** 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 corruption
since 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 camp
were 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 President
Banda's infamous detention camps. I guess it's time we got back to our
roots!
Dean Makuluni
--- PETER WUTEH VAKUNTA <[log in to unmask]> 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 <[log in to unmask]>
> 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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