** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
Salifou and Peter:
This is in response to the questions you raise. At home we say: "Rumours
give headaches." I have never been to the president's mansion. But
reporters and others say that the mansion, which was conceived by DR.
Kamuzu Banda and took many years to build, does indeed have three hundred
rooms.
Is wa Mutharika an admirer of Dr. Banda? Perhaps, parhaps not. One of wa
Mutharika's current projects is to build a fitting mausoleum to DR. Banda;
but this is a project that was originally conceived by Bakili Muluzi, who
only paid lip service to it. The fact of the matter is that Dr. Banda
still has a huge constituency in Malawi. Muluzi knew this and thought he
could appease people's sentiments through mere lip service. Banda was a
dictator and a populist. His party, the Malawi Congress Party, won the
largest number of parliamentary seats during the last election and was
very close to winning the presidency. Muluzi's attempts at wiping out
memories of Dr. Banda have not always served his party, the United
Democratic Front, very well, escpecially in central Malawi. Wa Mutharika
has renamed structures that were originally named after Banda back to
those original names. So now we have Kamuzu International Airport again in
Lilongwe instead of Lilongwe International Airport. Regarding the
reopening of the prisons, wa Mutharika says they are needed. Crime is
indeed rampant. So, hopefully, not for political detainees. The courts
would surely have something to say about that, as the judicial process
already has done in the case of the jailed reporters, who were not charged
with anything and are now out on bail.
On a related note, President wa Mutharika's press secretary died
yesterday.
Dean
--- PETER WUTEH VAKUNTA <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
>
> Prof Dean,
> Thanks for shedding some light on this issue. I was just wondering if
> President Mathurika is re-opening the infamous detention camps
> conceived by Late Hastings Kamuzu Banda to silence voices of
> dissidence, is it not a signal that he is a disciple of this not-so-
> loved erstwhile president of Malawi, reputable for his statement: My
> political enemies are food for the crocodiles? Have a nice day today!
>
> PETER VAKUNTA
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: salifou issoufou <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 9:08 am
> Subject: Re: Ghostly rodents drive Malawi's President out of his 300-
> room home
>
> > Dean, is it true that he (the current president) lives in a 300-
> > room palace?
> >
> > Salifou
> >
> > Dean Makuluni <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > ** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
> >
> > Peter, Felix and all:
> >
> > Events surrounding the ghost story suggest that the central issue
> > is the
> > power struggle between President Bingu wa Mutharika and his
> > predecessor,Bakili Muluzi, who sought to influence the presidency
> > through his position
> > as head of the UDF party, to which they both belonged. Although wa
> > Mutharika was elected to power as a member of the same party as
> > Muluzi,they have been bickering over wa Mutharika's drive against
> > corruptionsince the new president came to power. Three months ago,
> > the president
> > canceled a party meeting at which the opposing camps were supposed
> > to sort
> > out their differences on the pretext that some members of Muluzi's
> > campwere plotting to assassinate him. Yesterday wa Mutharika lambasted
> > journalists for the ghost story and for taking bribes from the former
> > president, Muluzi. Today the journalists who reported the ghost
> > story were
> > arrested. The charge is that the journalists reported a false
> > story. It is
> > not unusual in Malawi to deny their own statements. You may wish
> > to know
> > that President wa Mutharika recently authorized the reopening of
> > PresidentBanda's infamous detention camps. I guess it's time we
> > got back to our
> > roots!
> >
> > Dean Makuluni
> >
> >
> > --- PETER WUTEH VAKUNTA wrote:
> >
> > > ** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
> > >
> > > President Mathuriaka has only one thing to do to rid his sumptuous
> > > presidential palace of macabre rodents: empty his closets of the
> > > skeletons that have been piled there since the days of Kamuzu
> > Banda to
> > > date. In my culture, when a man's conscience is ill at ease,he hears
> > > strange noises. The case may not be different in Malawi. When
> > you throw
> > > out the lawmakers of the nation in order to misappropriate a
> > building> assigned to them, what do you expect? Applause or
> > bewitchment? Africans
> > > have uncanny ways of fighting their foes, believe it or not!
> > >
> > > PETER VAKUNTA
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: f ossia
> > > Date: Monday, March 14, 2005 7:38 pm
> > > Subject: Ghostly rodents drive Malawi's President out of his 300-
> > room> home
> > >
> > > > ** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
> > > >
> > > > Ghostly rodents drive Malawi's President out of his 300-room home
> > > >
> > > > By Meera Selva, Africa Correspondent
> > > >
> > > > 14 March 2005
> > > >
> > > > The President of Malawi has moved out of his luxurious, 300-room
> > > > mansion,insisting the building is haunted. President Bingu Wa
> > > > Mutharika claimed he
> > > > felt ghostly rodents crawling over his body when the lights were
> > > > turned out
> > > > in his home on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe.
> > > >
> > > > He has moved to another palace in Mtunthama, a town in a
> > tobacco-
> > > > growingarea 60 miles away, until clergy can exorcise the spirits.
> > > > Neither his
> > > > bodyguards nor his wife, the First Lady Ethel, have detected any
> > > > supernatural presence in the house.
> > > >
> > > > Last May, when Mr Mutharika, 71, came to power, he threw Malawi's
> > > > parliamentout of the New State House and claimed it for his
> > > > personal use, ignoring
> > > > protests that he was reneging on election promises to cut
> > government> > spending. Parliament has not been able to meet since
> > September> > because of
> > > > the lack of an appropriate venue, and is to reconvene in March in
> > > > rentedoffices. Parliamentary committees have had to conduct their
> > > > business in
> > > > motels and at one point MPs have considered using a sports stadium
> > > > for their
> > > > debates.
> > > >
> > > > Now clergy from the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvary and
> > Faith Of God
> > > > churches have all been asked to offer prayers for the
> > building. As
> > > > well as
> > > > the rodents, Mr Mutharika insists he has heard footsteps and
> > > > strange noises
> > > > in the presidential suite at night.
> > > >
> > > > The Rev Malani Ntonga, the presidential aide on Christian affairs,
> > > > toldreporters ghosts would not be allowed to harm the
> > President. He
> > > > added: "No
> > > > strategy designed from the pits of hell will prosper against the
> > > > Presidentbecause we have asked for divine intervention to cast the
> > > > blood of Jesus
> > > > against any evil plots against the President.''
> > > >
> > > > The mansion was built by Malawi's founding president Hastings
> > > > Kamuzu Banda,
> > > > who ruled the country as an autocrat for 28 years from 1966. The
> > > > house took
> > > > 20 years and $100m to build and is set on 555 hectares. Mr Banda
> > > > himselflived there for only 90 days. His successor, Makili Muluzi,
> > > > who came to
> > > > power in 1994 through the country's first multi-party elections
> > > > refused to
> > > > use the building, calling it "obscene opulence'' in one of the
> > poorest> > countries in Africa.
> > > >
> > > > Mr Muluzi later became known for being as extravagant as his
> > > > predecessor,but his early decision to turn the palace into
> > > > parliamentary offices after
> > > > failing to find an international buyer, won him widespread
> > approval> > at home
> > > > and abroad.
> > > >
> > > > Mr Muluzi and Mr Banda lived most of their terms in office at the
> > > > FanjikaPalace in Malawi's commercial centre, Blantyre. President
> > > > Mutharika said New
> > > > State House was better suited to be a private residence than a
> > > > parliamentarybuilding.
> > > >
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