Wrangling over Robert Mugabe, homosexuality, the place of The Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion, and the aspirations of national churches, marked the General Synod of the Province of Central Africa, held Sept 6-8 in the southern Malawi town of Mangochi.
Initial reports on the proceedings of Synod have been contradictory. The government backed Harare Herald reported the Province had been dissolved, following the withdrawal of the Zimbabwe dioceses, angered over an insufficiently fierce condemnation of homosexuality and the Western Churches.
However, the Bishop of Botswana, the Rt Rev Trevor Mwamba emailed Religious Intelligence saying the “Province is still intact.”
Preliminary reports from Malawi indicate a conservative turn within the Province. Three Zimbabwe dioceses, led by the controversial Bishop of Harare, Dr Nolbert Kunonga, were able to block resolutions proposed by Bishop Mwamba on the crisis in Zimbabwe. They argued such political matters were beyond the scope of the Province’s deliberations and meddled in the political affairs of the sovereign dioceses and countries.
Taking up the cry of homosexuality, Dr Kunonga was able to shift attention away from the political and economic crisis in the region on to the disputes within the Anglican Communion. A resolution reiterating the Provinces commitment to the principles enunciated by the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10 was adopted, but Dr Kunonga is said to have rejected this stance as not sufficiently strong. According to a report in the Herald, the Diocese of Harare and Manicaland and a third Zimbabwe diocese have quit the Province, in protest, forcing the Province to break apart. A point denied by Bishop Mwamba.
Debate over dividing the diocese into three national churches: Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi were held, but no action taken.
Bishop Mwamba’s conciliatory stance towards The Episcopal Church led to his removal as Provincial Dean by the Archbishop of Central Africa, Bernard Malango. The Rt Rev Albert Chama, Bishop of Northern Zambia as Dean by the church’s General Synod, which began on Sept 6 in Mangochi, Malawi.
The government-backed Herald reported Bishop Mwamba was ‘relieved of his duties’ due top his ‘pro-gay’ and pro-American lobbying, and because he misrepresented ‘the province’s position on the issue of homosexuals.’
The Oxford-educated Bishop Mwamba had urged the African churches to moderate their tone on the issue of homosexuality, and address first the continent’s social and economic problems. In a June 2006 interview with The Church of England Newspaper in London, conducted during the US Church’s General Convention, Bishop Mwamba stated he supported the 1998 Lambeth stance on human sexuality, but argued the Communion had become sidetracked by the issue at the expense of the poor.
Last week’s Synod will be the last for the church’s primate. Archbishop Bernard Malango turns 65 in January and is expected to retire at that time. The new Dean, Bishop Chama, will oversee the election of a successor and will serve as acting primate.
Provincial canons require the empty Episcopal sees of Lake Malawi and Archbishop Malango’s soon to be vacant diocese of Upper Shire be filled before a new Archbishop is elected. The on-going wrangle over the disputed 2005 election of London vicar Nicholas Henderson in Lake Malawi, may give Bishop Chama a longer than expected interim.
The replacement of Bishop Mwamba by Bishop Chama may indicate a conservative tilt. Bishop Mwamba is scheduled to address the Modern Churchperson’s Conference on the question of African Anglicanism, while Bishop Chama is a member of the Ekklesia Society -- the development and relief agency headed by Bishop Bill Atwood, one of two Americans consecrated in Nairobi by the Kenyan church to oversee conservative US congregations.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
EPAs Clashing With Everything-But-Arms Trade Scheme?
The proposed economic partnership agreements (EPAs), which are due to come into force beginning next year, may undermine the benefits of another European Union trade initiative, called Everything-But-Arms, for the sugar industry.
The EPAs are new bilateral trade accords currently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. In terms of the EU’s EPA proposal to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), sugar will be subjected to a transitional phasing out of duties and quotas until 2015.
The Everything-But-Arms scheme grants duty-free and quota-free access to all products except arms from the 49 least developed countries. This provision will be extended to sugar in July 2009.
Illovo Sugar is the largest sugar producer in Africa with operations in Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia. The company has indicated that the EPAs, while presenting an opportunity for more sugar exports to the EU, will also lead to declining sugar prices.
The managing director for Illovo Sugar (Malawi), David Haworth, told the media in Malawi at the company’s 42nd annual general meeting last month that sugar prices are likely to come down in three phases after the EPAs come into effect. This will correspond with the phasing out of duties and quotas, which will start in 2008 and end in 2015.
At the moment, sugar prices are between 400 to 500 euros per metric ton. Prices are predicted to fall to just 335 euros per metric ton. The drop may continue even further in 2009 when duty-free access will be extended with safeguards. Quota and duty requirements will only be scrapped in totality in 2015.
Illovo Sugar (Malawi) plans to expand production to take advantage of the market access allowed under the EU’s Everything-But-Arms (EBA) initiative. However, the EBA comes into effect in 2009 when sugar will see a significant revenue drop due to the EPAs.
The Malawian government pointed out in a 2005 study on the impact of the sugar reforms that the period when production is due to be escalated to benefit from the EBA coincides with the EU's decision to cut its minimum guaranteed price for sugar.
The EU price will drop by 36 percent between 2006 and 2009 to bring it in line with the world sugar price.
The drop in prices will make it more difficult to meet the investment requirements for scaling up production to take advantage of unrestricted EU sugar market access afforded by the EBA.
The 2005 study, conducted by Malawi’s ministry of trade, summarised the outlook for Malawian sugar as uncertain.
‘‘Malawi stands to lose significantly from the erosion of its preferences under the ACP sugar protocol. However, the country will also benefit from improved access to the EU market under the EBA scheme, albeit at lower prices,’’ said the study.
According to Illovo’s Haworth, he has been ‘‘to Brussels for negotiations on the EPAs so that we get the best possible access. Overall, it is good for the Malawi sugar industry because it means more exports to the EU market. But we will have to increase production in order to make a little profit’’.
Illovo’s managing director based in South Africa, Don MacLeod, said at the same meeting that despite sugar fetching lower prices, the EPAs will be good for the sugar market across the world.
‘‘The EU is reducing protection of its domestic market and this provides us with additional access. What is important now is to increase tonnage to that market,’’ said MacLeod.
MacLeod and Haworth’s optimism stems from the acquisition of 51 percent of Illovo Sugar by Associated British Foods (ABF). ABF, which aims to benefit from duty-free access to the EU from 2009, has supplied support to Illovo’s operations. Their coming onto the scene is an advantage to Illovo because they know the EU market better, said MacLeod.
ABF has a good distribution network which would also be good for Malawi sugar.
Geoffrey Mkandawire, the commercial manager at Illovo Sugar (Malawi), told IPS that that the sugar industry in Malawi had anticipated that the economic and trade relations between the ACP and the EU had to eventually become compatible with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
‘‘Nonetheless, we would like to see that the preferential benefits of least developed countries are not eroded in the EPAs. The WTO rules allow for the special and differential treatment of least developed countries,’’ he said.
Malawi has placed sugar among the 102 sensitive products listed by the country’s manufacturers, exporters and government officials. Mkandawire pointed out that sugar is recognised worldwide as a sensitive product. He says the EU, in its one-page offer to the ACP made in April this year, clearly indicated it as such.
‘‘In every producing country, the product is subject to import control, mostly through very high import tariffs and import licensing. We would like to see order and fair trading in the business, hence import licensing should be kept in place for as long as possible and as long as other countries are keeping it on,’’ says Mkandawire.
But as the Malawi sugar industry braces itself for the EPAs, it has another problem locally: this year’s production may be lower due to poor weather conditions. But Mkandawire remains optimistic that production can still be increased.
The EPAs are new bilateral trade accords currently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. In terms of the EU’s EPA proposal to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), sugar will be subjected to a transitional phasing out of duties and quotas until 2015.
The Everything-But-Arms scheme grants duty-free and quota-free access to all products except arms from the 49 least developed countries. This provision will be extended to sugar in July 2009.
Illovo Sugar is the largest sugar producer in Africa with operations in Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia. The company has indicated that the EPAs, while presenting an opportunity for more sugar exports to the EU, will also lead to declining sugar prices.
The managing director for Illovo Sugar (Malawi), David Haworth, told the media in Malawi at the company’s 42nd annual general meeting last month that sugar prices are likely to come down in three phases after the EPAs come into effect. This will correspond with the phasing out of duties and quotas, which will start in 2008 and end in 2015.
At the moment, sugar prices are between 400 to 500 euros per metric ton. Prices are predicted to fall to just 335 euros per metric ton. The drop may continue even further in 2009 when duty-free access will be extended with safeguards. Quota and duty requirements will only be scrapped in totality in 2015.
Illovo Sugar (Malawi) plans to expand production to take advantage of the market access allowed under the EU’s Everything-But-Arms (EBA) initiative. However, the EBA comes into effect in 2009 when sugar will see a significant revenue drop due to the EPAs.
The Malawian government pointed out in a 2005 study on the impact of the sugar reforms that the period when production is due to be escalated to benefit from the EBA coincides with the EU's decision to cut its minimum guaranteed price for sugar.
The EU price will drop by 36 percent between 2006 and 2009 to bring it in line with the world sugar price.
The drop in prices will make it more difficult to meet the investment requirements for scaling up production to take advantage of unrestricted EU sugar market access afforded by the EBA.
The 2005 study, conducted by Malawi’s ministry of trade, summarised the outlook for Malawian sugar as uncertain.
‘‘Malawi stands to lose significantly from the erosion of its preferences under the ACP sugar protocol. However, the country will also benefit from improved access to the EU market under the EBA scheme, albeit at lower prices,’’ said the study.
According to Illovo’s Haworth, he has been ‘‘to Brussels for negotiations on the EPAs so that we get the best possible access. Overall, it is good for the Malawi sugar industry because it means more exports to the EU market. But we will have to increase production in order to make a little profit’’.
Illovo’s managing director based in South Africa, Don MacLeod, said at the same meeting that despite sugar fetching lower prices, the EPAs will be good for the sugar market across the world.
‘‘The EU is reducing protection of its domestic market and this provides us with additional access. What is important now is to increase tonnage to that market,’’ said MacLeod.
MacLeod and Haworth’s optimism stems from the acquisition of 51 percent of Illovo Sugar by Associated British Foods (ABF). ABF, which aims to benefit from duty-free access to the EU from 2009, has supplied support to Illovo’s operations. Their coming onto the scene is an advantage to Illovo because they know the EU market better, said MacLeod.
ABF has a good distribution network which would also be good for Malawi sugar.
Geoffrey Mkandawire, the commercial manager at Illovo Sugar (Malawi), told IPS that that the sugar industry in Malawi had anticipated that the economic and trade relations between the ACP and the EU had to eventually become compatible with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
‘‘Nonetheless, we would like to see that the preferential benefits of least developed countries are not eroded in the EPAs. The WTO rules allow for the special and differential treatment of least developed countries,’’ he said.
Malawi has placed sugar among the 102 sensitive products listed by the country’s manufacturers, exporters and government officials. Mkandawire pointed out that sugar is recognised worldwide as a sensitive product. He says the EU, in its one-page offer to the ACP made in April this year, clearly indicated it as such.
‘‘In every producing country, the product is subject to import control, mostly through very high import tariffs and import licensing. We would like to see order and fair trading in the business, hence import licensing should be kept in place for as long as possible and as long as other countries are keeping it on,’’ says Mkandawire.
But as the Malawi sugar industry braces itself for the EPAs, it has another problem locally: this year’s production may be lower due to poor weather conditions. But Mkandawire remains optimistic that production can still be increased.
National Bank of Malawi selects Nomad platform
The National Bank of Malawi has selected Nomad's Cortex software platform to support its migration to Visa EMV debit card issuing and ATM/POS acquiring.
Cortex, the EMV enabled, scalable card processing solution, will provide the technology the bank needs to offer full Visa compliance and therefore enable it to issue Visa branded and proprietary cards.
Cortex platform's ability to interface with the bank's highly-sophisticated back-office system, based on the established retail banking system, Bankmaster is one of the major reasons the National Bank of Malawi decided to work with Nomad on the project.
Austin Musyani, head of retail banking at the National Bank of Malawi, said: "We were looking for a product that would enable us to take full advantage of our new status of principal Visa member without compromising our existing range of services. It quickly became clear that Cortex's comprehensive functionality would not only help us swiftly and efficiently achieve our immediate goals, but would also enhance future initiatives and enable us to maintain our position as the leading bank in the country."
Cortex, the EMV enabled, scalable card processing solution, will provide the technology the bank needs to offer full Visa compliance and therefore enable it to issue Visa branded and proprietary cards.
Cortex platform's ability to interface with the bank's highly-sophisticated back-office system, based on the established retail banking system, Bankmaster is one of the major reasons the National Bank of Malawi decided to work with Nomad on the project.
Austin Musyani, head of retail banking at the National Bank of Malawi, said: "We were looking for a product that would enable us to take full advantage of our new status of principal Visa member without compromising our existing range of services. It quickly became clear that Cortex's comprehensive functionality would not only help us swiftly and efficiently achieve our immediate goals, but would also enhance future initiatives and enable us to maintain our position as the leading bank in the country."
Malawi's parliament passes budget after lengthy political deadlock
Malawi's parliament approved the 2007-2008 national budget Tuesday after nearly five months of political impasse that held up key development programs in one of the world's poorest countries.
The budget was supposed to take effect July 1, the beginning of the official financial year. But opposition lawmakers blocked its discussion, saying that lawmakers who defected to join President Bingu wa Mutharika's ruling Democratic Progressive Party should first be expelled.
Mutharika quit the former ruling United Democratic Front to found his own party after falling out with his predecessor, former President Bakili Muluzi, and accusing his erstwhile colleagues of frustrating his anti-graft campaign. His party never contested an election, and most of its lawmakers defected from the main opposition party.
After a series of court injunctions, threats to dissolve the legislature and daily street demonstrations, the 193-member assembly reluctantly agreed to debate the budget first and look at the political issues later.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe reacted with excitement.
"I am over the moon," said the former World Bank official. "We can now go back to issues of development."
Not everyone was smiling, though. The state-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation and Television Malawi will have to brace for a tough financial year ahead as parliament agreed to allocate them a symbolic 1 Malawi Kwacha or less than 1 American cent.
This followed an order by Muluzi, the former president, that opposition lawmakers should deny the two state broadcasters public funding because they were being used for government propaganda.
Despite the domestic political crises, Mutharika's government has won praise from abroad for his tough stance on corruption and his efforts to modernize the economy, which is based on subsistence farming. The southern African nation, which frequently suffered from crop failure in the past, is enjoying good harvests this year, thanks partly to innovative small scale programs to boost production.
The budget was supposed to take effect July 1, the beginning of the official financial year. But opposition lawmakers blocked its discussion, saying that lawmakers who defected to join President Bingu wa Mutharika's ruling Democratic Progressive Party should first be expelled.
Mutharika quit the former ruling United Democratic Front to found his own party after falling out with his predecessor, former President Bakili Muluzi, and accusing his erstwhile colleagues of frustrating his anti-graft campaign. His party never contested an election, and most of its lawmakers defected from the main opposition party.
After a series of court injunctions, threats to dissolve the legislature and daily street demonstrations, the 193-member assembly reluctantly agreed to debate the budget first and look at the political issues later.
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe reacted with excitement.
"I am over the moon," said the former World Bank official. "We can now go back to issues of development."
Not everyone was smiling, though. The state-run Malawi Broadcasting Corporation and Television Malawi will have to brace for a tough financial year ahead as parliament agreed to allocate them a symbolic 1 Malawi Kwacha or less than 1 American cent.
This followed an order by Muluzi, the former president, that opposition lawmakers should deny the two state broadcasters public funding because they were being used for government propaganda.
Despite the domestic political crises, Mutharika's government has won praise from abroad for his tough stance on corruption and his efforts to modernize the economy, which is based on subsistence farming. The southern African nation, which frequently suffered from crop failure in the past, is enjoying good harvests this year, thanks partly to innovative small scale programs to boost production.
Thousands of starving children could be restored to health with peanut-butter program
An enriched peanut-butter mixture given at home is successfully promoting recovery in large numbers of starving children in Malawi, according to a group of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Malnutrition affects 70 percent of all Malawian children with an estimated 13 percent of children dying from it before the age of five.
Mark J. Manary, M.D., professor of pediatrics and an emergency pediatrician at St. Louis Children's Hospital, has spent several years researching the use of the enriched peanut-butter mixture, called Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) with small groups of severely and moderately malnourished young children in the sub-Saharan African country. The nutrient-rich mixture contains peanuts, powdered milk, oil, sugar, and added vitamins and minerals. Produced in a Malawian factory, the mixture is given to the mothers of the children to feed at home.
While Manary's team had promising results in using the RUTF in a small setting, it hadn't used the treatment in large-scale operations because of limited human and material resources. The team embarked on a three-year study to implement the peanut-butter feeding program using the existing health-care system in Malawi. Results of the study appeared in the July issue of Maternal and Child Nutrition.
The research team, including Manary, students from Washington University in St. Louis and Baylor College of Medicine and researchers from Malawi, rolled out the treatment at 12 rural health centers in southern Malawi. There, non-medically trained village health aides, who are often the only medical presence in the communities, identified severely or moderately malnourished children based on World Health Organization guidelines and determined which children would receive the treatment. The aides then followed up with the children every other week for up to eight weeks. Of the 2,131 severely malnourished children treated with the RUTF at home, 89 percent recovered. Of the 806 moderately malnourished children treated with the RUTF, 85 percent recovered.
"The peanut-butter feeding has been a quantum leap in feeding malnourished children in Africa," Manary said. "The recovery rates are a remarkable improvement from standard therapy."
Traditional treatment of moderate malnutrition in Malawi involves feeding children a corn-based porridge at home, or for severe malnutrition, children are fed a milk-based porridge in hospitals. However, a severely malnourished child would have to eat about 25 spoonfuls of porridge to equal the calorie density in one spoonful of the concentrated RUTF, Manary said. The recovery rate for children given the standard therapy is less than 50 percent.
As a result of the study, Manary and the researchers found that village health aides can reliably identify which children need treatment, manage the program and follow up with children after the program, which eliminates the need for onsite medically trained professionals to supervise it.
"What's really exciting to me is that we've demonstrated that we can put this research into practice on a large scale, it can benefit tens of thousands of kids, and there are not going to be operational barriers in some very remote settings like sub-Saharan Africa," Manary said.
First author Zachary Linneman is a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis who has traveled to Malawi twice to work with Manary.
"In addition to the success the project brings to each malnourished child in terms of nutritional rehabilitation, I think it demonstrates to the larger community the ability to effectively address major health issues with straightforward solutions and hard work," Linneman said.
Once the children are renourished, they usually stay healthy, Manary said.
"Mothers in Malawi know that malnutrition is the single biggest threat to their children's existence," Manary said. "They want nothing more in this life to have their children survive and grow up. When their child comes through treatment successfully, they will pay extra attention to make sure it doesn't happen again."
The Peanut Butter Project, a non-profit organization Manary started in 2001, produces about 300 tons of the RUTF in Malawi each year. For more information, visit www.projectpeanutbutter.org.
Linneman Z, Matilsky D, Ndekha M, Manary MJ, Maleta K, Manary MJ. A large-scale operational study of home-based therapy with ready-to-use therapeutic food in childhood malnutrition in Malawi. Maternal and Child Nutrition (2007) 3, pp. 206-215.
The project was supported by UNICEF and the World Food Programme through the donation of ingredients.
Washington University School of Medicine's full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Malnutrition affects 70 percent of all Malawian children with an estimated 13 percent of children dying from it before the age of five.
Mark J. Manary, M.D., professor of pediatrics and an emergency pediatrician at St. Louis Children's Hospital, has spent several years researching the use of the enriched peanut-butter mixture, called Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) with small groups of severely and moderately malnourished young children in the sub-Saharan African country. The nutrient-rich mixture contains peanuts, powdered milk, oil, sugar, and added vitamins and minerals. Produced in a Malawian factory, the mixture is given to the mothers of the children to feed at home.
While Manary's team had promising results in using the RUTF in a small setting, it hadn't used the treatment in large-scale operations because of limited human and material resources. The team embarked on a three-year study to implement the peanut-butter feeding program using the existing health-care system in Malawi. Results of the study appeared in the July issue of Maternal and Child Nutrition.
The research team, including Manary, students from Washington University in St. Louis and Baylor College of Medicine and researchers from Malawi, rolled out the treatment at 12 rural health centers in southern Malawi. There, non-medically trained village health aides, who are often the only medical presence in the communities, identified severely or moderately malnourished children based on World Health Organization guidelines and determined which children would receive the treatment. The aides then followed up with the children every other week for up to eight weeks. Of the 2,131 severely malnourished children treated with the RUTF at home, 89 percent recovered. Of the 806 moderately malnourished children treated with the RUTF, 85 percent recovered.
"The peanut-butter feeding has been a quantum leap in feeding malnourished children in Africa," Manary said. "The recovery rates are a remarkable improvement from standard therapy."
Traditional treatment of moderate malnutrition in Malawi involves feeding children a corn-based porridge at home, or for severe malnutrition, children are fed a milk-based porridge in hospitals. However, a severely malnourished child would have to eat about 25 spoonfuls of porridge to equal the calorie density in one spoonful of the concentrated RUTF, Manary said. The recovery rate for children given the standard therapy is less than 50 percent.
As a result of the study, Manary and the researchers found that village health aides can reliably identify which children need treatment, manage the program and follow up with children after the program, which eliminates the need for onsite medically trained professionals to supervise it.
"What's really exciting to me is that we've demonstrated that we can put this research into practice on a large scale, it can benefit tens of thousands of kids, and there are not going to be operational barriers in some very remote settings like sub-Saharan Africa," Manary said.
First author Zachary Linneman is a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis who has traveled to Malawi twice to work with Manary.
"In addition to the success the project brings to each malnourished child in terms of nutritional rehabilitation, I think it demonstrates to the larger community the ability to effectively address major health issues with straightforward solutions and hard work," Linneman said.
Once the children are renourished, they usually stay healthy, Manary said.
"Mothers in Malawi know that malnutrition is the single biggest threat to their children's existence," Manary said. "They want nothing more in this life to have their children survive and grow up. When their child comes through treatment successfully, they will pay extra attention to make sure it doesn't happen again."
The Peanut Butter Project, a non-profit organization Manary started in 2001, produces about 300 tons of the RUTF in Malawi each year. For more information, visit www.projectpeanutbutter.org.
Linneman Z, Matilsky D, Ndekha M, Manary MJ, Maleta K, Manary MJ. A large-scale operational study of home-based therapy with ready-to-use therapeutic food in childhood malnutrition in Malawi. Maternal and Child Nutrition (2007) 3, pp. 206-215.
The project was supported by UNICEF and the World Food Programme through the donation of ingredients.
Washington University School of Medicine's full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
President suspends ant-corruption chief over fraud
Malawian president's office said on Monday that President Bingu wa Mutharika has suspended the country's anti-corruption chief over allegations of misuse of public funds.
The opposition has pushed to get Tumalisye Ndovi sacked after a newspaper reported he was drawing salaries from two government departments.
"I am under instructions from the President to interdict the director of ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) for alleged mismanagement of public funds which, if proven, is a serious misconduct in terms of government regulations," Thouse O'dalla, deputy chief secretary in the office of the president, told Reuters.
O'dalla said Ndovi allegedly received a salary from the anti-corruption bureau and the Malawi Police Service, where he served as police commissioner.
"All this is against the conditions of service in government. As per his appointment letter, Ndovi as director is entitled to a salary and house allowance at ACB," O'dalla said.
Ndovi said the allegations were inaccurate.
"It's true that I have been getting two salaries, one from the Anti-Corruption Bureau and another one from the Malawi Police Service," he told Reuters.
"But it's not true that I have been drawing the police service salary, it's still in my bank, untouched."
Wa Mutharika appointed Ndovi in 2006 but his opponents, who dominate parliament, rejected the decision, accusing the president of naming a close ally.
Wa Mutharika accused the parliament of trying to undermine his anti-corruption drive.
Wa Mutharika has been under intense pressure from his opponents in parliament, who ended a boycott of the assembly on August 15 after a long political row that stalled debate of the national budget and threatened to cut off essential services.
Last week, opposition members of parliament refused to debate a budget vote on ACB funding until Wa Mutharika acted on Ndovi's alleged misconduct.
The opposition has pushed to get Tumalisye Ndovi sacked after a newspaper reported he was drawing salaries from two government departments.
"I am under instructions from the President to interdict the director of ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) for alleged mismanagement of public funds which, if proven, is a serious misconduct in terms of government regulations," Thouse O'dalla, deputy chief secretary in the office of the president, told Reuters.
O'dalla said Ndovi allegedly received a salary from the anti-corruption bureau and the Malawi Police Service, where he served as police commissioner.
"All this is against the conditions of service in government. As per his appointment letter, Ndovi as director is entitled to a salary and house allowance at ACB," O'dalla said.
Ndovi said the allegations were inaccurate.
"It's true that I have been getting two salaries, one from the Anti-Corruption Bureau and another one from the Malawi Police Service," he told Reuters.
"But it's not true that I have been drawing the police service salary, it's still in my bank, untouched."
Wa Mutharika appointed Ndovi in 2006 but his opponents, who dominate parliament, rejected the decision, accusing the president of naming a close ally.
Wa Mutharika accused the parliament of trying to undermine his anti-corruption drive.
Wa Mutharika has been under intense pressure from his opponents in parliament, who ended a boycott of the assembly on August 15 after a long political row that stalled debate of the national budget and threatened to cut off essential services.
Last week, opposition members of parliament refused to debate a budget vote on ACB funding until Wa Mutharika acted on Ndovi's alleged misconduct.
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