"Mutharika Talks Tough" was a recent headline talking about the president of Malawi, His Excellency Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika. When asked about when parliament was going to be opened as it had been closed by Bingu and not reopened despite an agreement reached between the government and the opposition that had set the date of reopening to the day before the article Bingu replied that "he would only call for Parliament if the opposition guaranteed that they would behave responsibly." He then went on to say that opposition MPs are "wasting taxpayers money on parliamentary sittings, which do not yield anything."
Then on a complete different tack the President went on about witchcraft without any prompting from the interviewer. In a unique defense of the right to an education for children, he "took a swipe at people who teach children witchcraft, saying children should be allowed to go to school and then afterwards make their own individual choices if they want to join witchcraft or not."
The persistent belief in witchcraft is quite interesting. Our day staff has been having to take his wife to the doctor repeatedly and so far they have not been able to determine why she is ill. Our day staff member has told me that since the doctor is unable to come up with a clear cause for her illness then it is obvious that her illness is the result of a spell put on her. When I asked what happens next he told me that it is in God's hands now. Thankfully, she has now recovered from this mystery illness.
We are going to Cape Town, South Africa between Oct. 12 and 20, 2008 and we are really looking forward to the trip. Will give an update when we are back.
Source: The Daily Times, September 30, 2008.
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