between the police and UDF supporters who, angered, with the development closed roads especially those leading to KIA.

After the Air Malawi Boeing 737-300 air craft number 7Q-YKP touched down Muluzi’s security personnel got into the aircraft while two police officers and an arm officer waited outside and instantly arrested him.

Atupele, his father, lawyer Fahad Assani, Muluzi’s security personnel and the arresting officers spent almost 30 minutes on the airport grounds negotiating before Muluzi was taken to the Military plane parked right inside the airport just adjacent to the Air Malawi Boeing 737-300 air craft number 7Q-YKP from which Muluzi alighted.

Before Muluzi arrived police officers sealed off streets leading to the Airport with all vehicles carrying UDF supporters being denied access to the Airport. There was also heavy police presence in the airport where scores of armed police officers were placed in strategic positions.

Apart from senior UDF officials including NEC co-opted member Brown Mpinganjira, deputy Secretary General Hophmally Makande, Atupele as well as NRP President Gwanda Chakuamba, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma and Kamlepo Kalua nobody, including journalists was allowed inside the VIP building at the Airport.

Other senior UDF officials present at the airport were Kennedy Makwangwala, central region Governor John Banda, Lucius Banda and lawyers Ralph Kasambara and Fahadi Assani.

Despite the heavy police presence several UDF supporters still found their way into the airport.

At Kanengo, police mounted a temporary road block and had to use tear gas and shoot live bullets to disperse crowds who wanted to force their way through a temporary road block.

Unconfirmed reports indicated that two UDF supporters were shot and one died on the spot.

Muluzi had arranged to have a political rally soon after his arrival at Gona Ground in Area 50 within the city of Lilongwe and soon after the news of the arrest reached the venue of the rally the gathered crowd erupted into chaos stoning passing vehicles and blocked the main road from the venue of the rally to the road connecting to KIA.

Police had to deploy an armored vehicle to disperse the chanting crowds and clear the road which for closer to an hour was impassable as people used stones, trees and other objects to block off the road.

“They have arrested the former President apparently on treason charges. They don’t have a warrant, they refused him to leave the airport, they want to take him in a military aircraft to an undisclosed location,” said Atupele, who was the only top UDF politician and Muluzi’s closest ally allowed into the airport grounds, soon after the arrest.

Soon after the arrest Police also instantly moved in to disarm the former head of state’s government security personnel.

There was another drama after Muluzi’s body guards refused to hand in the arms to police officers led by Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Doreen Mwalwanda.

The ensuing confrontation between the two sides led to Police ordering the detention of Muluzi’s convoy of vehicles which were released almost 30 minutes later after the BCA House security personnel handed in a total of 4 pistols and several rounds of ammunitions.

One by one police also had to thoroughly search Muluzi’s vehicles and others belonging to UDF officials before leaving they were allowed to leave the airport.

Makande in an interview declined to comment on the arrest.

“At the moment we have no comment until we meet as a party then probably we will have a comment tomorrow,” he said.

Minister of Home Affairs Ernest Malenga in an interview later in the evening said he would not comment since he hasn’t been briefed on the arrest.

“I always wait to be briefed. Yes I have heard about the arrest but I can’t say anything, I don’t have any information,” said Malenga.

 THE DRAMA AROUND THE ARREST:

 

9.00 am: Police in camoufrage fatigue and heavily armed with tear gas cannisters and all types of gun deployed all over the city of Lilongwe riding in 997 Police vehicles. Heavily armed police officers are also deployed at the Airport.

 

12.00 noon: Police start searching all vehicles going to Kamuzu International Airport. All suspected UDF vehicles are barred to proceed to the Airport including those carrying UDF supporters. Several UDF supporters and officials are forced to walk about 3 kilometres from the KIA turn-off to the Airport. Along the Lilongwe City-KIA Road running battles are all over with police firing tear gas and live bullets.

 

Two (not confirmed) are reported dead.

 

1.55 pm: Heavily armed police officers move closer to the VIP building as a South African Airways plane touches down at KIA in anticipation that Muluzi was aboard the plane. A Military Donia Air Craft joins the SAA plane.

 

UDF supporters present in the Airport also moves closer. There is tension all over as both security personnel as well as the UDF officials present wait eagerly to see what happens next. With the presence of some senior regional police officers and also the Military Aircraft it was clear that this was the day Muluzi is going to be arrested. For what nobody knows. Some talk of corruption charges while others talk of treason.

 

One overzealous UDF supporter is overheard saying that Muluzi will go straight into the Army craft and instantly declare that he has taken over the country.

 

Then there was the longest wait of all time. Come 2.10 pm news started filtering in that Muluzi is not in the plane and would be arriving in the next Air Malawi Air Craft.

 

2.20 pm: The Air Malawi plane touches down. Security officers moves closer to the plane. Atupele and Fahadi Assani also moves closer to the plane.

 

For closer to 30 minutes the two parties locked themselves in discussions of which part of it centred on the facts that the arresting officers did not have a warrant of arrest for the UDF Chairman.

Nevertheless at 2.45 Muluzi is arrested and driven to the Donia where he starts his long journey to Blantyre as a detainee.

All Muluzi’s body guards present are instantly disarmed though amidst resistance. Muluzi’s convoy and vehicles for other UDF senior officials are detained for more than 30 minutes as the two camps of Malawi Police Service are battling it out over the arms. Long at last 4 pistons are recovered.

After Police in Blantyre searched his BCA Residence, where also his security guards are disarmed, Muluzi on Zodiac Radio said he could not be intimidated with the arrest which he said is based on flimsy evidence and anonymous letters.

He said the arrest is only intended to shut him up in his bid to return to power.

According to him he was surprised of his arrest.

Court throws out state evidence: How Government lost fisrt round of the treason trial

By Bright Sonani

The question that is being asked now is whether the Malawi Government has true evidence against the nine who were arrested on allegations that they wanted to stage a coup.

Many theories have been stated about the evidence with some suggesting that the documents were cooked up by some people.

However going through the Lilongwe High Court ruling one can have a picture of what is happening.

Tuesday May 20, 2008 at the Lilongwe High Court:

In a moment the High Court ground was turned into a UDF rally venue as hundreds of the party’s supporters danced and chanted Ancheya! Ancheya! Ancheya! and Boma! Boma! in praise of  the party’s chairman Bakili Muluzi.

As soon as Lilongwe High Court Judge Elton Singini delivered his ruling UDF Organising Secretary and Parliamentarian Clement Stambuli stepped out of the court with his arms in the air and outside he was welcomed by a singing crowd gathered outside the court which jumped into jubilation and singing as he explained the outcome of the case from on top of a car roof.

The eight suspects arrived at the court at around 9.10 in the morning escorted by heavily-armed gun totting riot police riding a police armoured vehicle while the alleged coup master minders arrived in two Toyota Prado vehicles with private registration numbers.

The suspects in the case include Makwangwala, former Blantyre City Mayor and UDF regional governor for the South John Chikakwiya, Brigadiers Marcel Chirwa and Jack Mtende, Cosgrove Mituka, former commissioner of police Matthews Masoapyola, former Army General Joseph Chimbayo and former police Inspector General Joseph Aironi.

Also among the suspects is the former intelligence chief Chitsulo Gama who was not present in the court yesterday as he was arrested separately on Friday after the others were already brought into court.

Government is accusing the nine of conspiring to plot a coup to overthrow the Mutharika administration and have since been charged with treason and conspiracy to commit murder.

Scores of police officers were deployed at the court premises as early as 8.00 in the morning and were all over the High Court premises throughout the hearing and up until the eight left the premises at around 2.00 pm after the court had assessed their sixteen sureties after the bail was granted.

After the assessment of the sureties the eight came out of the court one by one to another loud applause from the gathering crowd as each one of them went straight to join their spouses and families.

The jubiliation and singing continued through out and although the hapiness was directed at the eight the centre piece was Muluzi through and through.

One of the defense lawyers Fahad Assani representing the UDF officials, in an interview outside the court said the ruling was a vindication that the state has weak evidence in the case.

“It is so weak that any reasonable government would not move in to arrest people on the basis of two anonymous and unauthenticated documents that are circulated,” he said.

Assani said Gama would be appearing in court on Friday for his bail application also.

Director of Public Prosecution Wezi Kayira in an interview said he was satisfied with the ruling but said as the prosecuting team they would have to sit down to see the way forward.

The High Court threw out the initial evidence submitted by the State against the eight suspects in the treason case describing the two documents presented as exhibts as conjecture and failed to meet the requirements of the rule of law.

Singini therefore released all the eight suspects on bail with an order that the bail conditions set by the court would expire after nine months to avoid “unjustly limiting the personal freedoms of the suspects.”

The State earlier had applied to the court for an extension of the detention of the eight for 14 days for it to conclude its investigations while the defense also applied to have the eight released on bail.

In his five page ruling Singini observed that the two documents which were said to be containing part of the information for the coup plot were not signed by the said authors of the documents and were also not properly certified as true copy of the original copy as the certifying stamp from the commissioner of oaths was not signed also.

He also said according to the rules of Criminal Procedure and Evidence contents of documents may be proved either by primary or secondary evidence and the said two documents, being photocopies, could not be regarded as primary evidence as they are each not the ‘document itself’.

“In this regard I reject the submission by the DPP. I hold that the certification as true copy of the original should have been separately signed for. In my judgement, in the condition they have been presented, the two documents also fail to meet the other requirement of rule as secondary evidence,” said Singini.

The Judge said the court will not act on conjecture but only upon properly admissible evidence laid before it.

Singini said the first document which was handwritten and presented as mail written by a person serving in the military and captioned ‘Forces Mail’ did not have the name of the author while much of the left hand margin is not legible.

On the second document the Judge said although it was type written and clearly legible and has the name of one of the suspects UDF Secretary General Kennedy Makwangwala it was not signed by the author.

“I am not satisfied that even on a balance of probability (that) the state has shown that the interest of justice would require that the suspects be remanded in custody for the State to be able to continue unhindered with its investigations nor that the interests of justice may not be properly served,” he said.

The Judge ordered that the eight would be released on bail and that the bail conditions shall lapse on the expiry of nine months from yesterday.

“In the event that the suspects are by then not charged with any of the offences to which these proceedings relate, and in such event the suspects shall continue to be remanded on bail but without conditions unless a court orders otherwise,” said Singini.

The bail conditions for the eight includes two sureties each with a bond of K100,000 not cash each; the suspects to report to police once every week in the first three months and thereafter once every fortnight for the ensuing four months and thereafter once every month.

The Judge also ordered the eight to surrender their travel documents to police and not to travel outside the country without the permission of the Inspector General of Police.

Among those present in the packed court room included UDF Director of Women Lilian Patel, the party’s deputy Secretary General Kennedy Makwangwala and its Organising Secretary Clement Stambuli, who immediately after the ruling was delivered rushed to the waiting crowd to explain the ruling.

-end-

Chaos continues in the House: This is how Malawi Parliament behaves

 

By Bright Sonani

 

Wednesday May 21, 2008: Chaos which has charactserised the budget sitting since Tuesday continued  as the House went into the second day of debate on President Bingu wa Mutharika’s State of the Nation address delivered on Monday.

 

Comical scenes and controvercies were still the order of the day as opposition parliamentarians kept on interupting debate which only members from the government side participated.

 

From the opposition benches it was only RP’s Karonga north west MP Bazuka Mhango and Salima south’s Uladi Mussa who participated while the rest were constantly calling for point of orders.

 

However, the opposition shocked the government side closer to the end of the sitting when they voted against cattering debate after deputy Leader of the House Ken Lipenga moved a motion to cartel the debate.

 

“We are surprised that all members who have voted ‘no’ were not present when the State of the Nation was presented on Monday, and through out the debate they have not been contributing, their only contribution is their ‘no’ vote to continue debate,” said a surprised Leader of the House Henry Chimunthu Banda.

 

Second deputy Speaker Jones Chingola, who had tough time controlling flow of debate, ruled that debate should continue.

 

In their interjection the opposition side raised a number of issues that they felt could have been brought into the House including the current killings of foreigners in South Africa, whereby the MPs wanted a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the issue of the suspended Clerk of Parliament Matilda Katopola and also the fate of Parliament building after the Chinese take over.

 

Another issue that raised hot debate was how government ‘shamelessly’ evicted former Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunje from a government house immediately after her removal from Cabinet while they alleged that Mhango, who was dropped from Cabinet almost a year ago, was still staying in a government house.

 

After almost three hours of debate amidst chaos Chingola adjourned the House to today afternoon to give way from a Business Committee meeting this morning.

 

-end-

 

House order Speaker to act on Sec 65: The madness of the House

By Bright Sonani

 

Parliament on Thursday May 22 passed a resolution that the Speaker of the National Assembly should act on Section 65 before the 2008/09 Budget is passed.

 

The resolution was passed after a one sided debate, which the government side did not and only lasted less than one hour, following a private member’s motion tabled by MCP Parliamentarian and Publicity Secretary Raspicious Dzanjalimodzi.

To say that there was madness in the House would be an understatement becuase while the opposition MPs, especially those from the MCP were busy debating the motion government  Parliamentarian were on the other hand busy doing their own things.

 

The only intejection from the government side was when deputy Minister ofv Foreign Affairs Henri Mumba stood up to remind the House that the Section was still in court a fact which was instantly shot down by the opposition side.

 

At one time several MPs, Ministers and their deputies were seen walking freely in the House while MP for Zomba Yunus Mussa who is also a deputy Minister and Elock Maotcha also deputy minister and MP for were seen going around distributing drinking water to the members in the government.

 

The situation generated into total chaos on perpetrated by the government side forcing second deputy Speaker Jones Chingola to sent a stern warning to the government benches.

 

“This is my last warning to the government side or I will throw all of you out,” said Chingola.

 

However, the government side did not take heed of the warning they kept throwing jokes and laughing loudly.

 

The climax of the afternoon’s show was when Chingola threw out of the House deputy Minister of Irrigation Bintony Kutsaila after he switched on his radio phone and put it straight on the microphone to be heard through out the House.

 

 

 

 

 

In the motion Dzanjalimodzi said the proposal to have Section 65 dealt with was in line with the agreement that both sides of the House reached that after the 2007/08 was passed the issue of the Section was to be next on the agenda.

 

“Once the matter is rescusinated and the process is allowed to commence, it will facillitate the smooth and speedy consideration of the 2008/09 Budget and the other business in the House,” he said.

 

Dzanjalimodzi said the Speaker’s action on the Section would be based on the petitions which he already received.

 

He added: “It is important that the trust that may have been adversely affected by  the lack of progress on Section 65 matters be restored, and this motion once approve and implemented will go a long way in improving the atmosphere in the House.”

 

As Dzanjalimodzi explained the motion the opposition kept jubilliating and mocking the government side which sat listening attentively while once in a while front benchers would exchange smiles.

 

The motion was seconded by UDF Zomba Changalume MP Leonard Mangulama.

 

But later the opposition failed to take advantage of the private members day to bull doze its way to discuss and make a resolution of Clerk of Parliament Matilda Katopola.

 

 

However, the second deputy Speaker later stood his ground when he stopped the opposition to put forward a motion that the House should discuss a report on Katopola who has since been reininstated at the National Assembly.

 

 

As soon as the House sat Mangulama moved a motion to waive the day’s Order Paper which had 10 minister’s questions and Dzanjalimodzi’s private members’ motion and also that the House should discuss the issue of Katopola.

 

However, Chingola only allowed the House to discuss the issue of Section 65 but said the issue of the Clerk of Parliament was still in the hands of the Business Commitee and that the report from the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) has not yet been tabled in the House.

 

After the debate on Section 65 the opposition still wanted the Clerks issue to be brought forward however Chingola stood his ground and ruled that the issue will only be discussed on Thursday after the report has been circulated in the House.

 

Chingola thereafter announced that Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe would present his budget today.

 

In an interview MCP Parliamentary affairs Spokesperson Ishmael Chafukira said afte the resolution on the Section the House now expects the Speaker to act on the petitions he had received against those people who have crossed the floor.

 

On the government’s side thinking that the issue is still in court Chafukira said Section 65 was a political issue that could not be resolved through the courts but rather Parliament itself.

 

Leader of the House Henry Chimunthu Banda said government decided not to participate in the debate on Section 65 because as government side they had a position which they already made clear in the Business Committee meeting.

 

“The facts are clear on that issue and not wanting to take in the commotion that would have followed if we wanted to give the House our position,” he said.

 

Bingu calls challengers to DPP candidature

 
DPP will hold convention when we are ready, says the President
 
President Bingu wa Mutharika on Friday said it is not automatic that he will be the presidential candidate for his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). He said the position will be open for contention when the party goes for its convention anytime soon.
 
Addressing journalists during what he termed Presidential Chat with the Press, Mutharika said the DPP was not under pressure to hold a convention and it will hold one whenever the party is ready.
 
“It is not only the position of running mate that we will be considering even myself I just expressed interest but everyone is free to contest with me. If you will win and become the candidate I will support you and if I win you will support me as well,” said Mutharika.
 
Mutharika also said as State President he is ready to serve only his maximum two terms and thereafter he would retire to pave way for another leader to continue with the development of the country from where he would stop in 2014.
 
“Next year I intend to stand again but after that you will not hear of me amending the constitution to continue ruling, no. After my second term I will retire,” he said.
 
Asked what would be his next destination after retirement Mutharika, who was in a different mood from Monday when he lambasted journalists for asking him questions which he said were outside his successful Beijing trip said: “I will buy a locking chair, sit for six months and then I will tell you my plans.”
 
He likened the presidency to a relay race whereby he said the buton stick has to be handed over after every ten years if a country is to move on with development.
 
“Malawi is not a personal farm or business. I am here in trust. Every leader should have it in mind that this is not my property. As an incumbent you have to develop the country up to where your friend will pick it from. What is important every development should not slide backwards,” he said.
 
On the relationship between his government and opposition Mutharika said he has always been open for dialogue but the problem was that the two sides have always failed to agree on the agenda of the dialogue.
 
He said if an agenda for the dialogue is established he is ready to have talks with the opposition.
 
Mutharika, however, said it was a lie that he sent Minister of Industry, Trade and Private Sector Henry Mussa to meet Muluzi to discuss a possibility of the two working together in the 2009 general elections.
 
“If Mussa went to see Muluzi that I can not say because what happens after 6.00 pm nobody knows,” he said. 
 
Mutharika also bashed Muluzi for his insistence that the country’s economy has gone down unlike when he was in power.
 
The president, who took over from Muluzi in 2004 said Muluzi’s outbursts were coming from someone who is not conversant with economic issues.
 
“I think we come from a different economic school, myself and Muluzi,” said Mutharika, who holds a doctorate qualification in economics and has worked in various positions in the economic field both locally and international.
 
He said even some villagers would know and understand the economics of prices better than ’some heads of state’ saying there are certain things such as fuel prices and economic developments that contribute to price increases and Malawi, as a country has no control over such factors.
 
Mutharika said unfortunately with liberalisation it is impossible to have control over prices but added that as government it is watching and would act if there is too much profiteering.
 
He also said government was working on plans on how minibus prices, which is also currently a thorny issue, are reduced to a level where Malawians would not be burdened.
 
On this year’s farm input programme Mutharika, who is also the Minister of Agriculture admitted that the programme had several implementation problems including corruption and mistakes which he said some emanated from his ministry.
 
He however maintained that the programme would go on still using the coupons system.
 
“We indeed noticed that there was a lot of corruption with the coupons but is there a better alternative. This year I can assure you there would be no theft of coupons,” said Mutharika.
 
He added: “Subsidy goes beyond subsistence farming but it is not meant for commercial farmers. Those talking about universal subsidy are not living on this earth. No government anywhere can afford that. It will still be targeted but this year we will do it better.”
 
He said although the MCP and the UDF have been talking of clubs the system also already failed in the past and that the use of clubs would mean that distribution of the subsidy would be dominated by politicians depending on a political party which is strong in an area.
 
Commenting on this year’s budget Mutharika said Malawians should expect another development budget which he said would ensure continuity of the economic growth which he said Malawi has attained since 2006.
 
On maize security Mutharika maintained that he believes that although the country experienced floods and other disasters this year the country would experience another surplus.
 
He, however, blamed private traders who he said create artificial shortages by buying the maize and stockpile it in neighbouring countries of Zambia and Tanzania with the aim of selling back to Malawi.
 
Mutharika also condemned the political violence in Machinga and Blantyre.
 
Commenting of the media role in the violence Mutharika quashed complaints against two state controlled MBC and TVM that there were not covering the opposition saying what did the opposition expect when it denied funding to the two institutions.
 
“In fact there was no need to deny the two the funding, there could have been dialogue. In future they would not be stupid to deny MBC and TVM funding because actually this is April and we are going to the next budget the two are still operating. What have they achieved?” said Mutharika.
 
Mutharika also said due to lack of funds the country will not hold local government elections in 2009 since he said it is not only the funding for the polls which will be needed but also money for the allowances and salaries of the elected councillors.
 
He also said there will be a lot to be put into the elections, such as capacity and civic education if the country will have two elections at once.
 
“Do you want me to stop all the projects, schools, roads to have the money to give to the councillors,” said Mutharika.
 
On the international scene Mutharika also commented on the Zimbabwe elections and the People’s Republic of China crackdown on Tibet.
 
On Zimbabwe he said since as SADC they have South African President Thabo Mbeki who was mandated to take charge of Zimbabwe affairs it was be ‘indiscipline’ for any SADC head of state to make a statement on Zimbabwe.
 
“It is not that we don’t have opinions. However, on the way forward clearly we have to wait for the election results. As I have always said Zimbabwe problems can only be solved by the Zimbabweans themselves,” said Mutharika, who added that although he has long relations with Zimbabwe he has no solutions for the country.
 
On China he said during his recent visit he went to Beijing to cement the new bilateral relationship and although he was aware of what is happening in Tibet he did not engage any of the leaders he met on the issue.
 
Mutharika, however, said since the two countries will still be interacting at different levels Malawi will be engaging its ally in dialogue over Tibet.
 
“My only fear is that the Olympic games should not be linked up with the Tibet issue. Saying we want to boycott the Olympics will not help matters. It is an enormous problem let us put our hands together,” he added.
 

Bingu tells lecturers off: Go back to work, resign or I will fire you

PRESIDENT Bingu wa Mutharika has told off the striking University of Malawi lecturers who are demanding a more than 200 per cent salary increament to immediately go back to work or resign from the University or else face the chop, challenging that he can replace them in no time at all.
 
“I am calling on them to go back to work immediately, otherwise I will fire them. They can not threaten me. They can not hold this nation at ransom or else I am inviting them to resign,” said Mutharika on Friday in Lilongwe in reaction to the lecturers continued strike over the salaries.
 
Mutharika, who is both Minister of Education and Chancellor of the University of Malawi, said as much as he would want workers to get better salaries any salary increament has to be justified and that Malawi’s economy can not afford a 200 per cent salary increament.
 
He also said it would be ’silly’ for the lecturers, who he said are just as good as all civil servants, to demand a 200 per cent increament while their fellow civil servants got only 20 per cent.
 
Mutharika, who was speaking during what he called a Presidential Chat with the Press,  said it does not make sense comparing salaries for Malawian lecturers to those of neighbouring countries where he said there are more resources such as minerals which Malawi does not have.
 
“Let me say; they are not forced to stay at the university, they can resign. They should not threaten me that the system would collapse. If they leave I can count only from one to three before I get them replaced. Don’t threaten me I am unthretened,” said Mutharika, who said if the lecturers would not go back to work he will follow with a deadline before firing them.
 
The President said as compared to the other civil servants university lecturers in the country already have better salaries.
 
“What kind of greed is this, what is so special about the lecturers? Just like everybody else you get a degree and start teaching, is there anyone who was trained as a lecturer? Nobody is indispersable. This is the way the game is going to be played, if they want me to be tough I will be tough,” said Mutharika.
 
There has been a stand-off between the academic staff and the University of Malawi authorities over the issue of the salary increaments which have seen the two dragging each other to court and students taking to the street in protest over the non-ending sitting off of the lecturers.
 
On Tuesday the students from Chancellor College and the Polytechic took to the streets and presented petitions to Mutharika, who is also the Chancellor of the University, through the District Commissioners in Zomba and Blantyre respectively asking him to intervene in the matter.
 
Soon after the lecturers started the strike Deputy Minister responsibble for Higher Education Richard Msowoya also challenged the grieving lecturers to leave the university if they were not satisfied with their pay while Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe described 200 per cent pay increase demand as ridiculous.
 
The students in their petition asked Mutharika to stop his officers from making oublic statements that will worsen the situation and also to ensure that negotations with the lecturers are done in an enviroment free from fear and mistrust.
 
Mutharika said he just heard about the petitions in the newspapers but he has not yet received one.
 
However, the president’s statements seem to have closed any hopes of further negotiations as he said that due to economical problems, which he said the lecturers know, government would only be able to give gradual increaments starting with the 20 per cent which was given to all the civil servants.
 
Mutharika also commented on the quota system in the university saying although he is not the one who made the proposal he agree with the proponents of the idea and that there was need to critically look into the issue.
 
“There are people in our society who believe there is an inbalance on the entry to the university based on regions saying that other regions are having an advantage over others. However, I don’t have much information on the issue I have to study the situation first since I don’t even know how the quota system works,” he said.
 
Mutharika said it would be unfair to dismiss the discussion over the matter instead of listening to each other.
 
“People were just discussing and some people were already up in arms on the matter. It is not supposed to be like that,” he added.
 
On education in general Mutharika admitted that life was not all that rosy in the sector with most of the schools, especially government ones, lacking basic facilities such as desks, chalk board and classrooms, in some instances forcing primary school pupils to learn in the rain under trees and also with some of the pupils coming to school hungry.
 
He also said he was worried that some secondary schools have non degree holders as teachers.
 
Mutharika said government was working on policies which will make it manadatory to have only degreee holders teaching in secondary school. He said when the new policies are in place government would close down schools which will not be complying to the new regulations.
 
During the over three hours briefing the president also touched on the welfare of the youths in the country.
 
“My major worry is that a lot of youths are leaving school every year but we are not creating jobs for them,” he said.
 
He suggested that just like other countries there was need to have a national youths service but said the problem was that Malawi is still haunted with the Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP) hangover and that there are fears that such a concept would end up “creating another monster like MYP.”
 
He also said government would work out a plan on how it can assist the youths to own houses after observing that these days it is practically impossible for a youths, especially those just coming out of school or college, to build or buy a house.
 
Mutharika also said his plans to establish the Malawi Development Bank were still alive saying that would be the only way for Malawians to have easy access to loans for businesses.
 
He said most Malawians just like a lot of blacks everywhere are marginalised when it comes to issues of getting loans through the banks.
 

Four regions still for Muluzi

 

…it would be a secret ballot, regional governors have no influence-Mpasu

…the only problem in the Chilumpha campaign is financial prowess-Analyst

  

IT seems the new UDF presidential hopeful Vice President Cassim Chilumpha will have a tough time to convince the party’s regional governors that he is a better candidate than party Chairman Bakili Muluzi for the 2009 presidential election.

 

Four regional governors from the east, south, central and north, who already pledged their support for Muluzi have openly said their regions are not yet ready to abandon the former head of state for Chilumpha.

 

However, former UDF spokesperson Sam Mpasu, who has shown his direct support to Chilumpha, said there is no need to get worried with the regional governors’ pronouncements since he said the voting at the April 27 convention will be a secret ballot and the governors will just be part of the delegates without any influence on individual voting.

 

Eastern region Governor Abbubakar Mbaya in an interview said as a region they are still for Muluzi because he said it was the people who asked Muluzi to stand and the region can not go against the wishes of the people at grass roots level.

 

“Nobody asked Chilumpha to stand, Chilumpha want to stand on his own. As a party and as a region we are going to go by what was already agreed,” said Mbaya, while refuting that it was not true that Zomba district, which is part of his region has already endorsed Chilumpha.

 

Mbaya said although the initial endorsement was made when Muluzi was a lone candidate with Chilumpha joining the race the leadership of the party in the region would not go back to the people to seek fresh views.

 

Southern region Governor MacDonald Symon also said the region is for Muluzi.

 

“Actually in this region people are saying that if they are given another candidate they will not vote. They already said they will go for Atcheya which means whether we will have 10 or 20 candidates it is still Atcheya who people in the south will go for,” he said.

 

Kajisu Gondwe, regional governor for the north, also said the region is still for Muluzi.

 

“I am speaking for the whole north and take me seriously. We have about 502 delegates from the north and when we go to the convention we are all going to vote for the Chair. As a region we have to go there with one voice,” he said

 

Gondwe said the northern region was not worried with possibilities of Muluzi being barred from standing saying as a region they are not doing things blindly, they have already consulted their lawyers who have assured them that they can go ahead and vote for Muluzi.

 

“Democracy is about decisions. Muluzi has rested for five years and want to come back what is wrong with that?” he added.

 

He also said the executive in the region will not go back to the people to seek fresh views because they are convinced that people in the region are satisfied with what Muluzi did for the region in the ten years that he had been in power.

 

Central region Governor John Banda also said the region will go for a candidate who has been assisting the party.

 

“Come and ask me after the convention, it is the convention that would answer whether Chilumpha has people. But what I can say as a region we are going to vote for someone who has been assisting the party and by assisting the party we are not talking of money but conducting rallies to build the party,” he said.

 

Apparently Chilumpha who has been under house arrest since 2005 after being arrested for allegedly planning to assassinate President Bingu wa Muntharika has not been conducting any rallies due to his arrest and it is only Muluzi who has been holding rallies while selling his come back idea.

 

Chancellor College political analyst Blessings Chisinga said the regional governors were getting Chilumpha’s intention to stand wrongly because he said it is the same UDF Constitution that that gives the liberty to each individual member of the party to freely contest without necessarily being asked by the people.

 

“This is the strategy Muluzi has used, as has always been using, to convince people that it was not his intention to stand but that he was asked by people to stand. Procedurally anybody is at liberty to declare his interest even without being asked,” said Chisinga.

 

However, Chisinga said the problem with Chilumpha’s candidature was that he has come into the race a ‘rather a little too late.’

 

He said to show his seriousness Chilumpha could have come a long time ago.

 

“The mark of a good leader is the willingness to take risks and make sacrifices,” he added.

 

Chisinga, however, said Chilumpha still stands a chance of successfully challenging Muluzi if he has support from the party’s big guns.

 

“These party’s big wigs have support in their constituencies and if Chilumpha has support amongst them that is good for him, he stands a better chance,” he said.

 

So far it is only Mpasu who has come in the open supporting Chilumpha’s campaign while other big wigs like Friday Jumbe, George nga Ntafu and Brown Mpinganjira have not come in the open as to which side they have their vote on although reports revealed that there were part of secret meetings which were being held at Chilumpha’s residence.

 

Chisinga, however, said the only obstacle to Chilumpha’s bid would be matching financial prowess with Muluzi, who has already pledged a total of K11.5 million to support the party’s indaba.

 

Muluzi has always been known as the major benefactor of the party since its inception and has always been dishing out money to party supporters during his rallies.

 

“There is likely to be a huge dilemma among other influential members as to who they should support, whether to support a viable candidate or who has the financial power to support the party,” he said.

 

Chisinga said the dilemma will come up because defeating Muluzi will in some way mean the end of the party because he said the former head of state is the one who supports the party financially.

 

He also said defeating Muluzi would put the party in a tricky situation since he said the convention is done closer to the general elections.

 

“If the convention was done two years ago and Muluzi was defeated the party could have had ample time to rebuild itself,” said Chisinga.

 

Mpasu in an interview said since the UDF Constitution requires voting through a secret ballot Chilumpha’s camp would not be worried with the regional governors.

 

“The whole thing has to be looked at in line with the UDF Constitution. Regional governors are just delegates to the convention just like anyone else and they can not have influence on individual voting through a secret ballot. Endorsement of a candidate is not part of the UDF Constitution it is just part of campaign,” he said.

 

On how financially stable is the Chilumpha campaign Mpasu said although money is important in every political endeavour it is not decisive in the voting process.

 

“People vote for ideas, we have seen people with little money winning an election because not everybody is interested in being bribed,” he said.

 

Mpasu gave an example of the UDF of 1994 which he said had no money but won the election against the financially sound Malawi Congress Party (MCP) of the then late Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

 

Boy, 20 cut off 12-year-old’s head

IN what can be described as the most bizarre and gruesome murder a 20-year-old man in Lilongwe Thursday morning handed himself over to police after he cut off the head of a 12-year-old boy who he had picked up a quarrel with.

 

University of Malawi Chancellor College sociologist Pierson Mtata commenting on this latest incident of a series of gruesome murders said apart from suspected drug abuse which he said has been increasing recently, state of hopelessness and despair due to poverty could also be attributed to the sharp increase of such violent murder cases in the country.

 

Central Region Police spokesperson John Namalenga said the accused Ben Sanga from Mpingu village, in the area of T/A Maliri in the district allegedly cut off the head of the 12-year-old Thokozani Banda from Mpingu Trading Centre near Chitedze following a quarrel that the two picked.

 

Namalenga said the incident happened while Banda and several of his colleagues from the area were playing football at Mpingu football ground at around 6 O’clock in the morning.

 

“Sanga came to disturb the children as they were playing and during a quarrel the 12-year-old boy picked a stone and hit the man. The man chased the boy while wielding a knife and when he got hold of him he cut off the boy’s head,” said the police publicist.

 

Namalenga said after the incident Sanga handed himself over to police and he was instantly arrested.

 

“Currently he is in police custody waiting for trial but before prosecution starts he will be sent to hospital for examination to establish his sanity. The body of the boy is at the hospital waiting for postmortem,” added Namalenga.

 

Mtata in an interview said there were several factors that can be attributed to the current spate of violent criminal activities in the country but said some of the incidents can be attributed to abuse of drugs while others can be attributed to poverty which he said brings a state of hopelessness, despair, disappointment and anger.

 

“All the cases may not have similar explanation. However, abuse of drugs like chamba may lead to such type of behavior. Substance abuse has become more common these days than before,” he said.

 

Added Mtata: “If not substance abuse this may have some roots within the society we are leaving in. It could be a result of built up disappointment and anger due to poverty. One may not know when this building up would come out. In this case the cause of the violent action may not be the annoyance that the boy did but the eruption of that built up anger.”

 

He said this is a result of going into dire situations where one has no hope of where to get the next meal and other neccessities.

 

Mtata also said some people turn to be violent because of how they have been brought up. He cited orphans who most often grow up on their own and those growing up in single-mother headed households as people likely to be violent.

 

“When one is growing up on their own even church attendance is erratic, sometimes one does not even attend church and also lack family values which means they lack socialization and do not have a conscious builder. They can do anything,” he said.

 

Mtata said the solution to the current problem of violent crime is to try to find a way of bringing back the reinforcement of moral values a thing he said can only be achieved through the restoration and strengthening of the role of the church, schools and families.

 

“These values have crumbled, unfortunately just like a house it takes a long time to build society values but just a short time for the values to collapse. These society values will be built slowly. However, it is still difficult because some people grew up as orphans while others in weak families. How do we bring those things back,” observed Mtata.

 

He added: “This needs national initiatives. The prisons won’t solve this problem because if we arrest an individual somebody still will come up and commit the same violent crime.”

 

Recently the media has been awash of various gruesome murder cases. In Lilongwe in a space of a two weeks four gruesome murder cases were reported two in Mchesi and two in Mtandire, where a mother and daughter were killed in a maize garden in a day light murder.