Vol 48 No 16 | MALAWI Back-biting 3rd August 2007 President Bingu lacks patience for the stand-off with his parliamentary opponents The shrill voices of government officials dominate the airwaves, as political paralysis gives way to feuding. 'You think I don't bite? I have teeth which bite and I will start biti...
Vol 48 No 13 | MALAWI Unity? Who with? 22nd June 2007 The death of First Lady Ethel Mutharika on 28 May and the immediate proroguing of parliament led to an eerie calm: political foes briefly spoke to each other again. On 15 June, the...
Vol 48 No 6 | MALAWI Muluzi the Third 16th March 2007 Ex-President Bakili Muluzi finally announced, to a large rally of his United Democratic Front on 11 March, that he will be its candidate for the 2009 presidential election. On 10 F...
Vol 48 No 5 | MALAWI Pipe Dreams 2nd March 2007 In 1964 when the British colonialists left, Malawians ate mostly home-grown maize and earned foreign exchange from tobacco. Despite huge efforts and the doubling of the population,...
Vol 48 No 4 | MALAWI Muluzi on the record 16th February 2007 In Britain for a month, former President Bakili Muluzi tells Africa Confidential about his political plans Malawian attitudes to former President Bakili Muluzi are still mixed but President Bingu wa Mutharika insists that he is still a 'good friend'. His Deputy Information Minister, Joh...
Vol 48 No 2 | MALAWI Who said what to whom? 19th January 2007 The latest bizarre political twist is the arrest of three senior executives of the former governing party, the United Democratic Front, whose chairman is ex-President Bakili Muluzi...
Vol 47 No 24 | MALAWI The President speaks 1st December 2006 Bingu wa Mutharika puts his case: the IMF approves, politics are turbulent and the anti-corruption trials hang fire Malawi is in political turmoil. As many as half of its MPs may face by-elections after a constitutional ruling barred them from changing party allegiance between elections. In the ...
Vol 47 No 23 | MALAWI Carpet crossing 17th November 2006 Opposition parties are cheering the Constitutional Court's 8 November ruling in favour of restrictions on MPs trying to change their party allegiance after election.
Vol 47 No 22 | MALAWI Madonna madness 3rd November 2006 Following pop queen Madonna Louisa Ciccone's tearful defence of her adoption of Malawi-born orphan David Banda on America's Oprah Winfrey TV chatshow in October, some Malawi offici...
Vol 47 No 16 | MALAWI Undercurrent 4th August 2006 Blantyre is reeling from reports of the arrest of former President Bakili Muluzi on corruption charges on 27 July. Within hours, Muluzi was released on unconditional bail; a day la...