More than a year ago, Inter Press Service (IPS) profiled several of the women who had won seats in Malawi's Parliament, something that enabled them to break new ground in the drive to make the legislature less of male-dominated forum. This month, IPS decided to catch up with some of the women again. Had their experiences in Parliament lived up to expectations or down to apprehensions? What lessons could they pass on to other women who had their sights set on becoming parliamentarians?

The National Media Institute of Southern Africa (Namisa) in Malawi is taking Parliament to court for refusing to allow a private radio station to broadcast its proceedings live, writes Samuel Makaka in an article on www.journalism.co.za. Zodiac Broadcasting Station has been refused permission to broadcast the proceedings. Charles Simango, Namisa national director, said in an interview that Parliament is a public entity. “Members of Parliament are accountable to the people who sent them to Parliament.”

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has pledged it would continue to support the education sector in the country as one way of achieving human resource for development. USAID Acting Mission Director Mary Lewellen made the pledge in Kasungu last week after being impressed by the progress and impact of the Malawi Education Support Activity (Mesa) which targets primary schools in Mzimba South, Kasungu, Machinga and Phalombe districts.

Malawi has pursued an agricultural-led development strategy since independence in 1964. This was a dual strategy which promoted estate agriculture for export earnings on the one hand, and smallholder agriculture for food security and subsistence needs. Following relatively successful growth in the early post-independence era, economic liberalisation policies in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to a worsening poverty situation which has yet to be remedied. For the full report, follow the link.

This report from USAID and the Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) presents findings and conclusions from a governance and food security assessment of Malawi. The field work was undertaken in January-February 2005 with the purpose of identifying the underlying governance causes of food security problems. One of the six summary findings concludes that: "Owing to a range of factors Malawi is increasingly food insecure and has become dependent on food donations to fulfil its national food need. Most households are unable to access a minimum basket of food items through their own food production or by market purchases. The dominance of maize in the weaning diet contributes to the high proportion of children who are severely stunted. With little resilience to climatic, economic and social shocks, households have become extremely vulnerable to food insecurity."

According to the New York Times, with the vast majority of Malawi's population dependent on charcoal and firewood for cooking, the country's deforestation rate -- one of the highest in sub-Saharan Africa -- is taking a toll on the environment, yet yielding paltry economic rewards. Hundreds of thousands of rural Malawians rely on logging for income, but the sale of firewood and charcoal generates less than $8 million a year nationwide. Meanwhile, the World Bank estimates 20% of Malawi's forests were destroyed during the 1990s, and one forestry expert says the heavily populated southern region of the country has lost almost 80% of its tree cover.

Bingu wa Mutharika has nursed ambitions of ruling Malawi since the Hastings Kamuzu Banda dictatorship began to unravel in 1993. But having achieved his goal last year, he could now become the first African president to be impeached. His career began when Mr Banda, Malawi's founding father, became president in 1964. Mr Mutharika became the first Malawian administrator in the civil service, which was then still dominated by the British. But during the so-called "cabinet crisis" in the same year, he fled Malawi for fear that Mr Banda would associate him with the rebelling ministers.

Malawi is "teetering on the brink" of what could become by January a widespread famine, caused by the "lethal combination" of HIV/AIDS and drought, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports (Nolen, Globe and Mail, 10/18). Many people in Malawi survive on subsistence farming, but an estimated 900,000 of the country's 12 million people are HIV-positive, a situation that exacerbates the "vicious cycle of poverty, hunger and disease," the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.

Bakili Muluzi, Malawi's former president, is to appear before the Anti Corruption Bureau in Blantyre on allegations of corruption involving donor funds. It is alleged that Muluzi embezzled 1.4 billion kwacha in donor funds during his reign as president. Sam Ntasu, his spokesperson, says the allegations are unfounded. He says the said funds were personal donations from business associates to enable Muluzi to campaign for his party, the United Democratic Front ( UDF). Ntasu says the developments are just a ploy to discredit the former president.

Malawi's political crisis has distracted government and caused parliament to lose focus amid a hunger crisis threatening more than four million people, and could also jeopardise foreign aid, warns the British High Commissioner.

In Malawi's drought-hit southern district of Bangwe, people begin queuing as early as 3.00 a.m. outside the depot of the state grain marketer Admarc for subsidised maize-meal. The demand is such, after the worst harvest in a decade, ADMARC has been forced to introduce rationing. "We are aware that ADMARC, depending on the maize supply in its depots, has been forced to ration sales to between five to 25 kg per person," said Evance Chavasuka of the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network.

The US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Malawi government have announced the launch of a US $20.92 million programme aimed at fighting corruption and spurring long-term economic growth and development in the southern African country. MCC vice-president Charles Sethness and Malawi's finance minister, Goodall Gondwe, announced the signing of a Threshold Country Plan (TCP) in Washington on 23 September, according to a US government press release. The MCC, a US government corporation launched last year to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments that promote economic growth and eliminate extreme poverty.

Trouble is brewing at newly established tobacco company, Alliance One Tobacco [Malawi] Limited where employees have petitioned their management to fire a consultant, accusing management of racism. The employees, in the petition, say the consultant, Simon Wray should leave the company within 24 hours and asked management to stop favouring whites at the company. But the Human Resources Director Paulette Kamkwende said that the incident that gave rise to the accusations has since been resolved. The accusations come barely a month after Dimon and Stancom Tobacco companies, two major tobacco companies merged to become Alliance One Tobacco [Malawi] Ltd.

Five years ago, the residents of Majini village, about 90 km from the southern border town of Beitbridge, Zimbabwe, were reluctant to talk about HIV/AIDS - now they are planning a vegetable garden to support AIDS orphans and other families affected by the disease.
"The growing number of AIDS orphans in the area made the villagers sit up and look for solutions," said Reverend Musa Makulubane at the local church, which has been proactive in trying to get residents to adopt a more responsive stance to HIV/AIDS.

News that foreign consultants in Malawi are lavishly spending British aid money on hotels and meals has ignited controversy. The British Broadcasting Corporation reported that over a period of four years, some £586,423 (US $1 million) of a £3 million ($5.3 million) donation by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) to a project aimed at strengthening Malawi's parliament and civil society was spent on hotels, while another £126,062 ($226,395) went on meals. The UK's National Audit Office was reportedly contemplating an inquiry into DFID's use of foreign consultants.

Although greater efforts have been made to curb malaria and HIV/AIDS in Malawi, not enough is being done to tackle the country's alarming maternal death rate, says a coalition of local NGOs. Maternal mortality stood at 1,800 per 100,000 live births in 2003 - the second worst rate in the world after Sierra Leone, according to the United Nations. In an analysis of the 2005/06 health budget the Economic Justice Network (EJN), a coalition of around 70 civil rights bodies, recommended that the authorities implement a "deliberate policy" to address the problem.

Plans to purchase a US $545,000 limousine for President Bingu wa Mutharika have sparked heated debate in Malawi, which faces yet another year of acute food shortages. Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told parliament on Wednesday that the Maybach 62, made by Mercedes-Benz, was necessary, as the president was without an official vehicle. The car used by former president Bakili Muluzi was involved in an accident last year, and the government intended to pay for the new vehicle in instalments.

Save the Children, a leading U.S. and international child-focused relief and development agency seeks a Deputy Field Office Director for Finance and Administration (DFOD/F&A) to ensure efficient and effective operation of the Finance and Administrative functions of the Malawi Field Office (including sub offices) and ensure compliance with SC/US and donor accounting and financial reporting requirements and SC policies and procedures.

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika can expect to face some major challenges for the remainder of his term in office after deciding to formally sever ties with the party that brought him to power, analysts warned on Monday. Mutharika launched his own political party on Sunday, three months after a bitter fallout with the United Democratic Front (UDF) forced him to resign from the former ruling party.

This new anthology is the product of some seven years of writing, editing, collecting and collating of poetry emanating from Malawi. Many of the poems in the collection hark back to the time of major political changes between 1992 and 1994. The poets are predominantly women and men from Malawi, both new and established voices. They include: Steve Chimombo, Frank Chipasula, Zangaphee Anthony Nazome, Patrick O'Malley and Francis Sefe. Some poems by the Nigerian, Niyi Osundare, which he wrote for, and dedicated to Jack Mapanje, are also included.