Post by Bozur on Apr 2, 2005 16:32:21 GMT -5
NYTimes.com > International > Africa
LILONGWE JOURNAL
A Ghost Story Turns Very Scary for Malawi Journalists
The Nation, Malawi
The 300-room palace in Lilongwe has gained new notoriety as the possible abode of ghosts. It is also viewed as a monument to wretched excess.
By SHARON LaFRANIERE
Published: March 29, 2005
Obed Zilwa/Associated Press
President Bingu wa Mutharika returned to Lilongwe from Brussels to a flurry of reports he had fled his palace because of ghosts.
Correction Appended
LILONGWE, Malawi, March 23 - Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, spent a week this month at the European Union headquarters in Brussels, polishing his image as a progressive leader committed to thoroughly modern strategies to usher his impoverished nation into the 21st century.
Then he came home to a flurry of news reports that he had fled his 300-room palace because he believed it was infested with ghosts. Two journalists quoted the president's religious adviser as saying that the president had summoned religious leaders to exorcise the evil spirits. A third reported that the president had sensed invisible rodents crawling over him at night.
It was not unthinkable that a former World Bank economist like Mr. Mutharika, highly skilled in such matters as how to conquer inflation and spur development, might fret about the possibility of spirits. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, traditional superstitions coexist seamlessly with modern sensibilities.
But it is not true, according to Mr. Mutharika. "I have not seen any ghosts yet," he said, returning from Europe. "I have never in my life been afraid of them."
Determined to bury the story, officials dispatched 20 police officers before dawn on March 15 to arrest two journalists in the nation's largest city, Blantyre, in southern Malawi. The reporters were hauled 300 miles to a police station here in the capital city, jailed for a night, and now face possible criminal charges under a colonial-era statute that makes it illegal to ridicule the president.
Now the question is not so much whether Mr. Mutharika believes in ghosts, but whether he firmly believes in freedom of the press.
Ishmael Wadi, the nation's top prosecutor, contends that the news reports were too irresponsible to ignore. If the local media association does not agree to discipline the reporters, he said, he will pursue a criminal conviction that could land them in prison for up to two years.
"The existence of ghosts has never been established," he said in a telephone interview last week. "To say that the president cannot spend a night in his own house because of fear of ghosts - to me that is a serious accusation."
Critics say Mr. Mutharika, 71, has taken a step back into Malawi's less-than-democratic past. "It seems like the president sees ghosts in every corner," said Robert Jamieson, editor of the weekly Chronicle.
Boniface Dulani, a political science lecturer at the University of Malawi, said he thought Mr. Mutharika had overreacted. "We thought using the police was a thing of the past," he said.
Had the president simply laughed off the story, those analysts contend, it would have faded into the annals of Malawian ghost tales of haunted state houses.
There were the reports, for instance, that mysterious dwarfs regularly visited Malawi's first head of state, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, at the Sanjika Palace, another presidential residence in Blantyre. His successor, Baliki Muluzi, also suspected the existence of Sanjika spirits, according to Wille Zingani, his former press officer.
"No one could sleep at night," Mr. Zingani wrote in an article prepared last week for publication in The Nation, a daily newspaper here.
What bothered Mr. Mutharika most, interviews with aides suggest, was the sense that he had fled the Lilongwe palace in terror. The prosecutor insists that is blatantly false. "He has never moved out of the state house," Mr. Wadi said.
But even if he had, analysts here contend, Malawians would most likely have taken it in stride.
"Everyone understands the issue of ghosts and spirits as a reality," said Mr. Jamieson, the Chronicle editor. "We talk about it all the time. It isn't as if it is a taboo subject. It isn't. The only difference is this was the president."
Mr. Mutharika's information minister, Ken Lipenga, is now struggling with a public relations fiasco. In a telephone interview last week, he suggested that the president was unaware beforehand of the arrests.
"I have not discussed it with him, but I don't imagine the president actually told anyone to arrest these journalists," he said. "That would not have been his style. My understanding is the president's view is that the ghost story is not a big deal."
Like an evil spirit, though, it refuses to go away. One of those arrested, Mabvuto Banda, a well-known political reporter for The Nation, has produced what he says is an audiotape of a telephone interview in which the president's spiritual adviser, the Rev. Malani Mtonga, confirmed that he was praying to dispel evil spirits from the palace.
Asked if the president knew that his two predecessors had shunned the palace out of fear of ghosts, Mr. Mtonga answered: "The president, unlike Kamuzu and Muluzi, does not believe in charms. He believes in the power of prayer. That's why he decided to move into the house."
It is true that both of Mr. Mutharika's predecessors chose to reside in Blantyre. Until now, though, the Lilongwe palace has been notorious not as the locale of evil spirits, but as a monument to the wretched excess of mortals.
Mr. Banda, who ruled Malawi from 1964 to 1994, had the Rococo-style structure erected at a cost of $100 million despite his nation's appalling poverty. It took two decades to complete its 300 rooms, two helipads, game park and banquet room big enough to seat 600 people.
His successor, Mr. Muluzi, said the "obscene opulence" of the palace was an affront to 11 million Malawians. In the past decade, officials have toyed with turning it into a five-star hotel, remaking it as a conference center or simply razing it.
By the time Mr. Mutharika was elected in May, the palace fountains were dry, the air-conditioning was permanently on the blink and the garden was a thicket of bushes.
Mr. Mutharika decided to renovate, and moved in in December, saying it would cut costs if he lived in the capital.
His aide Mr. Lipenga says the palace is "a monstrosity" but not scary. "I, for one, have not noticed or experienced or sensed anything that would suggest the existence of ghosts," he said.
But then, skeptics might add, he has not spent the night.
Correction: April 1, 2005, Friday:
(The Lilongwe Journal article on Tuesday, about Malawi and the reaction of President Bingu wa Mutharika to news reports that he had moved out of his 300-room palace because he believed it was haunted, misspelled the given name of a predecessor. He is Bakili Muluzi, not Baliki.)
LILONGWE JOURNAL
A Ghost Story Turns Very Scary for Malawi Journalists
The Nation, Malawi
The 300-room palace in Lilongwe has gained new notoriety as the possible abode of ghosts. It is also viewed as a monument to wretched excess.
By SHARON LaFRANIERE
Published: March 29, 2005
Obed Zilwa/Associated Press
President Bingu wa Mutharika returned to Lilongwe from Brussels to a flurry of reports he had fled his palace because of ghosts.
Correction Appended
LILONGWE, Malawi, March 23 - Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, spent a week this month at the European Union headquarters in Brussels, polishing his image as a progressive leader committed to thoroughly modern strategies to usher his impoverished nation into the 21st century.
Then he came home to a flurry of news reports that he had fled his 300-room palace because he believed it was infested with ghosts. Two journalists quoted the president's religious adviser as saying that the president had summoned religious leaders to exorcise the evil spirits. A third reported that the president had sensed invisible rodents crawling over him at night.
It was not unthinkable that a former World Bank economist like Mr. Mutharika, highly skilled in such matters as how to conquer inflation and spur development, might fret about the possibility of spirits. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, traditional superstitions coexist seamlessly with modern sensibilities.
But it is not true, according to Mr. Mutharika. "I have not seen any ghosts yet," he said, returning from Europe. "I have never in my life been afraid of them."
Determined to bury the story, officials dispatched 20 police officers before dawn on March 15 to arrest two journalists in the nation's largest city, Blantyre, in southern Malawi. The reporters were hauled 300 miles to a police station here in the capital city, jailed for a night, and now face possible criminal charges under a colonial-era statute that makes it illegal to ridicule the president.
Now the question is not so much whether Mr. Mutharika believes in ghosts, but whether he firmly believes in freedom of the press.
Ishmael Wadi, the nation's top prosecutor, contends that the news reports were too irresponsible to ignore. If the local media association does not agree to discipline the reporters, he said, he will pursue a criminal conviction that could land them in prison for up to two years.
"The existence of ghosts has never been established," he said in a telephone interview last week. "To say that the president cannot spend a night in his own house because of fear of ghosts - to me that is a serious accusation."
Critics say Mr. Mutharika, 71, has taken a step back into Malawi's less-than-democratic past. "It seems like the president sees ghosts in every corner," said Robert Jamieson, editor of the weekly Chronicle.
Boniface Dulani, a political science lecturer at the University of Malawi, said he thought Mr. Mutharika had overreacted. "We thought using the police was a thing of the past," he said.
Had the president simply laughed off the story, those analysts contend, it would have faded into the annals of Malawian ghost tales of haunted state houses.
There were the reports, for instance, that mysterious dwarfs regularly visited Malawi's first head of state, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, at the Sanjika Palace, another presidential residence in Blantyre. His successor, Baliki Muluzi, also suspected the existence of Sanjika spirits, according to Wille Zingani, his former press officer.
"No one could sleep at night," Mr. Zingani wrote in an article prepared last week for publication in The Nation, a daily newspaper here.
What bothered Mr. Mutharika most, interviews with aides suggest, was the sense that he had fled the Lilongwe palace in terror. The prosecutor insists that is blatantly false. "He has never moved out of the state house," Mr. Wadi said.
But even if he had, analysts here contend, Malawians would most likely have taken it in stride.
"Everyone understands the issue of ghosts and spirits as a reality," said Mr. Jamieson, the Chronicle editor. "We talk about it all the time. It isn't as if it is a taboo subject. It isn't. The only difference is this was the president."
Mr. Mutharika's information minister, Ken Lipenga, is now struggling with a public relations fiasco. In a telephone interview last week, he suggested that the president was unaware beforehand of the arrests.
"I have not discussed it with him, but I don't imagine the president actually told anyone to arrest these journalists," he said. "That would not have been his style. My understanding is the president's view is that the ghost story is not a big deal."
Like an evil spirit, though, it refuses to go away. One of those arrested, Mabvuto Banda, a well-known political reporter for The Nation, has produced what he says is an audiotape of a telephone interview in which the president's spiritual adviser, the Rev. Malani Mtonga, confirmed that he was praying to dispel evil spirits from the palace.
Asked if the president knew that his two predecessors had shunned the palace out of fear of ghosts, Mr. Mtonga answered: "The president, unlike Kamuzu and Muluzi, does not believe in charms. He believes in the power of prayer. That's why he decided to move into the house."
It is true that both of Mr. Mutharika's predecessors chose to reside in Blantyre. Until now, though, the Lilongwe palace has been notorious not as the locale of evil spirits, but as a monument to the wretched excess of mortals.
Mr. Banda, who ruled Malawi from 1964 to 1994, had the Rococo-style structure erected at a cost of $100 million despite his nation's appalling poverty. It took two decades to complete its 300 rooms, two helipads, game park and banquet room big enough to seat 600 people.
His successor, Mr. Muluzi, said the "obscene opulence" of the palace was an affront to 11 million Malawians. In the past decade, officials have toyed with turning it into a five-star hotel, remaking it as a conference center or simply razing it.
By the time Mr. Mutharika was elected in May, the palace fountains were dry, the air-conditioning was permanently on the blink and the garden was a thicket of bushes.
Mr. Mutharika decided to renovate, and moved in in December, saying it would cut costs if he lived in the capital.
His aide Mr. Lipenga says the palace is "a monstrosity" but not scary. "I, for one, have not noticed or experienced or sensed anything that would suggest the existence of ghosts," he said.
But then, skeptics might add, he has not spent the night.
Correction: April 1, 2005, Friday:
(The Lilongwe Journal article on Tuesday, about Malawi and the reaction of President Bingu wa Mutharika to news reports that he had moved out of his 300-room palace because he believed it was haunted, misspelled the given name of a predecessor. He is Bakili Muluzi, not Baliki.)