MAIZE SCAM: Admarc buying maize straight from the garden

Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) which has for the past months been playing hide and seek on whether it has enough maize to take it into the forth coming harvest season, has started buying maize straight from the garden in a bid to cover up the shortage. 

However, the Grain Traders and Processors Association (GTPA) have described the move as a recipe for disaster both to Admarc and the farmers.

Admarc, which normally starts buying maize in June, and the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed this week that Admarc has opened its markets across the country to purchase maize which would be sold in areas where there is shortage of the staple.

Both and confirmed during the week that the produce buying and selling company has started buying the maize.

However, while Admarc Chairman George Kanyama Phiri admitted that the maize is being bought to service some parts of the country where there is a problem of hunger the corporation’s spokesperson Agness Chikoko in a separate interview disputed that the maize was being bought to cover up the shortage.

“I am aware of this policy of buying now. We are buying and reselling it immediately while the grain reserves (Strategic Grain Reserves) are being serviced,” said Kanyama Phiri.

Kanyama Phiri, who is also an agricultural professor from the University of Malawi’s Bunda College of Agriculture, speaking in his professional capacity said it would not be alright to keep the maize being bought now since it would have a higher moisture content than recommended.

“Maize is kept with moisture content of 12.5 per cent or below if the moisture is higher then it will rot if it wil be kept for a long time. That would be my professional advice,” he said.

On the other hand Chikoko said Admarc wanted to start buying the maize earlier to avoid a crash with commercial traders who she said last year started earlier than Admarc and made it difficult for the corporation to get enough maize from the farmers at a good price.

Asked whether it was normal to start the purchase in March and while farmers have not yet started harvesting Chikoko said the buying of farm produce every year depends on when the rainy season started.

“What we are saying is that all our markets are open and farmers who are ready to sell their maize can come to our markets, we are ready to buy the maize,” she said.

Chikoko said there were some areas in the country where farmers have started harvesting.

Only two weeks ago the Ministry of Agriculture warned private traders against what the ministry said were illegal purchases of maize while it is still in the garden.

The ministry said such a practice was tantamount to exploitation and should immediately be stopped since farmers are offered ‘very’ low prices.

The statement which was signed by Secretary for Agriculture and Food Security Patrick Kabambe further advised farmers to wait until they harvest their maize crop, store adequate amounts of maize enough for the households up to the next harvest season and sell only the excess.

Chikoko, however, said Admarc move does not mean that it is buying maize from the garden saying as a government institution it can not do business to exploit the farmers.

“It is not like we are forcing anyone to sell. Those who are ready and feel their maize is dry enough with adequate moisture content are free to bring their maize, while those not ready will wait,” she added.

Chikoko could not be drawn to comment on how much Admarc has put aside for the maize purchases here and how much maize it is expected to buy from the farmers.

Secretary for Agriculture Patrick Kabambe also said what his ministry was discouraging is different from what Admarc is doing.

“Its totally different because there are people who go to a farmer while the maize is still in the garden and negotiate the price while Admarc is buying already harvested and dried maize,” he said.

Kabambe cited Phalombe, Mulanje, Mchinji and Dzalanyama in Lilongwe as areas where people have harvested.

He said also another difference with the private traders was that Admarc was buying the maize at K20 per kilogramme while the other traders are offering “ridiculously low price.”

GTPA Chairperson Grace Mhango said what Admarc was doing was unacceptable because she said farmers were supposed to sell excess maize and it would be difficult for them to judge whether they have excess or not before fully harvesting and drying the maize.

 “The problem is two fold here; If Admarc is buying to keep the maize then I have to tell them that they are buying water, they are bound to lose almost 30 to 40 per cent of the weight they are buying now through moisture loss. In terms of cash that is a significant loss, if Admarc is using borrowed money then it is sinking the money,” she said.

Mhango said such a scenario means that the farmer will have an advantage selling maize with artificial weight because of high moisture content but in the end the same farmer would have to buy the same maize at a higher price.

She added: “On the other hand if the maize is going straight on the market to cover up the current shortage it is OK on the part of Admarc but then we are creating a vacuum. Come October again the maize will have run out on the market.”

Mhango said the appropriate time to start buying maize in the country is May and June when she said the maize has well balanced moisture content.

The GTPA Chairperson also expressed concern that Admarc was buying the maize at a time when the Ministry of Agriculture has just issued a warning against such a practice.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources Vitus Dzoole Mwale said although the committee has no problems with Admarc starting buying the maize now March was ‘too’ early for the exercise.

“I see that as a good response to our concern in Parliament that Admarc should start buying the maize earlier but then why in March, I don’t think that is usual. It is too early, may be they want to cover up the current food shortage,” he said.

Dzoole Mwale said the major challenge in Admarc’s move would be to sensitise the farmers about food security and how they can keep enough for their households.

MAP of the Pyramids

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Rediscovering the land of the Great Pyramids :Traveling back through ancient history

By Bright Sonani

Egypt today with its majestic and imposing buildings and an array of crossovers that crisscrosses the whole city might look more modern and more cosmopolitan than most African cities.

Arriving at Cairo International Airport located in Heliopolis, 22 kilometres northeast of Central Cairo and driving around the City of Cairo itself one would take Egypt and the City of Cairo just like any ordinary modern place of the 21^st Century without a single imagination of what lies beneath the aura of that bravura.

Like many great cities around the world Cairo is in fact not spared the cheerful chaos of hooting taxis and buses, off course with the monumental donkey carts overloaded with merchandise of any sort.

However, a short drive from the Heliopolis going into the ‘real’ Egypt one would soon realize that a whole book of ancient history lay ahead of you ready for rediscovering.

You would soon discover that Egypt is in fact several cities with contrasts in age and style.

You would discover that the same roads you are walking on, the Biblical Moses and Joseph and their troops of the Israelites also walked on the same and the same roads hosted the ancient King Tutenkamen.

You will soon realize that it is here where Pharoah Ramesses II fondly known as the Pharoah of Mosses died by the hand of God and was cremated by God himself as punishment for not allowing the Israelites to leave the country during the period of their slavery in Egypt.

Driving 40 kilometres northwest from Cairo International Airport crossing the River Nile into Giza you will discover that Egypt has not only got its share of world historical buildings, monuments, names, statues and one of the largest rivers in the world, the  Nile but it is a country hosting one of the seven wonders of the ancient world: The Great Pyramid of Khufu.

The other Wonders of the Ancient History include; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis, Mausoleum of Maussollos, Colossus of Rhodes and Lighthouse of Alexandria.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu standing in Giza Plateau is a  4,000 years old piece of architectural design believed to have been completed around 2500 BC and renowned as being the first world’s tallest building.

For four millenia it was unsurpassed until the 160 metres tall spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed in around 1300 AD.

“There are over 82 Pyramids in the whole of Egypt but nine of them are here in Giza Plateau which also include the Great Pyramid of Khufu,” started our tour guide Samy Omda as soon as he stepped into the tour bus to accompany us on an impromptu trip to the Pyramids. 

Omda led us through narrow tarmac road curving through buildings of different sizes spiced by food and drink stalls and shops reminiscent of the modern world and culture.

While here and there we met ‘merchants’ riding on overloaded horse drawn carts or at times just like those of the old, perched high on an overloaded camel.

As the bus drove through the narrow over crowded roads while trying to avoid a pedestrian here and dodging another vehicle there our tour guide explained the magic behind the Great Pyramid of Khufu and its neighboring Pyramids.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu superimposes itself magnificently to be seen well above the buildings of the now modern village of Nazlet et Samman while the other two Pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure just shyly shows their pointed ends above the houses.

“This Great Pyramid took 30 years to be completed: 10 years was for digging the foundation, 10 years for cutting the stones which were approximately 3 tonnes each while the other 10 years was for the construction itself,” said Omda pointing at the imposing structure as we disembark from the tour bus.

It is hot but to Omda it is not hot yet.

“Today it is just 37 degrees celcius, but at times it goes up to 40 degrees. It is summer here from June, July and August. That is why there isn’t a lot of visitors. Over 5 million tourists visit the Pyramids every year,” said Omda with an air of authority.

Turning to the focus of the visit again Omda stated that it took over 2 million stone blocks to build the magnificent Great Pyramid.

Omda, has never been sure how many people were hired to do the job but estimated that over 100,000 workers may have been required to construct the Great Pyramid for the 30 years it took.

Historical books also have many varied theories of the workforce; others put the figure at 300,000 while other historical writings put it at 80,000 and others between 40,000 to 50,000.

Historians also state that the stone blocks were cut from stones of up to 60 and 80 ton which were quarried and transported a distance of over 500 miles.

Standing on a 13 acres site Omda explained that the Great Pyramid is 137 metres high and each side of the pyramid has an approximate length of about 230.4 meters.

Originally the Great Pyramid was said to be 146.6 metres high while the base side were 231 m long covering approximately 53,000 square metres Omda however said the reduction in size has been due to erosion, theft of its original polished casing stones as well as the effects of earthquakes.  

A few hundred metres south-west of the Great Pyramid lies the slightly smaller Pyramid of Khafre, one of Khufu’s successors who is also commonly considered the builder of the Great Sphinx, and a few hundred metres further south-west is the Pyramid of Menkaure, Khafre’s successor, which is about half as tall.

While Just below the three Pyramids lies the Great Sphinx itself, a statue with a face of a man, head of a woman and body of a lion.

“These three Pyramids are called the father, that is Khufu’s, the son that is the Pyramid of Khufre and the grandson which is the Pyramid of Menkaure” said Omda.

Around the Pyramids lies other small Pyramids believed to be for the wives of the three kings.

“The nose of the Sphinx was broken in 1797 by Napoleon the Great,” said Omda.

As we stood on the edges of the village of Nazlet et Samman looking across the valley to the Pyramids the sight, the smell, the noise and people ridding on horses and camels bring you back to the ancient times.

All this amid the usual hooting of taxis, shove and pushing as well as touts calling for tourists to sample their wares and services they have on offer.

However, typical of the moral pollution which has not spared any part of the world including this ancient civilization site the fun soon came to an end as Omda tells us to quickly get into our tour bus.

“This is a mafia place, don’t entertain anybody. I know these people they want to steal from you,” like an army captain Omda shouted as we end our short but worthwhile tour of the land of the Pyramids.

Regretting that we have had no much time for a thorough exploration of the historical Egypt we left, drove back to the main road, where we had picked Omda and then crossing the River Nile again, passing through the Great Casltle which we are told was built by Emperor Ottoman of Turkey, then we passed through the Great Mosque of Mohhamed Ali and finally the statue of Remesses II the Pharoah of Mosses.

As we drove back to our base Hotel Novotel the eight Malawians on this brief tour were satisfied that we have not only experienced ancient history but have a chance to travel back through the ancient history itself.

LILONGWE WATER BOARD SAGA: the managerial lies

…takes two months to connect a new server

…experts believes it could have been done in a day  

By Bright Sonani

Utility service provider Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) is bound to lose millions of kwachas in water revenue after the company lost all customer data including previous metre readings which are used as a basis to calculate new bills for clients.

The company lost the vital customer information after its central computer server crashed early last month leaving the board without any base to calculate and send fresh bills to its customers.

For the past two months the board has been grappling to physically get new information from their customers to rebuild their base.

However, the board has come under fire from consumer rights activists for keeping the incident a secret instead of telling its clients what is happening to avoid possible crashes over future huge bills caused due to the billing gap.

Since January the board has been flighting advertisements on local radios as well as on Malawi Television announcing that employees from the board would be going around collecting vital customers’ information, including metre details, plot numbers and clients’ addresses.

The announcement did not explain the reasons for the exercise but sources disclosed this week that the exercise was meant to recover the lost information since the board had no back up data base.

LWB Chief Executive Officer McLawrence Mpasa confirmed in an interview that the board lost all customer vital information and was in the process of restoring the data.

Mpasa, however, was quick to explain that the current exercise of door to door collection of information has nothing to do with the lost data since he said the board has a back up of the lost information.

“There is no question of us losing any data. This data collection exercise is a separate one, we just want to update our records,” he said.

He said to avoid the problem in future the board could have loved if they had two machines so that if one crashes operations can switch to the other machines.

“Due to problems of funds, in the interim we will continue with the daily back up process,” added Mpasa.

He also said the board does not anticipate to incur any loses in revenue following the development.

“Meter readings are done normally and when we restore the server we will just update the records with the back up information and send updated bills to our clients. The new server is now here and we are only waiting for an expert from the UK to restore the data,” he said.

Mpasa said meanwhile clients are just told to pay according to their previous consumption.

Asked why the board is failing to give bills to its clients from the back up data, Mpasa said the problem was that the board has the back up data in software form which was being done on every day basis but has no duplicate machine.

“It is the machine which crashed and if we had two machines that couldn’t have been a problem. Unfortunately we don’t have a duplicate machine,” said Mpasa.

He explained that after the incident the board acquired a new machine which has been reloaded with a billing package and the backup data.

Mpasa was optimistic that the problem will be sorted out in the first week of this month.

Asked why the board has not made any attempts to explain the situation to their clients through the press, Mpasa said management initially thought they could handle the problem within a week but it was the supplier who delayed the process.

The silence by the water board over the incident, which has left water consumers in Lilongwe guessing as to what could be the problem, has raised concerns to both Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) and the Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA).

MHRC commissioner responsible for economical and consumer issues John Kapito said the silence on the incident can lead to abuse with customers getting suspicious enormous bills when the system is installed.

“The board was expected to inform their clients and explain what would happen while they are updating the information. The problem with us is that there is a lot of secrecy on issues that are not supposed to be secret,” said Kapito.

He said with such lack of information as soon as the system is restored the situation will culminate into a crash between the board and its clients over bills.

Kapito said unfortunately such crashes concerning vital services like water “the consumer can battle it out” but only to succumb to pressure to avoid a disconnection.

“This is a challenge to the water board and it is a serious problem because people make plans and our plans are normally against such bills. It is unfair and unfortunate that there is such lack of information,” added Kapito.

CAMA Programmes Officer Andrew Usi said LWB should not trivialise the incident because it is clear that if people are told to pay without a bill it means that in the end, after the situation has been corrected, consumers will be forced to pay huge bills which they did not anticipate.

“What they could have done is go back to their clients openly to collect the fresh information and explain the problem but keeping quite is unfair both to their clients as well as to the company itself,” said Usi.

He said if the board continues to keep quite it is creating a future problem because, Usi said, consumers will not be able to appreciate the problem after it has been corrected.

“For a long time we have been concerned with service providers that they always go public informing their clients about disconnections but fail to provide vital information like the case with Lilongwe Water Board,” added Usi.

According to insiders the central computer server crashed during the early week of January this year.

“At the moment we are starting afresh collecting new information directly from our clients,” said one of the sources.

The source said the data collection process is expected to take several months and after restoring the information the board is expected to take several months again to work out bills for the lost months based on new metre readings.

The source also said during these months of data blackout the water board is expected to incur loses in million of kwachas because after the restoration of the system everything will be worked based on guesses and assumptions.

IT experts interviewed on the saga said what LWB management was saying were all lies as it can not take a whole two months to have a new server and there was no point of sourcing such a server from the UK with a UK expert coming in to install software while Malawi boasts of thousands of computer experts and techinicians.

MAIZE CRISIS: Admarc/NFRA lies Malawi’s maize just enough for less than a month

By Bright Sonani

Malawi is likely to face a serious food crisis in the next two months since the maize currently being held at the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) silos in Lilongwe is only enough to last not more than a month and not adequate to see the country through to the actual harvest season which starts early May.

NFRA General Manager Edward Sawerengera disclosed last week that in the silos in Lilongwe there is almost 53,000 metric tons of maize which would see the country through into the next harvesting season.

He said it will go up to five months.

However, agricultural experts in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security have, however, said if it was true that this was the maize which the country has then the country was heading for a crisis since based on the annual consumption of 2 million metric tons that maize can only last for less than three weeks.

A senior Agricultural Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said it would be wrong just to look at May or June as the beginning of official harvesting season saying the required maize is supposed to take the country beyond that since most parts of the country harvest goes beyond June.

He also said it is not the whole country which will directly have direct harvest some areas will still rely on maize from Admarc which means there would have to be other factors to be considered like time for Admarc to buy the maize from farmers and transportation.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Frank Mwenifumbo in an interview on Wednesday confirmed that Malawi’s consumption is at 2 million metric tons but insisted that the maize in the silos was enough to take the country for the next five months.

“It is correct that we require 2 million metric tons per year but at the moment we have noted that the consumption (from the silos) is about 10,000 metric tons a month because there is still maize on the market. That is why we are saying that the maize would take us up to the next five months,” said Mwenifumbo.

According to information sourced from NFRA the maize in the silos might be less than 52,000 metric tons after government early this months was sanctioned to draw 15,000 metric tons for sale in Admarc depots, 2,000 metric tons for relief while also the World Food Programme (WFP) recently withdrew another 10,000 metric tons being the maize which Malawi Government donated to the global food relief agency.

Again there is also 10,000 metric tons which is yet to be collected for the silos to cover the donations which Malawi made to Swaziland and Lesotho.

Both countries have not yet collected their respective 5,000 metric tons with with Lesotho indicating that it made arrangements with WFP for transportation.

Based on these figures which are adding up to 37,000 metric tons there are fears that the silos in Lilongwe might only have 15,000 metric tons of free maize while according to sources there is no maize in Mangochi.

When given such break downs Mwenifumbo just said there were two components of maize in the silos-one for commercial use and the other for relief. He said currently it was the commercial maize which is being drawn from the silos.

Sawerengera when contacted to clarify and confirm on the figures declined to comment saying if Malawians were concerned with the maize situation and have questions they should go straight to him as he would not want to answer questions on the issue through the media.

“I am not prepared to talk to journalists on this. Just continue writing whatever figures you have,” he said.

WFP Malawi Senior Public Information Assistant Matthews Nyirenda, confirmed that the global food agency had 10,000 metric tons which was collected but said he did not know anything about the arrangement between Lesotho and WFP.

“Probably if you check with WFP Lesotho,” he said.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources Dzoole Mwale said although his committee visited NFRA it did not physically see the said maize but only got an assurance from both NFRA and Admarc that there was enough maize in the country.

“We trusted what they said but we did warn them that some parts of the country there is no maize in Admarc markets. We are surprised that despite the assurance that there is maize in the country and continued talk about the same there is still no maize in some markets,” he said.

Dzoole Mwale said as soon as his committee has the funding it will meet again to follow up on what is happening.

“Our only problem is funding but it is pertinent to follow up again and see what is happening,” said Dzoole Mwale, who called the situation as a man made crisis.

WFP estimates indicate that the country which has an estimated population of 12 million needs 2 million metric tons per year.

The world food agency recently also said Malawi is expected to face a food shortage immediately before harvest and the problem would be worsened by floods and several other natural disasters with 1 million people expected to require food assistance.

MARDEF FIASCO: A Million applicants still waiting to get loans; K10 billion required to service the loans

by Bright Sonani

At least one million aspiring small and medium scale entrepreneurs are yet to benefit from the Malawi Rural Development Fund (Mardef) which has so far received only K1 billion out of the K5 billion which Parliament approved for the loan facility.

The Nation on Sunday has established that Mardef will need at least K10 billion to effectively meet the demand for the credit scheme.

Despite the Ministry of Finance indicating last week that it was not yet ready to pump in extra money into Mardef a 2007 Mardef Report reveals that only 113,175 individuals have so far benefited from the loans.

This represents eight percent of the total applicants.

The report reveals that since inception in 2005 more than 1,282,155 aspiring entrepreneurs applied for the Mardef loans through 85,477 groups.

The applications translates to a total value of K10 billion.

Out of the total groups 20,174 were appraised while 7,545 groups completed training and received the loans.

Mardef acting General Manager Joseph Mononga in an interview said going by the figures it was important that additional funds should be pumped into the credit facility to improve the pace at which the loans are disbursed.

“The K1 billion is now exhausted. It is important that there is further capital injection because the demand is high. If we are solely relying on recoveries, it would be a very slow process. As you can see even if we had K5 billion not everyone could have received,” said Mononga.

A United Nations’s publication Expanding Access to Financial Services in Malawi estimates the micro-credit services demand in the country, using standard of living approach, to be between K3.5 billion to K10.2 billion against estimated credit supply of K2 billion.

Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe confirmed last week that government only released K1 billion for the fund and that it would at the moment not release another tranche.

The Minister did not give reasons for the move leaving people speculating that probably government was not impressed with the repayment rate of the loans.

However, in an interview this week Gondwe said his statement did not mean that government has no money for Mardef.

He said in as far as government was concerned the Fund still has resources to operate smoothly.

“Even if government doe not provide any more funding Mardef has the resources to operate. However, if need be we will add the resources. The money is there, I have the money,” said Gondwe.

The Finance Minister cautioned though that although there are more than a million interested individuals it would not be possible for everyone to get the loans.

“Its not a question of reaching to as many people as possible but to as many deserving people as possible,” said Gondwe.

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Parliamentary Spokesperson Ishmael Chafukira in an interview said his party was worried with government’s move not to release the remaining money without giving reasons.

“Government should come in the open and tell the nation why they can not release the remaining money because what we are hearing now is that there has been a very poor repayment rate,” said Chafukira.

The MCP legislator said to suspend the Mardef fund before achieving its objective would be “killing the dreams and aspirations of our people who saw Mardef as a grips of hope.”

United Democratic Front (UDF) spokesperson on Finance who is also Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament Friday Jumbe also expressed concern with the development but said there was not much Parliamentarians could do after Gondwe said government has no money for the additional funding.

“I would want to think that they have no money. As Budget and Finance Committee we asked and government said it has no money,” said Jumbe.

Mononga who described Mardef operations as a success so far, said it would not be true that government was worried with the recovery rate. He said the repayment has been encouraging at almost 81 per cent.

The Mardef boss said as at December 31, 2007 the Fund has approved a total of K1,064,906,800, with a total of K501,170,876 due for repayment while K404,217,762 was the total amount recovered.

He said this amount included the 15 per cent interest.

“That 15 per cent is for our operations and at the same time that is why you could see that the total amount so far approved is more than K1 billion,” said Mononga.

He explained that between the months of December 2007 and January 2008 the fund has disbursed a total of K167 million.

Mononga said although there are several challenges with the Fund he felt that K1 billion capital for such a microfinance institution was not a small start considering that most of the micro-financing institutions in the country do not have such an amount but continue to operate.

He cited some of the challenges in the operations of Mardef as the belief by some people that the loans would eventually be turned into grants especially as the country goes towards general elections.

Mononga said there was need for more civic education on the facility.

The Mardef loans which were approved by Parliament in April 2005 but the disbursement started in January 2006, target the more vulnerable groups such as the disabled, the elderly, those affected with HIV and the youths.

Before they qualify the beneficiaries are required to form groups which also act as collateral as Mardef use peer pressure to recover the loans which attracts a 15 per cent interest. The beneficiaries also undergo through a training.

According to the Mardef report at least 60 per cent of the beneficiaries are women.

The report also says apart from assisting people to set up businesses the Fund has also assisted in promoting the culture of saving since the beneficiaries receive the money through a bank account, has encouraged the spirit of working together in groups, instilling the culture of loan repayment and changing the mind set that every loan is repayable irrespective of the lender.

Analysts views on Muluzi’s rallies: …it is not Government that would arrest him but the law–Kaliati

by Bright Sonani

Legal experts in the country have differed on whether it is illegal for politicians to campaign outside the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) mandated campaign period as provided in the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections (P&PE) Act.

Section 57 of P&PE Act mandates MEC to declare an official campaign period two months before the presidential and parliamentary elections and to close the campaign before 48 hours of the polls.

In an interview this week Lilongwe based lawyer Rhodrick Makono said all political rallies being held now before MEC’s legally mandated period were illegal since he said they were contravening Section 57 of the P&PE Act.

“The Section clearly states that campaign can not be done two months before an election and if it is done outside the stipulated period then that is illegal. Parliament can not be stupid to put a law that can be broken any how,” said Makono.

Makono specifically singled out rallies being held by United Democratic Front (UDF) Chairman Bakili Muluzi and his allies who include New Republican Party (NRP) President Gwanda Chakuamba and Kamlepo Kalua of Malawi Democratic Party (MDP).

He said any citizen in the country, human rights bodies or any political party which could feel that these rallies were not right can drag Muluzi and his colleagues to court.

Makono said Muluzi rallies were different from President Bingu wa Mutharika’s because Mutharika as a president has the backing due to the nature of his office that need him to inform people what development agenda he has.

He could not precisely say what charges can Muluzi face.

But Makono said with Muluzi’s utterances, where sometimes he is castigating Mutharika and telling people that he is about to oust him from office, treason could not be ruled out.

“That is one of the possibilities. Everything is possible when a case goes to court,” he added.

A Chancellor College law lecturer Nector Mhura, however, said although it would be illegal to campaign outside the campaign period it would be tricky to say that what was going on now can be termed as campaign.

“MEC has to determine whether what is going on now is a campaign. It may be difficult to say it is illegal without determining what campaigning is,” said Mhura.

Another Chancellor College law lecturer Charles Mhango said although Section 57 of the P&PE Act could not be applied now since it is not near to any elections, politicians have to be careful with laws on sedition.

He said during the campaign period since everyone is involved including the president politicians are ‘some how protected’.

“There is a thin line between campaigning now and during the actual elections but people should be mindful of statements that would make people angry to start hating the president. That would amount to seditious statement and laws on sedition can still operate,” said Mhango.

He also said with Section 38 and 40 of the Constitution which provide for freedom to assemble as well as freedom to campaign it would be difficult to apply the P&PE Act.

President of the Law Society of Malawi Mabvuto Hara said the P&PE Act was specifically about the conduct, management and regulation of campaign for the presidential and parliamentary elections.

He also said the Constitutional provision in Section 40 also gives politicians the right to campaign outside the election period.

“The Constitution does not limit the right to campaign in terms of time. In my view the P&PE Act can not limit that general right to campaign. The Act is subject to the Constitution,” he said.

MEC spokesperson Fergus Lipenga agreed with Mhango and Hara.

“The Constitution is the supreme law of the land,” said Lipenga.

He also said the law was silent as to whether what politicians were doing now would be said to be campaigning.

Lipenga said the other problem was that as MEC, while they have a mandate to enforce their code of conduct during the official campaign period, the electoral body has no mandate outside that period.

“This time we have nothing guiding us that is why political parties seek permission from Police to have their rallies while during the official campaign permission is taken from MEC and our returning officers in the districts,” added Lipenga.

He also said even if the law was clear this time around it could be difficult for MEC to enforce the laws since the commission was not effective since it has only three members and is not mandated to enforce anything.

In the country it has been observed that politicians including a sitting president do not draw a line between rallies held during the official campaign period which is declared by MEC during an election and those held before then.

Recently the former President Bakili Muluzi, who has announced his interest to contest the 2009 presidential elections and the incumbent Bingu wa Mutharika have engaged in a marathon of rallies where the utterances are geared at de-campaigning each other.

According to highly placed sources government is said to be working on a plan to corner and silence Muluzi with an arrest using the P&PE provision.

Government spokesperson Patricia Kaliati agreed with Makono that the campaign rallies being held by the opposition now were illegal.

While denying that there were no plans to arrest Muluzi, Kaliati could, however not rule out the possibility of having him arrested if “he continues doing contrary to the law.”

“We are not the ones who put that Section in the Act. If he is doing something wrong and against the law he would certainly be arrested. When people are doing something wrong they should not start blaming government when they are arrested. If Muluzi is arrested it would not be government arresting him but the law,” she said.

Kaliati said since the United Democratic Front (UDF) chairman was aware that it is against the law to campaign before the official campaign period any arrest would be out of his fault and should not be blamed on government.

According to the sources government has been consulting with the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the Attorney General on the matter.

However, both the Attorney General Jane Ansah and the DPP Wezi Kayira denied having been approached on the issue.

“As government the DPP and I don’t work to corner anyone, we just work within the law,” said Ansah.

UDF spokesperson Sam Mpasu said Muluzi can not stop his rallies since he said he was just responding to insults from Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

“For Muluzi and the UDF to sit back while they are being insulted would be suicide. We can’t say no, it is campaigning but Muluzi is only refuting the lies made by the DPP,” he added.

Mpasu said if Muluzi could be arrested based on the P&PE Act it would be a “very unfortunate development.”

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) second vice President and spokesperson Nicholas Dausi said basically it would be difficult to distinguish a campaign rally from an ordinary rally.

“Moreover we are in a multi-party politics and as opposition we have a mandate to inform people what is happening in government, there is nothing wrong with politicians addressing rallies any time they want. We can’t be listening to only one politician all the time,” said Dausi.

-end-

Don’t intimidate us-Tembo tells Bingu

by Bright Sonani

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly John Tembo has accused President Bingu wa Mutharika of using threats and intimidation to have the opposition pass this year’s budget but he said the opposition will not be cowed but look at the budget critically before giving it a nod.

Responding to Mutharika’s State of the Nation address on Friday Tembo said although the theme of the speech was about unity the president transgressed and concluded his speech by intimidating the opposition that if they do not approve the budget development will grind to a halt.

He said the President’s remarks were aimed at exciting the people of the country to rise against the MPs and inciting violence.

“The President wants MPs to approve the budget in fear and without examination of the budget in line with their Constitutional duty of exercising oversight over the executive. We are not afraid to do our duty and we will not work under duress in this Honorable House,” said Tembo.

He said from the tone of Mutharika’s opening remarks in his address, which he said were reconciliatory and aimed at bringing unity, it was clear that the 14 cautionary statements and threats to the MPs, which he said came towards the end of the speech were not authored by him.

“At the opening the speech was perfect but he later went back to what somebody has written. We know who had written that,” he added.

Tembo said it is not the intention of the opposition to reject the 2007/2008 budget but that as an opposition they have a duty to scrutinize it and pass a budget that would respond to the aspirations of the people of the country.

He also said it would be wrong to imply that the rejection of the request for supplementary allocation of resources during the Mid-Year review was a rejection of the budget since he said the 2006/2007 budget was already approved in July last year.

“For government a budget is a tool to win the next elections while for the opposition the budget is a tool for development,” said Tembo.

He said apart from intimidating the MPs the President also intimidated the Judiciary by saying that some of them are corrupt.

“This was uncalled for,” he added.

Tembo also accused Mutharika of appointing a Cabinet based on regions rather than merit.

He said although Mutharika’s speech talked about unity his Cabinet does not reflect any traits of uniting the country but rather is was dividing the country further.

“It shows that there is no desire to ensure unity in the country. Yes the President has the prerogative to appoint however it is necessary for the president to think about all people from all the regions if we are to live in peace and harmony,” said Tembo.

Tembo also accused Mutharika’s administration of failing to fulfill its promises including what the President said were his six top priorities.

“Although we have approved resources in the budget aimed at the implementation of activities in the top priorities we need to see evidence on the ground on the implementation of the activities and programmes,” he said.

He cited the continued blackout of electricity as one of the signs that one of the top priority which is energy was not developing.

He also said it was sad that two years after the talk on the Shire-Zambezi Waterway project nothing much has been done on the ground and the country was still waiting for the feasibility study.

Tembo therefore requested that government should appraise the House on the development of the project and also the contribution from the public sector.

Tembo however hailed Mutharika for his food security programme including the fertiliser subsidy saying that any economic growth is dependent on availability of food.

But, he said it would be wrong for Mutharika to take all the credit since he said even the opposition contributed to the introduction of the fertiliser subsidy although he said there were some areas such as the use of coupons which the opposition were not happy with.

Tembo also praised Mutharika for the debt cancellation and the strides that the country’s economy has taken but he said all these achievements would be of no use if they will not translate to the wellbeing of the people.

“The reduction of inflation to about 8.2 per cent now and interest rates from 30 per cent in 2005 to 22 per cent now is a welcome development. It is also pleasing to note that indications as at now are that Malawi will achieve a growth rate of 6 per cent as ar end 2007.

“However, when commodity prices are still high, unemployment is still high and untilisation capacity of donor funds is low, it does not make sense to keep talking about these achievements and then relax. Action is required to deal with the problems is s similar manner as we have dealt with food and maize production,” said Tembo.

The Leader of the Opposition also said in giving credit to all these achievements the opposition should not be left out since he said the MPs have done a recommendable job in ensuring that government is seen to be accountable.

Also commenting on the State of the Nation address Leader of the UDF George nga Ntafu said during the recent Cabinet reshuffle he was expecting the north to be a major beneficiary due to its unflinching support for Mutharika but he said instead the region has been reduced to a “few individuals employed to clap hands.”

He also expressed concerns on the President’s attacks on the judiciary. He said such attacks were unfortunate because the judiciary in the country has always been level headed and assisting the same Mutharika administration.

“We would have loved if government mentioned which Judges are corrupt. The Judiciary has tried to uphold the tenents of our democracy,” he said.

Ntafu also said credit for the much touted debt relief should not only go to the current government but also to the UDF since the whole process started in 2000.

He however called on the government to make sure that the benefits from the debt cancellation, just like several other countries which have also been granted debt relief, should go down to benefit the common man.

Ntafu said it was sad that despite the debt cancellation and talk of improved economy the country was drifting further into deep poverty while the “common man is poorer than he has been ever before.”

He accused government of artificially holding the Kwacha to its current value while he said in fact it was weak than it is being portrayed.

On corruption drive Ntafu, who accused Mutharika’s government of having no manifesto and instead using the UDF one, said with the absence of the Anti Corruption Bureau Director government has usurped powers of the bureau and start examining corrupt suspects on its own.

“Now the quest to get corrupt people is super selective. But what we are saying whoever is corrupt this side or there should face the law,” he said, adding that the anticorruption drive was not new since it was already reflected in the UDF manifesto.

Ntafu also warned government to cautiously handle the bumper maize the country has. He said although the figures show that there is so much surplus maize there were other areas such as Karonga which would be facing severe food shortages and would need government assistance.

Commenting on the comments from the two opposition party leaders government spokesperson Patricia Kaliati said in the president’s speech there was no intimidation but that Mutharika was just pointing out the truth that without the budget certain programmes will not be done.

On the accusation of having a Cabinet which is regionalistic Kaliati said: “How many minister were there in the MCP or UDF government from the north. Ask them who chased teachers from the other districts to go to the north. Is it today that they have started recognizing the northern region?”

-end-

Welcome aboard my Blog and tighten your seat belt for a good ride

Hie folks out there,

I am a Malawian journalist currently working with Malawi’s leading media house Nation Publications Limited (NPL) as a News Analyst.

NPL are the publishers of The Nation, The Weekend Nation and Nation on Sunday.

Over the years I have been writing on politics, business and economy, health, entertainment, fashion and life style.

In my profession I have served various capacities including a Chief Reporter at Malawi News one of the newspapers published by Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL).

Through this forum I would take you into Malawian issues through my eyes. It will strictly through the way I look at the issues personnaly.

I will take you through politics, but mind you I have no loyalty to any other political party or organisation. This is a free flowing forum.

And it would not matter what your interest are but I know and optimistic that you will enjoy the ride with me.

You are free to comment on whatever information you read on my blog and also you can add on and send tip on what you think are issues to be looked at.

Let us look at the issues without political conotations but with a free mind so that we can without prejudice assist to set the agenda for Malawi and the whole world at large.

Issues on this blog will not be limited to Malawi but I would also have interest on Africa and world affairs so you are all welcome on board. Lets enjoy the journey.

Some of the articles here are those you have never read before while others you have already read but here you get unedited version of the stories.

Bright Isaacs Sonani