President Bingu wa Mutharika's drive to rid Malawi of high-level corruption has opened up deep divisions within the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party, according to political observers. Since assuming power in May this year, Mutharika has made good on his election promise to tackle graft, earning praise from donors and opposition parties for his efforts. His role as a corruption buster was underlined when his administration recently arrested three top ruling party officials.

Donors have started rewarding President Bingu wa Mutharika's efforts to tackle corruption and restore fiscal discipline in Malawi. he World Bank recently announced it had disbursed US $25 million to Malawi in support of the country's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), and this week Norway said it was releasing Norwegian Kroner 20 million (about US $3 million) in balance of payments support to Malawi.

Malawi is losing 2.8 percent of its forest cover every year and has the highest deforestation rate in the Southern African Development Community. "Forest resources are under enormous pressure from expansion of agricultural activities, because of an increase in the population. Many people cultivate in government-protected forests because they say they do not have land," John Ngalande, deputy Director of the forestry department, told IRIN.

Once dismissed as a puppet of Malawi’s former president, new leader Bingu wa Mutharika is being praised for his anti-corruption initiatives since he took office in June. Mutharika hopes to fight corruption and eventually win back tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid that were cut off in June 2002 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), donor countries, and from former colonial ruler Britain, due to concerns over spending.

Malawi's government is promising to make a statement by Friday about the fate of a key witness in two forthcoming corruption trials. The witness, a government official named Peter Mulamba, disappeared at the weekend. On Tuesday, a newspaper quoted a minister as saying that Mr Mulamba's body had been found, but the police then said they were still searching for him.

Executive Director of Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Ollen Mwalubunju has said the 2004 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections was a mockery of the country's democracy.

The chairman of Malawi's Electoral Commission (MEC), Justice Kalaile has resigned from his position, three months after presiding over controversial parliamentary and presidential ballots. The opposition Malawi Congress Party and Mgwirizano coalition are currently disputing the presidential rulings in the high court.

The Media and the Driving Schools Association of Malawi have called upon the new Director of Public Prosecutions and the Anti-Corruption Bureau to turn their attention to the Road Traffic Commission and the proliferation of corruption practices at the Commission over the issuance of SADC licences to clients. The calls follow a spate of horrific road accidents in the country.

Malawi is facing a health crisis as trained nurses leave to seek better wages abroad. More than half come to Britain to work for the NHS and private hospitals. Last year over 12,000 nurses from outside the European Union registered to work in the UK. In contrast Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, trains around 60 nurses each year.

A parliamentary committee has reportedly summoned the chairman of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) to explain why the May general election was condemned as flawed by local and international poll observers. MEC chairman Justice James Kalaile is expected to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Public Appointments and Assets Declaration next month.

The former general manager of Malawi's state Petroleum Control Commission (PCC) was found guilt of graft this week. The case against Dennis Kambalame, the ex-PCC head, has taken a record two years and the guilty verdict marks the first victory for Malawi's official Anti-Corruption Bureau, formed in 1998.

The arrival in Malawi of a team of US climate researchers has raised hopes among officials in the country that oil reserves will one day be found under Lake Malawi. The researchers will soon begin drilling the bottom of the lake as part of a study on tropical climate shifts in sub-Saharan Africa. The team will extract mud samples from Lake Malawi for studies of tropical climate, human evolution and the formation of the Great Rift Valley.

Despite a decade of free primary education in Malawi, the number of girls dropping out of school continues to outstrip that of boys, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a new report. "The main problem is that the free primary education policy does not translate into action on the ground. Making tuition free for pupils was not sufficient to take girls to school - there are other non-tuition costs, such as school materials, which parents have to pay," UNICEF's Head of Basic Education in Malawi Bernard Gatawa told IRIN.

Despite a decade of free primary education in Malawi, the number of girls dropping out of school continues to outstrip that of boys, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a new report. "The main problem is that the free primary education policy does not translate into action on the ground. Making tuition free for pupils was not sufficient to take girls to school - there are other non-tuition costs, such as school materials, which parents have to pay," UNICEF's Head of Basic Education in Malawi Bernard Gatawa told IRIN.

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika's administration has made its first arrest for fraud and corruption since coming to office in May of this year. The deputy research director of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), Humphreys Mvula, was arrested on Friday in Blantyre. Mvula, chief executive of the state-run Shire Bus Lone, Malawi's biggest bus company, is being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau after allegations of dubious purchases of a new fleet of buses and spare parts.

This report sets out to gain an overview of existing knowledge of child labour practices in the Malawi tea sector and to explore the needs and priorities for further research. The findings of the paper include:
* There is clear evidence that child labour does exist in the tea sector in Malawi, contrary to the opinion of the Tea Association of Malawi and the most dominant tea sector owner in Malawi.
* The problem of child labour should not be isolated from other general problems facing workers in the tea industry, namely, the very poor working conditions.

Several ministers under Malawi's former president, Bakili Muluzi are to face charges connected with the embezzlement of some $92 million from the state, the Chief Prosecutor, Ishmael Wadi, said on Friday. Making his announcement, he remarked, “I am sad to report to the entire nation and the donor community that 10 billion kwacha were lost through fraud and corruption involving some former cabinet ministers”. The World Bank has said that high-level graft had worsened in the past five years and had “significantly slowed down economic growth.”

A five-year project encouraging community participation has improved the quality of education in more than 2,000 schools in Malawi, where the system has been battling with an unmanageable number of admission seekers. "The project has mobilised communities to construct additional school blocks in 1,964 schools in 15 districts. Essentially our task was to change the communities' attitude towards education - so we got them to construct the blocks in schools in their localities," Zikani Kaunda, head of CRECCOM told IRIN.

According to a senior official at the UN Centre of Human Settlement, Malawi is now the fastest urbanising country in the world, with a projected 44% of the population due to be living in urban areas by 2015. This influx is attributed directly to the 'increasingly harsh condition many families are experiencing in the outlying areas of the country.' The small size of farms and the lack of access to improved agricultural technology means that it is no longer profitable for families to continue with agricultural work, officials noted, and they called for 'drastic measures to be implemented to improve rural livelihoods'.

In an address at the inaugural session of the national assembly, President Bingu wa Mutharika promised to tackle corruption in Malawi. Declaring that he 'will deal with corruption and its perpetrators decisively' he announced his intention to resume the economic programme with the IMF. Under Muluzi's government, the IMF, EU, the World Bank and the UK and Danish Governments had suspended budgetary support over concerns of corruption and over-expenditure.