AFRICAN Stars striker Gerson Katjatenja had a dream debut when he scored a goal in Namibia's 2-1 win over Malawi in a friendly football match in Blantyre on Friday.
The towering Stars lethal man was included in the Brave Warriors squad which toured Malawi late last week, as part of that country's Independence celebrations.
The dynamic Rudolph Bester of Eleven Arrows was the other scorer for the Warriors, which were led by assistant coaches Ronnie Kanalelo and Brian Isaacs.
It was the second goal that Bester has scored against Malawi, after he also hit the net during the 2006 Cosafa Castle Cup which was played in Windhoek.
Namibia won that match 3-2.
Katjatenja, who virtually worked his way into the national fold through some fine displays during the domestic premiership, could not ask for anything more than a goal during his first match for the country.
Katjatenja, who is only 25 years of age, is the leading striker at Stars and his inclusion in the national side came as a surprise to him about two weeks ago.
The shy and soft speaking Katjatenja said he always had a dream to play for the national side and while at Stars, vowed that he will make it to the national team one day.
He became the fourth player from Stars in recent years to be included in the national side after Mali Ngarizemo, Johannes Seibeb and Freedom Puriza.
Puriza plays for the under 20 national side and is still considered to be too young for the senior team.
Katjatenja has never played for the junior teams and his inclusion in the side was prompted by the lack of sufficient strikers in the senior team.
Katjatenja and Bester led the attack for the Warriors in Malawi in the absence of foreign-based international Collin Benjamin, who was used in that role for especially the African nations Cup qualifiers.
Despite picking a relatively inexperienced side for the encounter, assistant coaches Kanalelo and Isaacs succeeded in clinching their first victory in the absence of head coach Ben Bamfuchile.
Kanaleo earlier said that he was certain of a victory in Malawi and this will serve as a morale booster for the players, whom most will be expected to compete in the Cosafa Castle Cup at the end of this month.
The match was also meant to give the local players a chance to gain experience in competitive international matches.
Namibia will face Botswana in Gaborone on July 28, a match which the Warriors need to win to progress to the finals of the four team mini tournament on Sunday.
The semi-finals of the competition will be played in September.
Namibia has failed to reach the final stages of the Cosafa Cup for the past five years.
Monday, 9 July 2007
Nam Keeps Good Malawi Record
Namibia's Brave Warriors recorded a moral boosting 2-1 victory against Malawi in Blantyre on Friday ahead of their Cosafa match against Botswana at end of July.
A goal each from African Stars striker Gerson Katjatenja, who was making his debut, and Rudolf Bester were enough to give the Brave Warriors their first away victory in more than five years.
Although the game was a friendly and part of Malawi's independence anniversary celebrations, it was very competitive.
Namibia drew first blood midway in the first half when Katjatenja opened the scoring and gave the visitors a one-goal lead at halftime. However, Malawi regrouped in the second half and put the game into higher gear.
With the close to 10 000 supporters singing their lungs out, the home team repaid the loyalty of their fans and scored the equalizer in the first minutes of the second half.
Namibia however was not intimidated by the goal and not prepared to throw away their good record against Malawi.
Namibia beat Malawi 2 - 1 before and in 2006 Namibia beat Malawi 3-2 in a Cosafa Cup match in Windhoek.
The promising Eleven Arrows winger Bester produced a moment of brilliance and showed again why he is highly regarded by the national team when he scored a beautiful goal in the closing stages of the match.
The slightly built striker collected the ball in the middle of the park, dribbled past two defenders and cut into the box before slotting the ball into the net.
The only disappointment in the game was that Namibia continued to struggle to find the net despite being in good positions in front of goal. The Warriors could have won the game by a big margin but Bester and substitute striker Muna Katupose were culprits.
A goal each from African Stars striker Gerson Katjatenja, who was making his debut, and Rudolf Bester were enough to give the Brave Warriors their first away victory in more than five years.
Although the game was a friendly and part of Malawi's independence anniversary celebrations, it was very competitive.
Namibia drew first blood midway in the first half when Katjatenja opened the scoring and gave the visitors a one-goal lead at halftime. However, Malawi regrouped in the second half and put the game into higher gear.
With the close to 10 000 supporters singing their lungs out, the home team repaid the loyalty of their fans and scored the equalizer in the first minutes of the second half.
Namibia however was not intimidated by the goal and not prepared to throw away their good record against Malawi.
Namibia beat Malawi 2 - 1 before and in 2006 Namibia beat Malawi 3-2 in a Cosafa Cup match in Windhoek.
The promising Eleven Arrows winger Bester produced a moment of brilliance and showed again why he is highly regarded by the national team when he scored a beautiful goal in the closing stages of the match.
The slightly built striker collected the ball in the middle of the park, dribbled past two defenders and cut into the box before slotting the ball into the net.
The only disappointment in the game was that Namibia continued to struggle to find the net despite being in good positions in front of goal. The Warriors could have won the game by a big margin but Bester and substitute striker Muna Katupose were culprits.
Malawi targets 150 000 with Aids drugs
Malawi has set itself a target of supplying 150 000 HIV sufferers with free anti-retroviral drugs by the end of year, the head of the national Aids commission (NAC) said on Monday.
"We are close to 110 000 people on ARVs and we hope to hit 150 000 by the end of December when we launch a massive scale-up of the drugs" from September, NAC chief Biziwick Mwale told AFP.
The increase would be underwritten by a new batch of funding from the global fund against Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
Malawi first launched a free ARV programme in 2004 but only 5000 people were initial beneficiaries.
Mwale said the massive increase in the scale of the programme meant that three-quarters of HIV patients who are need of ARVs would be receiving the drugs by the end of the year.
"It's quite tremendous and we are on course and superceeding our overall (target) rates when we consider that we had less than 5000 people on ARVs in 2004" he said.
Mwale said the number of Malawians going for voluntary HIV tests had now risen to 500 000 every year, from less than 50 000 three years ago.
The biggest impediment to the roll-out programme was the shortage of health workers, the NAC chief added.
Malawi, with a population of 12 million, has only 150 doctors on the state payroll, according to a recent survey by the health ministry.
Still a taboo subject in the conservative landlocked country, wedged between Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia, some 930 000 Malawians are living with HIV or Aids where the prevalence rate is 14 percent, according to UN Aids.
There are about 78 000 Aids-related deaths every year.
"We are close to 110 000 people on ARVs and we hope to hit 150 000 by the end of December when we launch a massive scale-up of the drugs" from September, NAC chief Biziwick Mwale told AFP.
The increase would be underwritten by a new batch of funding from the global fund against Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
Malawi first launched a free ARV programme in 2004 but only 5000 people were initial beneficiaries.
Mwale said the massive increase in the scale of the programme meant that three-quarters of HIV patients who are need of ARVs would be receiving the drugs by the end of the year.
"It's quite tremendous and we are on course and superceeding our overall (target) rates when we consider that we had less than 5000 people on ARVs in 2004" he said.
Mwale said the number of Malawians going for voluntary HIV tests had now risen to 500 000 every year, from less than 50 000 three years ago.
The biggest impediment to the roll-out programme was the shortage of health workers, the NAC chief added.
Malawi, with a population of 12 million, has only 150 doctors on the state payroll, according to a recent survey by the health ministry.
Still a taboo subject in the conservative landlocked country, wedged between Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia, some 930 000 Malawians are living with HIV or Aids where the prevalence rate is 14 percent, according to UN Aids.
There are about 78 000 Aids-related deaths every year.
Africa Slumbers As Western Firms Scramble for Its Wealth
As Western - and now Chinese - companies gather around the greatest concentration of Africa's natural resources, countries on the continent are yet to embark on positioning local businesses to share in the windfall, analysts say.
Although many international companies in Africa are of Western origin, China seems to be determined to challenge this hegemony, particularly as far as securing oil concession and other businesses in many African countries are concerned.
Analysts add that in doing this, China is not only driven by its own energy predicament, but also by a realisation that Africa is a place Western capital has not entirely "colonised".
The US' Energy Information Administration estimates that the continent holds 8 per cent of the known global oil resources and 11 per cent of the world's production. This might seem a low percentage, but when it is taken into account that much of Africa's oil is neither discovered nor exploited, one appreciates the fact that it is a substantial resource.
But as global economic growth rises with the US needing an estimated 119.2 million barrels a day and China 14.2 million by 2025, it is believed that Africa's oil resources will increasingly become a strategically important resource. Already, the "scramble" for this resource has begun in such countries as Chad, Guinea, Nigeria, Uganda, Angola and Sudan, while others such as Kenya, which do not have known oil deposits, are being targeted for exploration.
Global capital
The million-dollar question is how different African countries will position their economies to benefit from not just oil royalties and taxes, but also in terms of attracting global capital to invest in industries and ventures that will create significant multiplier effects and lift millions from poverty and depravity.
As Kenya's case shows, Africa has not even started to make this a priority. The Sunday Nation has keenly observed that in areas with the greatest concentration of natural resources in Kenya, the local people and, by extension, the country as a whole, has not even started to appreciate their worth.
Africa is asleep in as far as creating modern business ventures from its resources is concerned. For instance, long before subsidiaries of multinationals came in to bottle and offer "designer" water in the market, springs and streams were regarded as a communal resource to be used by all. And until very recently, locals would merely go to the nearest forest to collect as much fuel wood as their backs could carry.
And although some communities used wildlife for protein while others had long traded in ivory, many in Kenya had not learnt to commercialise its "aesthetic" value. But as Africa sleeps, American, European and Asian companies have based "roaring" businesses on its resources. With a history of innovation, better resource exploitation technology and the ability to strike very lucrative deals with the local elite, such capital is moving fast and furious, and might eventually root out what remains of Africa's social system of yester years.
The new international concerns investing in Africa's oil and other resources are completing a pattern started in the colonial period and which is almost intact in many African countries. For instance, perched in the periphery of Kenya's principal forests or concentrated in the vicinity of principal national parks and pristine springs and streams are remnants of the colonial business order.
But now newer companies have set in - credit to the apparent triumph of globalisation - to give the Kenyan economic landscape a newer, refurbished and increasingly exclusive look. Today, we can talk of Coca-Cola's designer water Dasani, Brooke Bond's Green Label tea, Kakuzi's more efficient kilns, Homegrown's multi-million-dollar horticultural outfits around Naivasha and in Nanyuki or the luxurious spread of African Safari Club's exclusive resorts in Mombasa's North Coast.
This scenario is replicated in many African countries. For example, while on a tour of areas around Lake Malawi last year, I learnt that the locals can no longer access much of the lake as it is almost envelope' by companies that have put up a stream of exclusive tourist lodges and private estates. Malawi newspapers had reported complaints by the traditional chiefs who threatened to mobilise their subjects if the situation was not rectified. The lake is the second largest in Africa after Victoria.
All this has been going on despite a reawakening in many parts of the continent. But interestingly, there is a world of difference between how Western analysts and their counterparts in Africa view this scenario.
Those in the West seem to believe that the continent's resources are up for grabs by international businesses and that the only "outlandish" threat is China which, they say, will be an economic superpower in the near future.
For instance, writes Assis Malaquais, an associate professor of government at St Lawrence University, New York: "China's attempt to quench its own growing energy thirst in Africa will hardly be welcome by the US."
He goes ahead to explore global security scenarios that China's quest for Africa's oil portends and concludes; "the stage is set for a colossal tug-of-war between the United States and China over Africa's oil resources." Reading through his article, one gets the impression that Africa and its people do not feature anywhere in making decisions on who is to benefit from the continent's oil and other natural wealth.
On their part, local analysts, especially the lobby groups, feel that the trend in which Africans' needs and views are disregarded when it comes to strategically positioning their resources portends grave danger for future peace on the continent.
Many cite rising levels of hopelessness, debilitating poverty and stunted economies, thanks to mismanagement, outright looting and increasing global emasculation as the fodder nurturing mass anger and resentment. They cite the case of the oil-rich Niger Delta of Nigeria where there has been a long running and well documented confrontation between the local people and government forces.
African governments should move fast to ensure all the agreements they make with international companies on exploitation of natural resources cater for the local people's interests. Such deals ought to be fashioned in such a way that they will enable the nurturing of local talent and capacity for future takeover.
Protectionism, some analysts believe, may help to secure local interests in the short term, but ultimately what Africa needs is to develop its own ability to be truly competitive. The continent needs also to develop from its own resources.
Although many international companies in Africa are of Western origin, China seems to be determined to challenge this hegemony, particularly as far as securing oil concession and other businesses in many African countries are concerned.
Analysts add that in doing this, China is not only driven by its own energy predicament, but also by a realisation that Africa is a place Western capital has not entirely "colonised".
The US' Energy Information Administration estimates that the continent holds 8 per cent of the known global oil resources and 11 per cent of the world's production. This might seem a low percentage, but when it is taken into account that much of Africa's oil is neither discovered nor exploited, one appreciates the fact that it is a substantial resource.
But as global economic growth rises with the US needing an estimated 119.2 million barrels a day and China 14.2 million by 2025, it is believed that Africa's oil resources will increasingly become a strategically important resource. Already, the "scramble" for this resource has begun in such countries as Chad, Guinea, Nigeria, Uganda, Angola and Sudan, while others such as Kenya, which do not have known oil deposits, are being targeted for exploration.
Global capital
The million-dollar question is how different African countries will position their economies to benefit from not just oil royalties and taxes, but also in terms of attracting global capital to invest in industries and ventures that will create significant multiplier effects and lift millions from poverty and depravity.
As Kenya's case shows, Africa has not even started to make this a priority. The Sunday Nation has keenly observed that in areas with the greatest concentration of natural resources in Kenya, the local people and, by extension, the country as a whole, has not even started to appreciate their worth.
Africa is asleep in as far as creating modern business ventures from its resources is concerned. For instance, long before subsidiaries of multinationals came in to bottle and offer "designer" water in the market, springs and streams were regarded as a communal resource to be used by all. And until very recently, locals would merely go to the nearest forest to collect as much fuel wood as their backs could carry.
And although some communities used wildlife for protein while others had long traded in ivory, many in Kenya had not learnt to commercialise its "aesthetic" value. But as Africa sleeps, American, European and Asian companies have based "roaring" businesses on its resources. With a history of innovation, better resource exploitation technology and the ability to strike very lucrative deals with the local elite, such capital is moving fast and furious, and might eventually root out what remains of Africa's social system of yester years.
The new international concerns investing in Africa's oil and other resources are completing a pattern started in the colonial period and which is almost intact in many African countries. For instance, perched in the periphery of Kenya's principal forests or concentrated in the vicinity of principal national parks and pristine springs and streams are remnants of the colonial business order.
But now newer companies have set in - credit to the apparent triumph of globalisation - to give the Kenyan economic landscape a newer, refurbished and increasingly exclusive look. Today, we can talk of Coca-Cola's designer water Dasani, Brooke Bond's Green Label tea, Kakuzi's more efficient kilns, Homegrown's multi-million-dollar horticultural outfits around Naivasha and in Nanyuki or the luxurious spread of African Safari Club's exclusive resorts in Mombasa's North Coast.
This scenario is replicated in many African countries. For example, while on a tour of areas around Lake Malawi last year, I learnt that the locals can no longer access much of the lake as it is almost envelope' by companies that have put up a stream of exclusive tourist lodges and private estates. Malawi newspapers had reported complaints by the traditional chiefs who threatened to mobilise their subjects if the situation was not rectified. The lake is the second largest in Africa after Victoria.
All this has been going on despite a reawakening in many parts of the continent. But interestingly, there is a world of difference between how Western analysts and their counterparts in Africa view this scenario.
Those in the West seem to believe that the continent's resources are up for grabs by international businesses and that the only "outlandish" threat is China which, they say, will be an economic superpower in the near future.
For instance, writes Assis Malaquais, an associate professor of government at St Lawrence University, New York: "China's attempt to quench its own growing energy thirst in Africa will hardly be welcome by the US."
He goes ahead to explore global security scenarios that China's quest for Africa's oil portends and concludes; "the stage is set for a colossal tug-of-war between the United States and China over Africa's oil resources." Reading through his article, one gets the impression that Africa and its people do not feature anywhere in making decisions on who is to benefit from the continent's oil and other natural wealth.
On their part, local analysts, especially the lobby groups, feel that the trend in which Africans' needs and views are disregarded when it comes to strategically positioning their resources portends grave danger for future peace on the continent.
Many cite rising levels of hopelessness, debilitating poverty and stunted economies, thanks to mismanagement, outright looting and increasing global emasculation as the fodder nurturing mass anger and resentment. They cite the case of the oil-rich Niger Delta of Nigeria where there has been a long running and well documented confrontation between the local people and government forces.
African governments should move fast to ensure all the agreements they make with international companies on exploitation of natural resources cater for the local people's interests. Such deals ought to be fashioned in such a way that they will enable the nurturing of local talent and capacity for future takeover.
Protectionism, some analysts believe, may help to secure local interests in the short term, but ultimately what Africa needs is to develop its own ability to be truly competitive. The continent needs also to develop from its own resources.
AG holiday refused
President Bingu wa Mutharika has turned down the request by Attorney General (AG), Jane Ansah to go for three months holiday, Nyasa Times has learnt.
“The AG applied to Justice Ministry to go for three months leave, the ministry forwarded her request to Office of President and Cabinet where its principal secretary Bright Msaka upon consolations with President Mutharika rejected the request,” a source within the ministry of justice disclosed.
Ansah is said to have recommended chief state advocate, David Nyamilandu to act on her behalf during her leave of absence.
The AG could not be reached for comment but a close link to her claimed she wanted time off from her duties which have been “contaminated with politics” following the section 65 battle between government and the opposition.
“The Attorney General is a pastor in charismatic and pentecostal churche, the political ball game being played in Section 65 and the manipulation by the ruling party in political tricks over the job does not go down well with her ministering of the church, so she wanted to have a breather,” claimed a source close to Ansah in religious circles.
“The AG applied to Justice Ministry to go for three months leave, the ministry forwarded her request to Office of President and Cabinet where its principal secretary Bright Msaka upon consolations with President Mutharika rejected the request,” a source within the ministry of justice disclosed.
Ansah is said to have recommended chief state advocate, David Nyamilandu to act on her behalf during her leave of absence.
The AG could not be reached for comment but a close link to her claimed she wanted time off from her duties which have been “contaminated with politics” following the section 65 battle between government and the opposition.
“The Attorney General is a pastor in charismatic and pentecostal churche, the political ball game being played in Section 65 and the manipulation by the ruling party in political tricks over the job does not go down well with her ministering of the church, so she wanted to have a breather,” claimed a source close to Ansah in religious circles.
Melinda Messenger to be honoured for Aids awareness work in Malawi
TV presenter Melinda Messenger has been honoured by the Malawi High Commission in London for her work with ActionAid helping Aids orphans in the southern African country.
The first celebrity to receive such an honour, Melinda travelled to Malawi in 2006. Malawi has half a million Aids orphans who endure the agony of caring for their dying parents, and, once orphaned have to provide for themselves as well as their brothers and sisters. With the adult population devastated, an impossible strain has been placed on the family and community systems that would traditionally look after the children.
Melinda met children at an ActionAid-funded village childcare centre who get the chance to learn, play and have a meal – often the only meal they will get all day. She also met children forced to live on the streets to earn a living for their families because their parents are too sick to care for them or have died leaving them to look after their siblings.
Since her visit Melinda has raised money to help build another childcare centre which will benefit a further 400 children.
"It's heartbreaking for a mother to think of children as young as my own fending for themselves. But ActionAid is working hard in places such as Lilongwe to give these children a future. I am thrilled to receive this honour and hope that I can continue to show my support and solidarity to the wonderful people of Malawi."
Melinda will be presented with her honour by Malawi High Commissioner His Excellency Dr Francis Moto at a Malawi Independence celebration tomorrow at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
ActionAid has worked in Malawi since 1990 and is working hard to provide safe and happy childhoods for these and other vulnerable children all around the world.
The first celebrity to receive such an honour, Melinda travelled to Malawi in 2006. Malawi has half a million Aids orphans who endure the agony of caring for their dying parents, and, once orphaned have to provide for themselves as well as their brothers and sisters. With the adult population devastated, an impossible strain has been placed on the family and community systems that would traditionally look after the children.
Melinda met children at an ActionAid-funded village childcare centre who get the chance to learn, play and have a meal – often the only meal they will get all day. She also met children forced to live on the streets to earn a living for their families because their parents are too sick to care for them or have died leaving them to look after their siblings.
Since her visit Melinda has raised money to help build another childcare centre which will benefit a further 400 children.
"It's heartbreaking for a mother to think of children as young as my own fending for themselves. But ActionAid is working hard in places such as Lilongwe to give these children a future. I am thrilled to receive this honour and hope that I can continue to show my support and solidarity to the wonderful people of Malawi."
Melinda will be presented with her honour by Malawi High Commissioner His Excellency Dr Francis Moto at a Malawi Independence celebration tomorrow at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
ActionAid has worked in Malawi since 1990 and is working hard to provide safe and happy childhoods for these and other vulnerable children all around the world.
Handle in the wind
An African student has found fame as a blogger just two weeks after first experiencing the internet. Elissa Baxter reports.
William Kamkwamba, a 19-year-old high school student, first saw the internet at a TEDGlobal conference last month in Arusha, Tanzania. He was invited to the event - which aims to promote an exchange of ideas in the fields of technology, entertainment and design - after Malawi's Daily Times newspaper covered his efforts to generate electricity for his parents' farm by building a windmill of his own design.
The windmill is remarkable because Kamkwamba left school at 14 as his family was unable to pay the school fees. Armed only with his intelligence, a book on electricity, some plastic piping and found objects, Kamkwamba built his first windmill, which generated enough power to run a light in his room.
His second, larger windmill uses a bicycle to increase efficiency and was able to generate power for his parents' house and charge car batteries or mobile phones for people in his village.
As news of Kamkwamba's achievements spread, he was invited to the second biannual TEDGlobal conference, where his three-minute presentation about the windmill won him a standing ovation from delegates.
While at the conference, the young Malawian saw the internet for the first time and within hours began Google-searching for "windmill" and "solar energy" and was amazed with how many hits were returned for each search.
Kamkwamba was particularly impressed with the speed at which he could achieve things using the internet. "I was very excited when I saw the internet for the first time," he said. "The internet makes transfer of information very instant."
Back in Malawi, Kamkwamba applied his new knowledge about wind-powered electricity to a redesign of his second windmill, a process he detailed on the blog William Kamkwamba's Malawi Windmill (williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba), which offers step-by-step blog photos of the construction process.
The blog has since attracted global interest, with a Google search for Kamkwamba's name already generating more than 20,000 results, just a few weeks after his story became known outside Malawi.
A fellow African blogger and new friend of Kamkwamba, Soyapi Mumba, described his first impression of Kamkwamba: "What I like about William is that he didn't join the multitude of people just blaming government or policy makers for his lack of education. Neither did he point fingers at statutory corporations for the lack of electricity in his home. He didn't just sit down and blame his parents for all this, either."
William Kamkwamba, a 19-year-old high school student, first saw the internet at a TEDGlobal conference last month in Arusha, Tanzania. He was invited to the event - which aims to promote an exchange of ideas in the fields of technology, entertainment and design - after Malawi's Daily Times newspaper covered his efforts to generate electricity for his parents' farm by building a windmill of his own design.
The windmill is remarkable because Kamkwamba left school at 14 as his family was unable to pay the school fees. Armed only with his intelligence, a book on electricity, some plastic piping and found objects, Kamkwamba built his first windmill, which generated enough power to run a light in his room.
His second, larger windmill uses a bicycle to increase efficiency and was able to generate power for his parents' house and charge car batteries or mobile phones for people in his village.
As news of Kamkwamba's achievements spread, he was invited to the second biannual TEDGlobal conference, where his three-minute presentation about the windmill won him a standing ovation from delegates.
While at the conference, the young Malawian saw the internet for the first time and within hours began Google-searching for "windmill" and "solar energy" and was amazed with how many hits were returned for each search.
Kamkwamba was particularly impressed with the speed at which he could achieve things using the internet. "I was very excited when I saw the internet for the first time," he said. "The internet makes transfer of information very instant."
Back in Malawi, Kamkwamba applied his new knowledge about wind-powered electricity to a redesign of his second windmill, a process he detailed on the blog William Kamkwamba's Malawi Windmill (williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba), which offers step-by-step blog photos of the construction process.
The blog has since attracted global interest, with a Google search for Kamkwamba's name already generating more than 20,000 results, just a few weeks after his story became known outside Malawi.
A fellow African blogger and new friend of Kamkwamba, Soyapi Mumba, described his first impression of Kamkwamba: "What I like about William is that he didn't join the multitude of people just blaming government or policy makers for his lack of education. Neither did he point fingers at statutory corporations for the lack of electricity in his home. He didn't just sit down and blame his parents for all this, either."
Malawi’s President Ready to Dialogue with Opposition Parties
Malawi’s President Bingu Wa Mutharika says he is committed to a dialogue aimed at reducing brewing political tensions. But he warns the opposition to desist from trying to impeach him. The move follows a massive public outcry about the need to solve a political impasse that has placed the government at odds with opposition parties in the country. Mutharika blames political tensions on the opposition’s attempt to impeach him, which he says is aimed at discrediting his government and to frustrate his development plans for the less privileged.
Spokesman Sam Mpasu of Malawi’s main opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) tells VOA English to Africa reporter Peter Clottey that it is not the UDF’s agenda to impeach President Mutharika.
“I can confirm that he (President Mutharika) said something of that effect that he is prepared for dialogue, but he put a condition that he is not prepared to discuss anything concerning his impeachment. As far as the UDF is concerned, we’ve always been open for discussion. We’ve taken the extra kilometer for the past three years,” Mpasu said.
He said the president’s pronouncement is a good way of pulling wool over the eyes of the public.
“It is a disingenuous way of deceiving the public because we’ve never, never said that section 65 is about him (Mutharika), or that we want to impeach him or remove him. All we are saying is that the constitution demands that section 65 be implemented by the speaker. But he is deceiving the public into believing that his government is at stake. Once sections 65 passes he would be impeached and so forth, which is not true,” he noted.
Mpasu said although there was an attempt to impeach President Mutharika that was not the purpose of the procedure the opposition introduced in parliament, which sought to outline the modalities of impeaching both a president and a vice president.
“It is true that the opposition made a dissect in the standing orders of parliament in the sense that there were no procedures for impeachment of our president, of our vice president, over a High Court judge. So, we provided for the procedures for impeachment in the standing orders of parliament, but did not go so far as to impeach the president,” Mpasu pointed out.
He reiterated that it’s not in the interest of the UDF to impeach President Mutharika. But he defended the opposition’s right to bring up a section of the country’s constitution in the national assembly.
“The UDF agenda is to have section 65 implemented. We asked the speaker on 7 October 2005 to invoke section 65, and it is the president who has delayed it for two years, by using the court process. All we want is section 65 implemented, and those all those who have crossed the floor must go back and seek a new mandate from their electorates in their own constituencies,” he said.
Spokesman Sam Mpasu of Malawi’s main opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) tells VOA English to Africa reporter Peter Clottey that it is not the UDF’s agenda to impeach President Mutharika.
“I can confirm that he (President Mutharika) said something of that effect that he is prepared for dialogue, but he put a condition that he is not prepared to discuss anything concerning his impeachment. As far as the UDF is concerned, we’ve always been open for discussion. We’ve taken the extra kilometer for the past three years,” Mpasu said.
He said the president’s pronouncement is a good way of pulling wool over the eyes of the public.
“It is a disingenuous way of deceiving the public because we’ve never, never said that section 65 is about him (Mutharika), or that we want to impeach him or remove him. All we are saying is that the constitution demands that section 65 be implemented by the speaker. But he is deceiving the public into believing that his government is at stake. Once sections 65 passes he would be impeached and so forth, which is not true,” he noted.
Mpasu said although there was an attempt to impeach President Mutharika that was not the purpose of the procedure the opposition introduced in parliament, which sought to outline the modalities of impeaching both a president and a vice president.
“It is true that the opposition made a dissect in the standing orders of parliament in the sense that there were no procedures for impeachment of our president, of our vice president, over a High Court judge. So, we provided for the procedures for impeachment in the standing orders of parliament, but did not go so far as to impeach the president,” Mpasu pointed out.
He reiterated that it’s not in the interest of the UDF to impeach President Mutharika. But he defended the opposition’s right to bring up a section of the country’s constitution in the national assembly.
“The UDF agenda is to have section 65 implemented. We asked the speaker on 7 October 2005 to invoke section 65, and it is the president who has delayed it for two years, by using the court process. All we want is section 65 implemented, and those all those who have crossed the floor must go back and seek a new mandate from their electorates in their own constituencies,” he said.
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