Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lilongwe (Fides Service) - “An important week-long meeting of the Malawi Constitutional Review starts today 28 March” says Italian Monfort missionary Giorgio Gamba in Malawi.
“This event will mark the beginning of an important stage of discussion and changes in the life of the country” the missionary said.
Parliament will reopen for a session from April 4 to 28 during which it will debate twelve proposed Bills, many of which have been on hold for years. One is a Bill proposing the introduction of an identity card, an important novelty in a country which has no Registry Office.
Other Bills include a Domestic Violence Bill promoted by women, revision of the Penal Code which would mean considerable changes in the prison system and another to revise the code of penal procedure, to modernise Malawi’s legal system, and a Money laundering bill.
“Parliament has a full agenda and it remains to be seen if it will complete it” the missionary said. “The political situation is tense to the point that “The Nation” newspaper said Archbishop Tarcisius Gervazio Ziyaye of Blantyre, is acting as mediator to being the president and vice president to the same table, a report which the Archbishop has denied”.
In the meantime Malawi is still struggling with a famine which has lasted for months. “An estimated 300 children died of malnutrition last month. The next harvest should mean a return to normality in daily life which questions concerning the past (in particular badly management of the food shortage and questions on the immediate future, the opening of the tobacco market for example. Usually auctioned. Tobacco farmers are asking for a minimum price to be set, buyers refused putting the country on its knees. According to a recent study if Malawi tobacco farmers were to receive 10 per cent of the cost of the end product tobacco alone would relieve Malawi of its poverty. The West, the international market, will never accept this condition and Malawi will continue to be the sixth poorest country in the world. And once again tonight farmers who hoped to sell their tobacco and have some money after months of famine will wonder when will the market open and then sell at any price seeing they have no choice and on an empty stomach he cannot play tug of war with buyers who can wait months before they buy” the missionary concluded. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 28/3/2006 righe 44 parole 522)
