Nipping this in the bud will take decisive action by President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

Malawi’s new President Lazarus Chakwera came to power in June, aged 65, having served as opposition leader.

Chakwera, who has also taken the Defense portfolio, benefitted from the Constitutional Court overturning the election of May 2019

When it come time to leave on Friday with a warm commuique reflecting talks with Ramaphosa, his plane parked at Waterkloof Air Force Base was delayed for fully seven hours.

Authorities strongly suspected that renegade self-styled prophet and millionaire Shepherd Bushiri had been spirited aboard to escape South African justice.

Bushiri and his wife Mary are facing fraud and money laundering charges involving R120 million .

They were out on bail of R200 000 each that required their presenting themselves at the Centurion police station on Mondays and Fridays.

They failed to do this last week.

A warrant of arrest has been issued and extradition proceedings with Malawi have begun.

Should they not appear on Thursday they will forfeit their R5,5 million house in Centurion.

It is unlikely they will. Bushiri says his life was threatened in South Africa where the authorities had ganged up against him to make a fair trial impossible

For Malawian Information Minister Gospel Kazate it is a simple matter.

Malawi is a signatory to the extradition agreement of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community.

It is not complicated, says Kazate

“We are a nation of laws.

“This is not a matter of emotion of opinion. We will do what the law compels us to do.”

It is less simple for South African authorities.

They will have to explain who persuaded them that a longtime minister of Assemblies of God Church would shelter a fugitive on the presidential  plane.

Anyone following the Gupta saga will recall that this is not then firsttime the activities at Waterkloof AFB have left South African authorities red faced. And official Malawian aircraft are a good story in South Africa.

Remember the admiration heaped on former President Joyce Banda for selling the hers and resorting to commercial flights.

Whatever happens Chakwera can be fairly assured of a more sympathetic hearing from Pretoria for whatever he came to South Africa asking for.

The post A ding dong diplomatic tiff with Malawi appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The decision by the five judges could become the second time an African court has ordered a fresh election because of irregularities.

President Peter Mutharika has been dubbed the Tipp Ex President because of correcting fluid used to change results figures  in last year’s election.

Persistent demonstrations since then have become increasingly violent, prompting former President Joyce Banda to say Malawi is burning.

Saulus Chilima, a losing candidate who claims to have won the presidency,  says the the demonstrations are merely a warm up for the protests that will occur if the court rules in Mutharika’s favour. 

The post Malawi court to rule on Presidential election’s legitimacy appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The election currently underway in Malawi perfectly illustrates the generational battle in African politics.

Peter Mutharika, vying for a second and final term as President, has a record of achievement to show voters.

He’s brought down inflation this past five years from 14% to 9%.

He is promising the people of one Africa’s poorest countries that Malawi is going  the way of Singapore or Malaysia.

This is somewhat hyperbolic given that more than half the nearly 19-million Malawians live under the poverty line.

Food shortages dog daily life and the 11% of the population with electricity suffer frequent power outages.

Mutharika’s image has been further dented by his having to return a $200 000 campaign donation from a businessman implicated in a $3-million scam involving the contract for supplying food to the police force.

There are seven faces on the presidential ballot paper competing for the votes of seven million electors.

Mutharika’s main rival is his former hand-picked  vice president Saulos Chilima who broke with him last year when it became clear he was running for a second term.

The incumbent, who is a former law professor, is 78 years old.

His sister-in-law Callista, widow of former President Bingu Wa Mutharika, is among those who have advised him that he has passed his sell-by date.

This is a telling argument with more than half of the electorate younger than 35 years.

Former telecoms executive Chilima is 46.

The third frontrunner is former Lazarus Chakwera who ran second to Mutharika in 2014.

He has revived Hastings Banda’s Malawi Congress  Party  and secured the endorsement of former President Joyce Banda. Chakwera is 64.

Age has been a determining factor in a number of recent African political contests.

In South Africa, Julius Malema and Mmusi Maimane, both 38, made much of the fact they were running against 66-year-old Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 74, is going to extraordinary and unconstitutional lengths  to ward off the challenge of Pop-singer-turned MP Bobi Wine, who is 37.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 76, had his work cut keeping 41-year-old Nelson Chamisa at bay.

Two African presidents have fallen to popular protest this year.

In Sudan, Omar Al Bashir is 75.

Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika is 82. 

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Organizers fear that the race for the top job is being so closely contested they might regret not having  made provision for a run-off poll.

Incumbent Peter Mutharika, seeking a second and final presidential term, is being challenged by his hand-picked deputy Saulos Chilima who is getting traction with his strong anti corruption stance.

Lazarus Chakera has revived Hastings Banda’s Malawi Congress Party to take up the cudgels as another front runner.

He has the endorsement of  former President  Joyce Banda, who stepped out of the race to back an opponents of Mutharika who trounced her in 2014 and forced her into exile to escape corruption charges.

The post Close run Malawi election has not provision for a run-off appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Peter Mutharika, seeking a second final term at the helm faces tough competition from his vice president Saulos Chilima and Lazarus Chakwera, who has been endorsed by former president Joyce Banda.

ends intro

Fresh from heading the SADC observation team to South Africa’s election last week, Zambia’s Foreign Minister Joseph Malanji is leading the regional observers to the Malawi poll.

He says the 39-person team will apply SADC’s revised guidelines on monitoring to check on the election.

Officials concede that transportation of voting materials and officials to polling stations poses a logistical problem along with speedily moving the results back to the election commission for final scrutiny and announcing  the outcome.

The post Malawi election campaign at full stretch appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Her most dangerous rival in tomorrow’s poll is Peter Mutharika, brother of Bingu Wa Mutharika who died in office in April 2012.

Joyce Banda’s set the standard for Presidential belt tightening: selling off the presidential jet and limousines.

But her administration has been honeycombed with corruption that led donor countries to cut off their financial assistance which comprises 40 percent of Malawi’s budget.

She paying the price for austerity this has caused and for the crackdown on graft.

The atmosphere in the normally placid country is charged.

In Blantyre, opposition supporters stopped two cars believed to be carrying pre-marked ballot papers and deflated their tyres – only to find they were transporting perfectly legitimate election material.

The post Joyce Banda faces Malawi presidential election appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.