Heavily armed police in Malawi have arrested four opposition officials and ex-security chiefs after the president said that was a plot to remove him.
Those arrested include a former army commander and police chief.
President Bingu wa Mutharika at the weekend accused his predecessor Bakili Muluzi of being behind a plot to remove him by Friday 16 May.
Mr Muluzi, who is out of the country, and his United Democratic Front (UDF) party have denied the claims.
The BBC's Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says the homes of former army commander Gen Joseph Chimayo, former Inspector General of Police Joseph Aironi, UDF Secretary General Kennedy Makwangwala and former Blantyre Mayor John Chikakwiya were raided on Tuesday morning.
They were briefly held at the police headquarters in Blantyre before being transferred to the capital, Lilongwe, for interrogation, he says.
Information Minister Patricia Kaliati denied that the arrests were politically motivated.
"They have been arrested as any other citizen would if they break the country's laws," she said.
"Coward"
President Mutharika had been involved in talks with the opposition to try and resolve a political impasse that has seen the opposition either boycotting parliament or shooting down government bills.
But at a church meeting on Sunday the president accused Mr Muluzi of being "a coward" for leaving the country while a coup was being planned.
"Malawians, let me tell you this was their plan: That Bakili Muluzi would come back home [from London] on 16th and that would not be as leader of his party, but that he would come back home as president of Malawi after removing me from power," Mr Mutharika said.
But Mr Muluzi on Monday denied the allegations on his private Joy Radio.
"I am not a violent person," he said.
"I think there is something seriously wrong with our president."
Our correspondent says the arrests have derailed the already troubled parliamentary session where the opposition-dominated parliament is refusing to debate any government bills unless Speaker Louis Chimango expels the more than 70 MPs who defected from the UDF to join President Mutharika's newly founded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Last month, Mr Muluzi, who served two terms before stepping down in 2004, won a contest to be named the UDF's presidential candidate in next year's polls.
It is not clear if he would be eligible to stand as the constitution bans a president from more than two consecutive terms.
President Mutharika was elected as the UDF candidate in 2004 but soon afterwards fell out with Mr Muluzi and formed his own party.
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Malawi health worker is named Strathclyder of the Year
A Scots woman who has improved the health and lives of hundreds of women and children in Malawi has been honoured by the University.
Dr Tracy Morse has been named Strathclyder of the Year for her outstanding work as Project Manger of the University's Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative, a scheme funded by the Scottish Government to improve maternal health and drive down infant mortality rates in four villages in Southern Malawi.
Poverty has led to widescale health problems in the country, with around four in 10 children dying before they reach the age of five, and one in six mothers dying in childbirth. Of the lost children, large numbers die of malaria or diarrhoea, both of which are directly addressed by the work of Dr Morse and colleagues.
Dr Morse, who is originally from the Inverurie area of Aberdeenshire, said: "It was a total surprise to win the award, but a very nice one. It has also been a great opportunity to come back to Scotland to visit colleagues, family and friends.
"We try hard to work with our colleagues in Malawi and Scotland to ensure long standing health improvements within the programme, and to have that recognised is great. The award really goes to all those involved and shows that in today's society, we are finally recognising the need for preventative health and environmental health in addressing mortality and morbidity."
The Chikwawa Initiative involves the re-building and re-equipping of rural clinics, re-training of traditional birthing attendants, health staff and volunteers, provision of mosquito nets, improvements to water supplies and sanitation, and the provision of bicycle ambulances to improve health access.
When sudden floods hit Chikwawa in February this year, sweeping away more than half of the houses in the area and leaving thousands destitute, Dr Morse was first on the scene. Within two days, she had filled and dispatched four lorries filled with medicines, food, mosquito nets, building materials and water purification tablets, saving many lives.
Dr Peter West, Secretary to the University and Chairman of the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, presented Dr Morse with her award. He said: "The new partnership between Scotland and Malawi has grown directly out of the Strathclyde Malawi Millennium Project. It would never have developed as it has without the huge personal contribution of Dr Tracy Morse, and it is entirely fitting that she should be our Strathclyder of the Year."
As well as managing the Initiative, Dr Morse is also the Malawi-based coordinator of all the activities of the University's Malawi Millennium Project. This involves organizing and delivering Strathclyde's support to orphanages and Malawi Polytechnic, overseeing the building of a house for the Chief Nurse at Chikwawa Hospital, and coordinating the increasing number of visits to the country by Strathclyde students.
She is a double-graduate of the University of Strathclyde, with a first class honours degree in Environmental Health and a PhD for her research on Cryptosporidiosis. She first visited Malawi on a research trip in 2000, and has since built her life in the country with her husband and two small children.
The Strathclyder of the Year Cup is an annual award made to a member of University staff who has made an outstanding contribution to society.
Malawi health worker is named Strathclyder of the Year
A Scots woman who has improved the health and lives of hundreds of women and
children in Malawi has been honoured by the University.
Dr Tracy Morse has been named Strathclyder of the Year for her outstanding work as Project Manger of the University's Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative, a scheme funded by the Scottish Government to improve maternal health and drive down infant mortality rates in four villages in Southern Malawi.
Poverty has led to widescale health problems in the country, with around four in 10 children dying before they reach the age of five, and one in six mothers dying in childbirth. Of the lost children, large numbers die of malaria or diarrhoea, both of which are directly addressed by the work of Dr Morse and colleagues.
Dr Morse, who is originally from the Inverurie area of Aberdeenshire, said: "It was a total surprise to win the award, but a very nice one. It has also been a great opportunity to come back to Scotland to visit colleagues, family and friends.
"We try hard to work with our colleagues in Malawi and Scotland to ensure long standing health improvements within the programme, and to have that recognised is great. The award really goes to all those involved and shows that in today's society, we are finally recognising the need for preventative health and environmental health in addressing mortality and morbidity."
The Chikwawa Initiative involves the re-building and re-equipping of rural clinics, re-training of traditional birthing attendants, health staff and volunteers, provision of mosquito nets, improvements to water supplies and sanitation, and the provision of bicycle ambulances to improve health access.
When sudden floods hit Chikwawa in February this year, sweeping away more than half of the houses in the area and leaving thousands destitute, Dr Morse was first on the scene. Within two days, she had filled and dispatched four lorries filled with medicines, food, mosquito nets, building materials and water purification tablets, saving many lives.
Dr Peter West, Secretary to the University and Chairman of the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, presented Dr Morse with her award. He said: "The new partnership between Scotland and Malawi has grown directly out of the Strathclyde Malawi Millennium Project. It would never have developed as it has without the huge personal contribution of Dr Tracy Morse, and it is entirely fitting that she should be our Strathclyder of the Year."
As well as managing the Initiative, Dr Morse is also the Malawi-based coordinator of all the activities of the University's Malawi Millennium Project. This involves organizing and delivering Strathclyde's support to orphanages and Malawi Polytechnic, overseeing the building of a house for the Chief Nurse at Chikwawa Hospital, and coordinating the increasing number of visits to the country by Strathclyde students.
She is a double-graduate of the University of Strathclyde, with a first class honours degree in Environmental Health and a PhD for her research on Cryptosporidiosis. She first visited Malawi on a research trip in 2000, and has since built her life in the country with her husband and two small children.
The Strathclyder of the Year Cup is an annual award made to a member of University staff who has made an outstanding contribution to society.
children in Malawi has been honoured by the University.
Dr Tracy Morse has been named Strathclyder of the Year for her outstanding work as Project Manger of the University's Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative, a scheme funded by the Scottish Government to improve maternal health and drive down infant mortality rates in four villages in Southern Malawi.
Poverty has led to widescale health problems in the country, with around four in 10 children dying before they reach the age of five, and one in six mothers dying in childbirth. Of the lost children, large numbers die of malaria or diarrhoea, both of which are directly addressed by the work of Dr Morse and colleagues.
Dr Morse, who is originally from the Inverurie area of Aberdeenshire, said: "It was a total surprise to win the award, but a very nice one. It has also been a great opportunity to come back to Scotland to visit colleagues, family and friends.
"We try hard to work with our colleagues in Malawi and Scotland to ensure long standing health improvements within the programme, and to have that recognised is great. The award really goes to all those involved and shows that in today's society, we are finally recognising the need for preventative health and environmental health in addressing mortality and morbidity."
The Chikwawa Initiative involves the re-building and re-equipping of rural clinics, re-training of traditional birthing attendants, health staff and volunteers, provision of mosquito nets, improvements to water supplies and sanitation, and the provision of bicycle ambulances to improve health access.
When sudden floods hit Chikwawa in February this year, sweeping away more than half of the houses in the area and leaving thousands destitute, Dr Morse was first on the scene. Within two days, she had filled and dispatched four lorries filled with medicines, food, mosquito nets, building materials and water purification tablets, saving many lives.
Dr Peter West, Secretary to the University and Chairman of the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, presented Dr Morse with her award. He said: "The new partnership between Scotland and Malawi has grown directly out of the Strathclyde Malawi Millennium Project. It would never have developed as it has without the huge personal contribution of Dr Tracy Morse, and it is entirely fitting that she should be our Strathclyder of the Year."
As well as managing the Initiative, Dr Morse is also the Malawi-based coordinator of all the activities of the University's Malawi Millennium Project. This involves organizing and delivering Strathclyde's support to orphanages and Malawi Polytechnic, overseeing the building of a house for the Chief Nurse at Chikwawa Hospital, and coordinating the increasing number of visits to the country by Strathclyde students.
She is a double-graduate of the University of Strathclyde, with a first class honours degree in Environmental Health and a PhD for her research on Cryptosporidiosis. She first visited Malawi on a research trip in 2000, and has since built her life in the country with her husband and two small children.
The Strathclyder of the Year Cup is an annual award made to a member of University staff who has made an outstanding contribution to society.
Malawi’s President Accuses Ex-President Muluzi of Coup Plot
Supporters of former Malawi President Bakali Muluzi are reportedly upset with President Bingu Wa Mutharika after he accused the former president of planning to overthrow him. Mutharika said he has uncovered a plot by Muluzi and supporters of the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) to topple his government using section 65 of the constitution. The section bars legislators from leaving parties that sponsored them into power and joining another party in Parliament.
President Mutharika is expected to lose out when the Speaker of parliament makes his ruling after several members of the opposition were allegedly lured to switch sides. Mustapha Hussein is a senior political science lecturer at the University of Zomba Chancellor College. He tells reporter Peter Clottey that some Malawians see Mutharika’s pronouncement as divisive, which he says could potentially undermine the ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the opposition.
“I would say there are mixed reactions in the sense that firstly, Malawians feel the anticipation to learn or to know more about this plot. Malawians have not heard about it before; they don’t have enough information about it. So, the revelation has created some sort of anticipation so that we can know the details or the truth of the matter. Secondly, it is a bit of disappointment in the sense that the revelation is coming in at the time when people have great expectations and hope in view of the negotiations that are taking place. So, the revelations are seen to be dampening the spirits regarding the outcome and what we should expect from the negotiations underway,” Hussein pointed out.
He said some Malawians are waiting to see what becomes of President Mutharika’s accusation.
“Since the revelation was made in public, we hope probably certain moves would be taken to pursue that allegation. But on the other hand, since people have seen not much progress have been made regarding the vice president’s case, Dr. Cassim Chilumpha, many people have viewed that probably this will end as mere politicking strategy to weaken the UDF or to intimidate the UDF,” he said.
Hussein said some Malawians are skeptical about the prospects of the peace negotiations between President Mutharika’s government and the opposition.
“There are those fears today in parliament. The leader of the opposition stated that they shouldn’t be blamed if the negotiations do not go well. And this was made in view of the fact that the issues that were discussed in the negotiations were revealed in public by the president. So that move is seen as one way of trying to undermine the confidentiality, and there are those fears that probably the opposition, particularly UDF representatives in the negotiations may not like what was said, and might start rethinking about their position. Nonetheless, there is that hope that since the negotiations are still going on, people will try or both parties will try to soften up and find a way of compromises,” Hussein noted.
The ongoing peace negotiations between the opposition and the government were reportedly called by President Mutharika to resolve the brewing political tensions in the Malawi parliament after opposition parliamentarians began an indefinite boycott of parliamentary activities over the failure of the speaker of parliament to rule on Section 65.
President Mutharika is expected to lose out when the Speaker of parliament makes his ruling after several members of the opposition were allegedly lured to switch sides. Mustapha Hussein is a senior political science lecturer at the University of Zomba Chancellor College. He tells reporter Peter Clottey that some Malawians see Mutharika’s pronouncement as divisive, which he says could potentially undermine the ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the opposition.
“I would say there are mixed reactions in the sense that firstly, Malawians feel the anticipation to learn or to know more about this plot. Malawians have not heard about it before; they don’t have enough information about it. So, the revelation has created some sort of anticipation so that we can know the details or the truth of the matter. Secondly, it is a bit of disappointment in the sense that the revelation is coming in at the time when people have great expectations and hope in view of the negotiations that are taking place. So, the revelations are seen to be dampening the spirits regarding the outcome and what we should expect from the negotiations underway,” Hussein pointed out.
He said some Malawians are waiting to see what becomes of President Mutharika’s accusation.
“Since the revelation was made in public, we hope probably certain moves would be taken to pursue that allegation. But on the other hand, since people have seen not much progress have been made regarding the vice president’s case, Dr. Cassim Chilumpha, many people have viewed that probably this will end as mere politicking strategy to weaken the UDF or to intimidate the UDF,” he said.
Hussein said some Malawians are skeptical about the prospects of the peace negotiations between President Mutharika’s government and the opposition.
“There are those fears today in parliament. The leader of the opposition stated that they shouldn’t be blamed if the negotiations do not go well. And this was made in view of the fact that the issues that were discussed in the negotiations were revealed in public by the president. So that move is seen as one way of trying to undermine the confidentiality, and there are those fears that probably the opposition, particularly UDF representatives in the negotiations may not like what was said, and might start rethinking about their position. Nonetheless, there is that hope that since the negotiations are still going on, people will try or both parties will try to soften up and find a way of compromises,” Hussein noted.
The ongoing peace negotiations between the opposition and the government were reportedly called by President Mutharika to resolve the brewing political tensions in the Malawi parliament after opposition parliamentarians began an indefinite boycott of parliamentary activities over the failure of the speaker of parliament to rule on Section 65.
Father of Malawian boy backs Madonna adoption bid
The father of a Malawian child that Madonna wants to adopt said on Monday he supported her case but wanted the U.S. popstar to bring his boy home for visits.
Madonna is expected to appear in a Malawian court on Thursday for what is expected to be a final and favorable ruling on whether she can adopt David Banda. She is due to arrive in the impoverished southern African country on Tuesday.
The pop diva began adoption proceedings in 2006 and the two-year-old has been living with her and her film director husband Guy Ritchie in their London home since then.
The adoption has been controversial, with critics accusing the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children in Malawi, which has been ravaged by an AIDS epidemic leaving more than one million orphans.
Malawi's government has recommended that its High Court approve Madonna's adoption of the child.
"I have no problem with the government's recommendation to allow Madonna to get the child. This is what I wanted, that Madonna should keep the child," the boy's father, Yohane Banda, told Reuters Television in an interview.
One of Malawi's fiercest critics of Madonna's adoption bid, the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC), said on Monday it was no longer interested in pursuing the case, removing another obstacle.
"It will be as a waste of time and resources to continue pursuing the case. Malawi has more pressing issues than Madonna," HRCC chairman Udule Mwakasungura told Reuters.
Madonna took David when he was 13 months old after his father had placed him in an orphanage following the death of his wife.
Standing in a dusty village of huts, Banda said he hoped to see his son during Madonna's trip.
"If she comes with the child ... we expect to be told that the child is here and we are allowed to see him," he said in Lipunga, 160 km (100 miles) from Malawi's capital.
But even if it was not possible this time, he said he hoped to see his son every few years.
"We had agreed initially that when the child is taken, she should bring him at least once in every three to four years so that we should see how he is developing," the father said.
If Madonna does get to keep David, the child will grow up in the high-flying world of a leading popstar, worlds away from Lipunga, where Banda's relatives eat staple food like maize meal from simple bowls and meals are cooked on open fires.
Madonna is expected to appear in a Malawian court on Thursday for what is expected to be a final and favorable ruling on whether she can adopt David Banda. She is due to arrive in the impoverished southern African country on Tuesday.
The pop diva began adoption proceedings in 2006 and the two-year-old has been living with her and her film director husband Guy Ritchie in their London home since then.
The adoption has been controversial, with critics accusing the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children in Malawi, which has been ravaged by an AIDS epidemic leaving more than one million orphans.
Malawi's government has recommended that its High Court approve Madonna's adoption of the child.
"I have no problem with the government's recommendation to allow Madonna to get the child. This is what I wanted, that Madonna should keep the child," the boy's father, Yohane Banda, told Reuters Television in an interview.
One of Malawi's fiercest critics of Madonna's adoption bid, the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC), said on Monday it was no longer interested in pursuing the case, removing another obstacle.
"It will be as a waste of time and resources to continue pursuing the case. Malawi has more pressing issues than Madonna," HRCC chairman Udule Mwakasungura told Reuters.
Madonna took David when he was 13 months old after his father had placed him in an orphanage following the death of his wife.
Standing in a dusty village of huts, Banda said he hoped to see his son during Madonna's trip.
"If she comes with the child ... we expect to be told that the child is here and we are allowed to see him," he said in Lipunga, 160 km (100 miles) from Malawi's capital.
But even if it was not possible this time, he said he hoped to see his son every few years.
"We had agreed initially that when the child is taken, she should bring him at least once in every three to four years so that we should see how he is developing," the father said.
If Madonna does get to keep David, the child will grow up in the high-flying world of a leading popstar, worlds away from Lipunga, where Banda's relatives eat staple food like maize meal from simple bowls and meals are cooked on open fires.
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