Malawi ruler helps Mugabe to hold on to power

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika is aiding Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to cling on to power with a win in the forth coming March 29 general elections by supplying him with much-needed maize which is being distributed to the electorate to buy votes.

About 300 000 tonnes of maize imported from Malawi have been hoarded by Zanu (PF) at Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depots around the country for vote buying.

Eye witnesses accounted four haulage trucks coming from the Nyamapanda border off-loading maize at Murehwa depot, which officials there said had been purchased by the government from Malawi.

"Maize sold by the Malawi government to Zimbabwe has not helped the people of the country fairy. It is being abused by distributing to the electorate in Mashonaland.

“As opposition, if we take over power, we will have difficulties to pay the Malawi government because they have played part in the political aggression by Mugabe and ZANU-PF," said Tendai Biti of opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Malawi is running short of maize and is rationing the grain nation-wide exported 300 000 metric tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe and is yet to fulfill a 100,000 metric tonnes export to cover the required 400,000 Mt.

Senior officials at the GMB depot in Harare confirmed that close to 100 000 tonnes of maize were ready to be dispatched for Mugabe's campaign. It has also been established that depots in Murehwa, Bindura, Chegutu and Marondera have been hoarding stocks.

"We have stocks of up to 20 000 tonnes and some of them have been coming through Mozambique. We have been instructed to start preparing for dispatching the maize," a GMB source at Murehwa depot told The Zimbabwean.

The United States expressed regret at Mugabe's decision to schedule a general election without an agreement on conditions with the opposition.

"We regret that President Mugabe has insisted on proceeding with the presidential and parliamentary elections on March 29 without having reached an agreement on conditions that would have leveled the playing field for all parties planning to compete in those elections," read a State Department statement.

UK has also hit at Mugabe.

"Zimbabwe is suffering from an economic, humanitarian and political crisis for which President Mugabe is directly responsible," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

"The conditions for it (the election) are far from free and fair. We are pressing for effective international monitoring and for states in the region to require the election to meet international standards...," he told parliament.

However, defiant Mugabe told his supporters on Saturday that his party would win the elections "resoundingly" and he was ready for a fight with those who criticized his presidency, including President Bush and British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Malawi leader of opposition, John Tembo demanded government to stop the exporting of maize to Zimbabwe with the world's highest inflation rate, over 100,000 percent.

Mutharika who has Bineth, a personal farm in Zimbabwe guarded by state security agents, signed the contractual agreement with the Zimbabwe Government that offered a US$10 million line of credit.