Work on a state-of-the-art artificial turf project is underway at Malawi’s main Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, the commercial city, APA learnt here Tuesday.
The artificial turf at the stadium will be constructed by a US-based firm, ACT Global Sports, a cost of 99 million kwacha (US$700,000).
As a result of the work, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) President Walter Nyamilandu said on Tuesday that the stadium will be closed for 12 weeks in during the construction of the artificial surface at the 50,000-seat stadium.
"The logistical arrangements for the project have been finalised and the work has started," he said.
He added the installation of the artificial turf will improve the standard of play among players in the country.
Nyamilandu added that all local and international games played within this period will be shifted to the capital Lilongwe and other small stadia within Blantyre.
He said the stadium, when finished, would meet international requirements — thereby attracting countries to camp in Malawi while waiting for the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup.
FIFA, through ACT Global Sports, will provide technical training and an expert every three months to monitor the artificial surface.
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Malawi varsity students bar MPs from leaving parliament grounds
Hundreds of college students, angered by the Malawi parliament’s failure to pass the budget since May, Monday afternoon barred cabinet ministers and MPs from leaving parliament grounds until they received assurances from them to give the budget priority over other issues.
The students, from the University of Malawi’s, pelted stones and other objects at opposition legislators in full view of the police, while shouting obscenities at opposition leader John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party, the former founding party of post-independent Malawi.
It took several attempts, mainly by senior cabinet ministers, to convince the students who gathered at the gates of the parliament to cool the students’ tempers.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told the irate students that the budget would soon be passed because everyone was in favour of it, including the opposition.
"We are confident that the budget will be passed soon. Even the opposition parliamentarians also want it to be passed," Gondwe said.
Khumbo Soko, Students Union President at Chancellor College in Zomba, a constituent campus of the university 330 km south of Lilongwe, said the students would remain in the capital until the budget is passed.
"If the budget is rejected, it means that the colleges will be closed and this will disturb our academic calendar," a worried Soko said.
Meanwhile, the High Court in Blantyre Monday evening refused to grant government an order to vacate an injunction obtained by opposition parliamentarians to stop parliament from reconvening.
As a result, Attorney General Jane Ansah through state lawyers Rose Kanyuka and Maxton Mbendera will now have to appeal the high court decision to the Supreme Court.
The students, from the University of Malawi’s, pelted stones and other objects at opposition legislators in full view of the police, while shouting obscenities at opposition leader John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party, the former founding party of post-independent Malawi.
It took several attempts, mainly by senior cabinet ministers, to convince the students who gathered at the gates of the parliament to cool the students’ tempers.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told the irate students that the budget would soon be passed because everyone was in favour of it, including the opposition.
"We are confident that the budget will be passed soon. Even the opposition parliamentarians also want it to be passed," Gondwe said.
Khumbo Soko, Students Union President at Chancellor College in Zomba, a constituent campus of the university 330 km south of Lilongwe, said the students would remain in the capital until the budget is passed.
"If the budget is rejected, it means that the colleges will be closed and this will disturb our academic calendar," a worried Soko said.
Meanwhile, the High Court in Blantyre Monday evening refused to grant government an order to vacate an injunction obtained by opposition parliamentarians to stop parliament from reconvening.
As a result, Attorney General Jane Ansah through state lawyers Rose Kanyuka and Maxton Mbendera will now have to appeal the high court decision to the Supreme Court.
Police raid home of Malawi high-court judge
Police, accompanied by officials from the country’s graft-busting agency, late Monday raided the home of a high court judge in Malawi hours after he ruled against the government, an official said.
The acting director of the anti-corruption bureau, Tumalishe Ndovi, confirmed that police and his officials had raided the Blantyre home of Joseph Mwanyungwa, saying it was “a normal routine operation.”
Ndovi declined to reveal the purpose of the search “to avoid jeopardising investigations.”
The judge, who was not at home during the raid, told AFP that he had not been informed what the police were looking for.
“I don’t know whether I am under arrest or not and for what reason,” he said.
Lawyer Ralph Kasambara told AFP that Mwanyungwa’s home was searched a few hours after he delivered a verdict late Monday in which he refused to vacate an injunction sought on Sunday by two opposition MPs stopping parliament from debating the budget.
“Police obtained a search warrant for Mwanyungwa after he rejected an application by the attorney-general to vacate the injunction,” Kasambara, himself a former attorney-general, said.
“The police stormed the house and didn’t find anything. They left after a long search,” he said.
Kasambara represented the opposition lawmakers in seeking the injunction that on Monday forced parliament to adjourn indefinitely.
“We will not be intimidated with such things. Parliament cannot discuss the budget in the present political environment,” he said.
President Bingu wa Mutharika and the opposition have been at loggerheads for weeks in a row sparked by a court ruling which allows the speaker of parliament to sack dozens of MPs who defected to the government benches.
Mutharika has been trying to delay the impact of the ruling which would effectively lead to the toppling of his minority administration and mass by-elections.
The opposition, which has 105 of 193 seats in parliament, has responded by refusing to discuss the budget until the expulsion of the 41 lawmakers who crossed the floor of the house after being elected under different colours.
The acting director of the anti-corruption bureau, Tumalishe Ndovi, confirmed that police and his officials had raided the Blantyre home of Joseph Mwanyungwa, saying it was “a normal routine operation.”
Ndovi declined to reveal the purpose of the search “to avoid jeopardising investigations.”
The judge, who was not at home during the raid, told AFP that he had not been informed what the police were looking for.
“I don’t know whether I am under arrest or not and for what reason,” he said.
Lawyer Ralph Kasambara told AFP that Mwanyungwa’s home was searched a few hours after he delivered a verdict late Monday in which he refused to vacate an injunction sought on Sunday by two opposition MPs stopping parliament from debating the budget.
“Police obtained a search warrant for Mwanyungwa after he rejected an application by the attorney-general to vacate the injunction,” Kasambara, himself a former attorney-general, said.
“The police stormed the house and didn’t find anything. They left after a long search,” he said.
Kasambara represented the opposition lawmakers in seeking the injunction that on Monday forced parliament to adjourn indefinitely.
“We will not be intimidated with such things. Parliament cannot discuss the budget in the present political environment,” he said.
President Bingu wa Mutharika and the opposition have been at loggerheads for weeks in a row sparked by a court ruling which allows the speaker of parliament to sack dozens of MPs who defected to the government benches.
Mutharika has been trying to delay the impact of the ruling which would effectively lead to the toppling of his minority administration and mass by-elections.
The opposition, which has 105 of 193 seats in parliament, has responded by refusing to discuss the budget until the expulsion of the 41 lawmakers who crossed the floor of the house after being elected under different colours.
Furor over Madonna adoption could see law change in Malawi
Malawian rights organizations say their government needs help monitoring Madonna's planned adoption of a Malawian boy — and a child welfare official agrees that the southern African country's foreign adoption procedures need to be overhauled.
Already, Malawi's Child Welfare Services office has missed one planned visit to London to check on how David Banda is doing with his celebrity family. Penston Kilembe, the director of Malawi's Child Welfare Services, is personally overseeing the Madonna case and indicated in an interview this week that money was one of the reasons the trip originally scheduled in May had been postponed. He said he now hoped to go by the end of August.
"We have been unable to travel because of logistical problems," Kilembe said. "You know it requires some resources for me to travel ...."
Lawyer Justin Dzonzi, chairman of the coalition of rights groups, said it was unrealistic to expect Malawi to oversee the adoption without help, possibly from British child welfare authorities.
"We just don't have the resources and the expertise," Dzonzi said, adding Britain had a very comprehensive adoption review process.
Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, took custody of David, then 14 months old, last October. Malawian child welfare officials granted them initial custody of the boy, whose father, who is still living, had placed him in the orphanage where Madonna found him after the mother died following his birth. The welfare officials were expected to file a report on the suitability of Madonna and Ritchie as adoptive parents after two trips to their London residence. Originally, the trips were planned for May and December.
The singer has two other children, Lourdes, 9, and Rocco, 6.
While Malawi officials have not visited David, his adoption appears to fall under British laws providing for counseling of Madonna and Ritchie by British experts before they brought the boy home, and possibly monitoring since. British child welfare officials refused to comment on the Madonna case.
Critics had said Madonna, who met David while in Malawi to launch a project to help the country's 2 million AIDS orphans, used her celebrity status to circumvent Malawian adoption laws — allegations she denies. Malawian law is fuzzy on foreign adoptions. Regulations only stipulate that prospective parents undergo an 18-to-24 month assessment period in Malawi, a rule bent when Madonna was allowed to take David to London.
Already, Malawi's Child Welfare Services office has missed one planned visit to London to check on how David Banda is doing with his celebrity family. Penston Kilembe, the director of Malawi's Child Welfare Services, is personally overseeing the Madonna case and indicated in an interview this week that money was one of the reasons the trip originally scheduled in May had been postponed. He said he now hoped to go by the end of August.
"We have been unable to travel because of logistical problems," Kilembe said. "You know it requires some resources for me to travel ...."
Lawyer Justin Dzonzi, chairman of the coalition of rights groups, said it was unrealistic to expect Malawi to oversee the adoption without help, possibly from British child welfare authorities.
"We just don't have the resources and the expertise," Dzonzi said, adding Britain had a very comprehensive adoption review process.
Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, took custody of David, then 14 months old, last October. Malawian child welfare officials granted them initial custody of the boy, whose father, who is still living, had placed him in the orphanage where Madonna found him after the mother died following his birth. The welfare officials were expected to file a report on the suitability of Madonna and Ritchie as adoptive parents after two trips to their London residence. Originally, the trips were planned for May and December.
The singer has two other children, Lourdes, 9, and Rocco, 6.
While Malawi officials have not visited David, his adoption appears to fall under British laws providing for counseling of Madonna and Ritchie by British experts before they brought the boy home, and possibly monitoring since. British child welfare officials refused to comment on the Madonna case.
Critics had said Madonna, who met David while in Malawi to launch a project to help the country's 2 million AIDS orphans, used her celebrity status to circumvent Malawian adoption laws — allegations she denies. Malawian law is fuzzy on foreign adoptions. Regulations only stipulate that prospective parents undergo an 18-to-24 month assessment period in Malawi, a rule bent when Madonna was allowed to take David to London.
Opposition MPs’ injunction stops Malawi parliament from conducting business
The Malawi parliament failed to conduct business following a high court injunction from the opposition effectively stopping it from doing so in the capital Lilongwe on Monday.
Speaker of Parliament Louis Chimango, in response to President Bingu wa Mutharika call, convened the House for five minutes Monday afternoon only to explain the dramatic announcement.
Chimango, making the announcement, said he could not proceed with business after receiving the court injunction from an independent member of parliament Gerald Mponda and his colleague Leonard Mangulama of the opposition United Democratic Front of former president Bakili Muluzi.
Due to this, parliament would have to wait for further communication from the government on convening the House, he said.
The parliament had been scheduled for Monday afternoon to discuss the 2007/2008 budget which has remained under lock ever since the opposition said it would only pass it after the issue of MPs who defected to the government side was settled.
Mangulama confirmed to APA that he had obtained the injunction through former Attorney General and lawyer Ralph Kasambara, asking the court not to allow any business to be conducted in parliament until Wednesday (August 8).
"We are waiting for the court to hear the judicial reviews on injunctions obtained by the university students and government parliamentarians, thereafter the House can meet or until further order by the courts," Mangulama said.
The students had taken their own court injunction restraining the MPs from discussing anything else in the House apart from the budget.
It was this injunction that enabled the president to ask the Speaker to convene Monday’s session.
Kasambara, in his application, said the Speaker was not free to transact business in the House in view of the University of Malawi students’ injunction limiting what could be transacted in the House.
Attorney General Jane Ansah said her office was working on lifting Mangulama/Kasambara injunction to enable parliament to meet once again.
Until such a time, parliament has adjourned sine die, Chimango said, amid catcalls from the government side to the opposition benches.
UDF MPs in parliament would not be intimidated into discussing the budget before the defecting MPs were dismissed from the House, said Muluzi Sunday when he addressed an opposition rally Sunday in Chiradzulu District, 30 km east of the commercial city of Blantyre.
An hour before midnight on Sunday Kasambara managed to succeed in convincing a high court judge at his home to issue the injunction that stopped Monday’s proceedings in parliament, according to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s spokesman Heatherwick Ntaba.
Meanwhile, anti-opposition demonstrations continue in the capital Lilongwe and in other parts of the country led by activists and university students.
The activists have camped near the city’s mausoleum to Malawi’s first President Kamuzu Banda, pledging to keep vigil there until the MPs agree to pass the national budget.
Speaker of Parliament Louis Chimango, in response to President Bingu wa Mutharika call, convened the House for five minutes Monday afternoon only to explain the dramatic announcement.
Chimango, making the announcement, said he could not proceed with business after receiving the court injunction from an independent member of parliament Gerald Mponda and his colleague Leonard Mangulama of the opposition United Democratic Front of former president Bakili Muluzi.
Due to this, parliament would have to wait for further communication from the government on convening the House, he said.
The parliament had been scheduled for Monday afternoon to discuss the 2007/2008 budget which has remained under lock ever since the opposition said it would only pass it after the issue of MPs who defected to the government side was settled.
Mangulama confirmed to APA that he had obtained the injunction through former Attorney General and lawyer Ralph Kasambara, asking the court not to allow any business to be conducted in parliament until Wednesday (August 8).
"We are waiting for the court to hear the judicial reviews on injunctions obtained by the university students and government parliamentarians, thereafter the House can meet or until further order by the courts," Mangulama said.
The students had taken their own court injunction restraining the MPs from discussing anything else in the House apart from the budget.
It was this injunction that enabled the president to ask the Speaker to convene Monday’s session.
Kasambara, in his application, said the Speaker was not free to transact business in the House in view of the University of Malawi students’ injunction limiting what could be transacted in the House.
Attorney General Jane Ansah said her office was working on lifting Mangulama/Kasambara injunction to enable parliament to meet once again.
Until such a time, parliament has adjourned sine die, Chimango said, amid catcalls from the government side to the opposition benches.
UDF MPs in parliament would not be intimidated into discussing the budget before the defecting MPs were dismissed from the House, said Muluzi Sunday when he addressed an opposition rally Sunday in Chiradzulu District, 30 km east of the commercial city of Blantyre.
An hour before midnight on Sunday Kasambara managed to succeed in convincing a high court judge at his home to issue the injunction that stopped Monday’s proceedings in parliament, according to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s spokesman Heatherwick Ntaba.
Meanwhile, anti-opposition demonstrations continue in the capital Lilongwe and in other parts of the country led by activists and university students.
The activists have camped near the city’s mausoleum to Malawi’s first President Kamuzu Banda, pledging to keep vigil there until the MPs agree to pass the national budget.
Britain withholds Malawi aid amid political impasse
Britain is withholding 20 million pounds in aid to Malawi until the southern African nation's parliament approves a government budget for 2007/2008, Britain said on Monday.
"If there is no budget, Britain will not be in a position to consider a poverty reduction support grant of 20 million pounds as a means of disbursing aid to Malawi," said Lewis Kulisewa, a spokesman for the British High Commission.
The British announcement came after Malawi's High Court issued an injunction allowing the opposition-controlled parliament to ignore President Bingu wa Mutharika's order that it reconvene to debate and pass his $1.2 billion budget bill.
The United Democratic Front and the Malawi Congress Party, the two main opposition parties, have refused to do so until a dispute over the poaching of their members by wa Mutharika's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is resolved.
The debate, which should have been concluded by June 30, was suspended indefinitely last month, leaving the government to run on a monthly skeleton budget and threatening to cut off essential services to Malawi's 12 million people.
One of the poorest nations in the world, Malawi relies on aid from industrialised nations and international agencies. Former colonial ruler Britain is the largest bilateral donor, providing about 70 million pounds.
Kulisewa said the British government would continue to support essential programmes in Malawi while lawmakers tried to break the political impasse, which has been building since wa Mutharika bolted from the UDF after winning the 2004 election.
Diplomats in the capital Lilongwe said other donors could follow Britain's lead if the deadlock continued.
"This continued impasse may lead to loss of donor confidence that this administration has built in the last few years," a diplomat said, on condition of anonymity.
"If there is no budget, Britain will not be in a position to consider a poverty reduction support grant of 20 million pounds as a means of disbursing aid to Malawi," said Lewis Kulisewa, a spokesman for the British High Commission.
The British announcement came after Malawi's High Court issued an injunction allowing the opposition-controlled parliament to ignore President Bingu wa Mutharika's order that it reconvene to debate and pass his $1.2 billion budget bill.
The United Democratic Front and the Malawi Congress Party, the two main opposition parties, have refused to do so until a dispute over the poaching of their members by wa Mutharika's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is resolved.
The debate, which should have been concluded by June 30, was suspended indefinitely last month, leaving the government to run on a monthly skeleton budget and threatening to cut off essential services to Malawi's 12 million people.
One of the poorest nations in the world, Malawi relies on aid from industrialised nations and international agencies. Former colonial ruler Britain is the largest bilateral donor, providing about 70 million pounds.
Kulisewa said the British government would continue to support essential programmes in Malawi while lawmakers tried to break the political impasse, which has been building since wa Mutharika bolted from the UDF after winning the 2004 election.
Diplomats in the capital Lilongwe said other donors could follow Britain's lead if the deadlock continued.
"This continued impasse may lead to loss of donor confidence that this administration has built in the last few years," a diplomat said, on condition of anonymity.
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