- The President of Malawi has moved out of his luxurious,
300-room mansion, insisting the building is haunted. President Bingu Wa
Mutharika claimed he felt ghostly rodents crawling over his body when the
lights were turned out in his home on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe.
-
- He has moved to another palace in Mtunthama, a town in
a tobacco-growing area 60 miles away, until clergy can exorcise the spirits.
Neither his bodyguards nor his wife, the First Lady Ethel, have detected
any supernatural presence in the house.
-
- Last May, when Mr Mutharika, 71, came to power, he threw
Malawi's parliament out of the New State House and claimed it for his personal
use, ignoring protests that he was reneging on election promises to cut
government spending. Parliament has not been able to meet since September
because of the lack of an appropriate venue, and is to reconvene in March
in rented offices. Parliamentary committees have had to conduct their business
in motels and at one point MPs have considered using a sports stadium for
their debates.
-
- Now clergy from the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvary
and Faith Of God churches have all been asked to offer prayers for the
building. As well as the rodents, Mr Mutharika insists he has heard footsteps
and strange noises in the presidential suite at night.
-
- The Rev Malani Ntonga, the presidential aide on Christian
affairs, told reporters ghosts would not be allowed to harm the President.
He added: "No strategy designed from the pits of hell will prosper
against the President because we have asked for divine intervention to
cast the blood of Jesus against any evil plots against the President.''
-
- The mansion was built by Malawi's founding president
Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who ruled the country as an autocrat for 28 years
from 1966. The house took 20 years and $100m to build and is set on 555
hectares. Mr Banda himself lived there for only 90 days. His successor,
Makili Muluzi, who came to power in 1994 through the country's first multi-party
elections refused to use the building, calling it "obscene opulence''
in one of the poorest countries in Africa.
-
- Mr Muluzi later became known for being as extravagant
as his predecessor, but his early decision to turn the palace into parliamentary
offices after failing to find an international buyer, won him widespread
approval at home and abroad.
-
- Mr Muluzi and Mr Banda lived most of their terms in office
at the Fanjika Palace in Malawi's commercial centre, Blantyre. President
Mutharika said New State House was better suited to be a private residence
than a parliamentary building.
-
- ©2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.
-
- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=619655
|
