Blantyre - Malawi's high court on Wednesday softened the bail bond of graft-accused former president Bakili Muluzi, who needs to travel to Britain for a medical check-up, to $358 000.
Muluzi challenged a court order by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) forcing him to sign a $12m bond to ensure his return to face corruption charges.
"I find no objective reason that the accused person will abscond. I therefore order that he must execute a bail bond of the sum of 50 million kwacha, not cash," Judge Edward Twea said in his ruling.
"The accused person must not leave the jurisdiction of Malawi without the order of this court," Twea added.
The $12m represented the total sum of the monetary value of the graft charges levelled against Muluzi, who ruled the southern African nation from 1994 to 2004.
Muluzi is the most senior figure to face graft charges in a sweeping anti-corruption campaign launched by President Bingu wa Mutharika, his successor and estranged protege.
Muluzi must also execute two sufficient sureties in the sum of $7000 each and the ACB has also seized Muluzi's property, which includes 150 cars, an office complex and his upmarket residence.
Twea warned the ex-president that he would be "admitted to custody" should he fail to execute the bond "within seven days of this order".
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Elephants rescued in Malawi
In a mission completed over the weekend, wildlife activists plucked 83 elephants from the ground in Mangochi, Malawi, and drove their drugged bodies over 100 miles to the Majete Game Reserve. The effort cost an estimated $170,000 and required the use of a helicopter, a crane and two large flatbed trucks.
Subsistence farmers in Mangochi had been shooting or trapping the elephants to stop them from thundering through their villages and raiding crops. At least 20 people have been gored or trampled to death by elephants in the area in recent years, activists said.
"There's violence on both sides of this human-elephant conflict," said Chris Cutter, communications director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Cutter said elephants and people compete for water and other resources amid drought and food scarcity.
The international organization, which has completed similar projects in India and Kenya, paid for the effort using private donations from members in Europe and the United States.
The intervention began in May, when villagers were informed of the project. Dirt roads leading to the region had to be graded to accommodate the trucks that would transport the elephants. As the team drove the animals out of town starting last month, cheering villagers lined the roads, Cutter said.
Malawi, in southern Africa, is one of the world's poorest countries. In 2008, an estimated 12% of the adult population was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and less than half those infected were receiving antiretroviral therapy. The average per-capita income is $250 a year.
Subsistence farmers in Mangochi had been shooting or trapping the elephants to stop them from thundering through their villages and raiding crops. At least 20 people have been gored or trampled to death by elephants in the area in recent years, activists said.
"There's violence on both sides of this human-elephant conflict," said Chris Cutter, communications director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Cutter said elephants and people compete for water and other resources amid drought and food scarcity.
The international organization, which has completed similar projects in India and Kenya, paid for the effort using private donations from members in Europe and the United States.
The intervention began in May, when villagers were informed of the project. Dirt roads leading to the region had to be graded to accommodate the trucks that would transport the elephants. As the team drove the animals out of town starting last month, cheering villagers lined the roads, Cutter said.
Malawi, in southern Africa, is one of the world's poorest countries. In 2008, an estimated 12% of the adult population was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and less than half those infected were receiving antiretroviral therapy. The average per-capita income is $250 a year.
Malawi mourns Italian builder who devoted retirement to missionary work
Malawians have mourned a retired Italian builder who died of malaria after spending his retirement helping to build missions in Africa.
Giacomo Marcialli, 64, was from Lurano province of Bergamo in Italy, Fides reports. He arrived in Malawi last year to work with the Malawi nel Cuore Association, in which his sister Giuditta is also a member. He helped enlarge the Namandaje hospital in the district of Mangochi.
“After years of hard work, he had discovered his vocation: to help Africa, to make his personal contribution to the missions,” the Italian Monfort missionary Fr. Piergiorgio Gamba told Fides.
Fr. Gamba, who has been a missionary in Malawi for years, reported that Marcialli had helped with several missionary projects in Cameroon before coming to Malawi.
In Malawi, Marcialli was known as Marcello. Before his death last month, he helped prepare festivities for the ordination of Fr. Wilfred Sumani.
“And it was on that very day that he began his Calvary due to an attack of malaria which eventually killed him,” Fr. Gamba said.
On June 29, following a vigil and a night of prayer, the Christians of Namandanje offered to accompany Marcialli’s body on the long journey to the church of St. Paul’s Seminary in Mangochi. The seminary church is where funerals are held for missionaries and priests of the diocese.
“The church was too small and the school children overflowed into in the seminary portico. Boys and girls came to say farewell to a travelling companion whom they had hardly known, because he had lived in a small church far away from Mangochi, and whom today they hailed as a brother,” Fr. Gamba said.
“This is the soul of Africa. This is the richness of its villages.”
Bishop of Mangochi Alessandro Pagani presided at the liturgy with all the priests of the diocese, Fides reports.
The bishop thanked the faithful for welcoming the missionary.
“He was not one of your sons, you hardly knew him, he spoke only a few words of your language... why have you come to his funeral? This is the power of the faith, this is what it means to be Christians,” the bishop said.
Fr. Gamba noted that Marcialli was buried in the same cemetery as former Bishop of Mangochi Luciano Nervi and priests of the diocese.
“Giacomo is the first lay volunteer to rest in peace with bishops and priests. The impossibility to have members of his family here and above all his request to be buried here in Malawi, was seen by the Catholics of Mangochi as a great gift.
“These young people are anxious to learn the lesson Giacomo left as his legacy. They are the Church of 2009, the Year of the Synod for Africa.
“Thanks to Giacomo who believed in them. Thanks to this Church, continually new.”
Giacomo Marcialli, 64, was from Lurano province of Bergamo in Italy, Fides reports. He arrived in Malawi last year to work with the Malawi nel Cuore Association, in which his sister Giuditta is also a member. He helped enlarge the Namandaje hospital in the district of Mangochi.
“After years of hard work, he had discovered his vocation: to help Africa, to make his personal contribution to the missions,” the Italian Monfort missionary Fr. Piergiorgio Gamba told Fides.
Fr. Gamba, who has been a missionary in Malawi for years, reported that Marcialli had helped with several missionary projects in Cameroon before coming to Malawi.
In Malawi, Marcialli was known as Marcello. Before his death last month, he helped prepare festivities for the ordination of Fr. Wilfred Sumani.
“And it was on that very day that he began his Calvary due to an attack of malaria which eventually killed him,” Fr. Gamba said.
On June 29, following a vigil and a night of prayer, the Christians of Namandanje offered to accompany Marcialli’s body on the long journey to the church of St. Paul’s Seminary in Mangochi. The seminary church is where funerals are held for missionaries and priests of the diocese.
“The church was too small and the school children overflowed into in the seminary portico. Boys and girls came to say farewell to a travelling companion whom they had hardly known, because he had lived in a small church far away from Mangochi, and whom today they hailed as a brother,” Fr. Gamba said.
“This is the soul of Africa. This is the richness of its villages.”
Bishop of Mangochi Alessandro Pagani presided at the liturgy with all the priests of the diocese, Fides reports.
The bishop thanked the faithful for welcoming the missionary.
“He was not one of your sons, you hardly knew him, he spoke only a few words of your language... why have you come to his funeral? This is the power of the faith, this is what it means to be Christians,” the bishop said.
Fr. Gamba noted that Marcialli was buried in the same cemetery as former Bishop of Mangochi Luciano Nervi and priests of the diocese.
“Giacomo is the first lay volunteer to rest in peace with bishops and priests. The impossibility to have members of his family here and above all his request to be buried here in Malawi, was seen by the Catholics of Mangochi as a great gift.
“These young people are anxious to learn the lesson Giacomo left as his legacy. They are the Church of 2009, the Year of the Synod for Africa.
“Thanks to Giacomo who believed in them. Thanks to this Church, continually new.”
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