wfn.org | ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY (AANA) BULLETIN No. 43/02 (c)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY (AANA) BULLETIN No. 43/02 (c)
November 4, 2002

All Africa News Agency
P. O. BOX 66878 NAIROBI, KENYA.
TEL: (254 2) 442215 FAX: (254 2)445847/443241
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AANA Bulletin
Editor - Mitch Odero

Bulletin APTA
Acting Editor - Silvie Alemba

Excitement As Court Rejects President's Ban On Demos

BLANTYRE (AANA) November 4 - A time bomb seems to have been set between 
proponents and critics of a proposal to amend the Constitution to allow the 
Malawian president to run for a third five-year term following a ruling by 
the High Court that Malawians have a constitutional right to stage peaceful 
demonstrations against the unpopular Bill.

The ruling overturned the directive by President Bakili Muluzi against 
demonstrations for or against proposals by his government to lift 
restrictions on his term of office.

The court at its sitting on October 22, made the ruling in response to a 
case filed by the civil society headed by the Episcopal Conference of 
Malawi and the Malawi Council of Churches against a directive by Muluzi 
that no one should demonstrate for or against the Bill to extend the 
presidential term after his mandatory two five-year terms expire in 2004.

In his ruling, Justice Edward Twea said the citizens of the country had a 
right to demonstrate in a free environment and that it was the duty of the 
police to provide protection to citizens participating in such
demonstrations.

Muluzi, in his directive made repeatedly at public rallies, warned those 
who intended to demonstrate against the tabling of the Bill of serious 
unspecified consequences.

The president predicted trouble if demonstrations were allowed, saying such 
a situation could degenerate into chaos, and that the army and the police 
would not sit idle and watch.

Earlier, in September, Muluzi challenged would-be demonstrators, accusing 
unnamed organisations which he said were trying to incite university 
students and street vendors to stage demonstrations against the 
constitutional proposal.

Addressing a mass rally in the populous Ndirande township in Blantyre, 
which he described as the Democratic Republic of Ndirande, Muluzi in a 
highly charged speech, accused those contemplating to demonstrate against 
the issue including church leaders of trying to intimidate members of 
parliament and infringing upon their constitutional rights as 
representatives of their constituents.

The issue attracted more opposition through statements and press statements 
issued by the Church, human rights organisations and the civil society, 
urging parliamentarians to refrain from being intimidated and to say "no" 
if the Bill was tabled in parliament.

In a special broadcast to the nation on October 15, Muluzi urged 
parliamentarians to concentrate on "crucial issues affecting the nation" 
such as widespread hunger, HIV/AIDS rather than the presidential term of 
office.

Critics maintained that the message had no substance as it did not indicate 
whether the controversial Bill would be tabled or not.

Justice Minister and Attorney General Henry Phoya who was expected to 
present the Bill in parliament, said he too was going by the president's 
directive that other matters should be given more preference than the 
controversial Bill.

At least three senior members from the ruling United Democratic Front  UDF 
have challenged the proposed Bill. They are Jan Sonke, a Malawian citizen 
of Dutch descent who represents Blantyre Kabula constituency and Joe 
Manduwa of Mwanza East constituency.

The two nearly lost their seats in parliament when the Speaker Sam Mpasu 
declared their seats vacant on claims that they crossed the floor by 
publicly declaring their opposition to the Bill and attending a meeting of 
the newly formed Forum for the Defence of the Constitution FDC whose main 
aim is to fight against changing the Constitution to suit individual whims.

Sonke and Manduwa were saved by a court injunction filed on their behalf by 
former Cabinet Minister Kassim Chilumpha who is a practicing lawyer.

To compound it all, prominent figures from the Opposition who voted in 
favour of the Bill which flopped in parliament last July, have reversed 
their stand.

The first Bill sought to remove all limits on presidential tenure. This 
also drew wide criticism because for all practical purposes it meant 
endorsing Muluzi as the second life president for Malawi after Dr Hastings 
Kamuzu Banda, now deceased, who ruled Malawi with an iron fist for over 30 
years.

Interestingly, Malawians are now applauding Banda's regime for inculcating 
discipline in the Malawi society which, they say, led to economic 
prosperity. This vindicates Banda's assertion before his death that even if 
he died, his spirit would continue to rule this country.

Among the most notable is Opposition Malawi Congress Party vice president 
John Tembo who despite voting "yes" for the failed Bill, has sworn never 
again to support an amendment to the Constitution to open the way for 
Muluzi to run again.

Human rights groups have welcomed the ruling by the court that people have 
a basic freedom to express their opinions through peaceful demonstrations 
as guaranteed in the country's Constitution.

Olen Mwalubunju, an executive member of the Malawi Human Rights 
Consultative Committee, an umbrella body of human rights movements in the 
country said:

"The Constitution of the country provides a right to freedom of expression 
. No one, not even the president, has the power to stop people from 
expressing themselves in matters of national concern".

Catholic priests of the archdiocese of Blantyre asked members of parliament 
to desist from accepting favours from the ruling United Democratic Front to 
support the bid for a presidential third term.

Reported by Hamilton Vokhiwa

FEATURES  SECTION

Farmers Seek Alternatives As Coffee Prices Drop

A happy couple in a radio drama in the east African country of Uganda has 
won the admiration of their neighbours for having taken to vanilla farming. 
Coffee market is falling. It is failing producers especially on small 
farms. This state of affairs has led to renewed examination of available 
farming options.

By Crespo Sebunya

D
ominico Salongo is a successful vanilla farmer, buying off land from his 
less endowed neighbours. His wife Roza has built a storied house for her 
parents.

No prize for guessing that Radio Simba FM, which broadcasts the 30-minute 
series, is targeting Mukono residents to switch to vanilla from coffee.

Mukono	district, in central east African state of Uganda has endured the 
misfortunes of growing coffee which for many years has been  the number one 
foreign exchange earner, employing a quarter of Uganda's 21million people.

The offee market is falling. It is failing producers on small farms and the 
collapse of coffee prices jeopardises government programmes.

This state of affairs has led to examination of what options are available. 
Vanilla farming is a tempting option. Vanilla farmers get the equivalent of 
US $16 per kilo compared to US $0.12, for a kilo of coffee.

Yet farmers are hesitant to change overnight."We had started growing 
vanilla, but we could not guard ourselves against gunmen who had the 
temerity to pick it up while we watched helplessly," recalls Ruth Nalongo.

Moreover, the government is less keen to support vanilla growing, and is 
not even keen on crops to adopt. The fears were underlined by Mrs Victoria 
Sekitoleko, the former Agriculture Minister who raised environmental and 
other concerns in the light of consideration for vanilla farming.

The government has also offered another alternative -  cocoa where a tonn 
at the world market costs US $1,700 compared to $350 for coffee.

Dr Kisamba Mugerwa, the Minister of Agriculture, says cocoa will be easier 
to adopt, having been grown in the country for 80 years and the government 
is spending the equivalent of US $100,000.

"There is need to promote cocoa production for poverty reduction and 
diversification in areas where coffee is affected by coffee wilt disease," 
Kisamba says.

Three thousand farmers, under a government programme, have switched to 
cocoa from coffee and another 3,000 are rearing to follow suit in Mukono 
district.

Mukono is one of Buganda districts where coffee growing has been 
jeopardised by the coffee wilt disease that has affected 10m trees.Buganda 
has more than a fair share of coffee, 90 percent of which are aging and 
produce less.

Oxfam, which has taken battle to save coffee to international attentions, 
wonders whether persuading coffee farmers to drop coffee is feasible.

"The cost of replacing their coffee with alternatives is high. Even if 
their land is suitable for cocoa, they may lack the skills or training and 
most families have no savings to live on while waiting for the new crop to 
bear fruit," Oxfam report entitled Mugged-poverty in your coffee cup of 
September 18 2002 noted.

Buganda region has grown coffee for over 100 years and developed 
sentimental attachment besides considering it as a cash crop.

It became infused in the traditions. Coffee beans were mixed with blood and 
chewed by two people who built a brotherhood bond.

Families of a couple preparing to get married chewed dry coffee berries 
just like chewing gum as a social function to strengthen the bond.

The Buganda community largely believe it is coffee that contributed to 
their accommodative nature in dealing with other tribes and in turn 
contributed to harmony.

"Buganda grew coffee and it became impetus forcing other ethnic groups to 
come to Buganda region to work, resulting in a heterogeneous society with 
morals and manners refined to accommodate foreigners," says Prof Kiyaga 
Mulindwa, a Ugandan scholar.

Nevertheless, Buganda region has fallen victim to the coffee wilt disease, 
which has affected 10million trees. Besides, 300million trees of which 90 
percent have aged and produce less are in Buganda region.

With farmers' incomes having fallen and with no solution in sight to tackle 
the coffee wilt disease other than uprooting the affected trees, there is 
concern over what is to be done.

"Without coffee grown at household level, we will become poorer," says 
Enoch Gingo whose coffee is intercropped with bananas and beans.

Nationally, planners in the Ministry of Africulture, although let down by 
coffee growing are optimistic that production can reach 12 million bags by 
2006 from the present 3 million.

Yet they have decided to forsake the poor farmer in favour of the rich as 
it targets 17,000 farmers to grow hybrid coffee. The management and crop 
husbandry that clonal coffee, as it is known, requires is beyond the reach 
of peasants.

Poor farmers have seen the collapse of the cooperative movement which 
provided free extension services. And so was the collapse of the Coffee 
Marketing Board that availed stable albeit low prices.

The collapse of these institutions followed liberalisation measures which 
the government was following to the letter from multi-lateral donor 
institutions.

Farmers are vulnerable, impoverished, lack focus and penniless. The 
frustrated farmers have taken to drinking to drown their sorrows. This is 
having a disastrous effect on the living standards of their families.

Says Salome Najjuma, wife of a coffee farmer: "We are broke and unhappy. We 
are failing in everything. We can't afford fish, meat, rice but just sweet 
potatoes and beans".

Children are falling out of school and girls are the first casualties, 
mocking the government's universal primary education, which targeted girl 
education, among others.

Patrick Kayanja, the headmaster of Koome School in Mukono, relates the 
harsh realities. He says by 1997, his school had 500 students, but at the 
end of last year had dropped to 54.

"The number of students is very low and as much as we reduce the fees, the 
parents cannot pay," says Kayanja.

Coffee hitherto has been the number one foreign exchange earner and 
employed 3 million farmers and earned the country US $700m in 1994.In 2001, 
US $350m went to the coffers.

Healing The Scars Of Africa's Painful Violence

Southern Africa has benefited significantly from church-led initiatives to 
bring peace. The South African Council of Churches SACC, in particular, 
played a crucial mediation role between the apartheid regime and liberation 
movements. During those critical moments, the SACC held meetings with the 
two opposing parties putting across the humane aspect of reconciliation and 
co-existence.

By Pauline Mumia

S
everal countries in Southern Africa benefited tremendously from such 
church-led initiatives. "Violent conflict is a pain with which you are all 
too familiar," says Dr William Vendley, Secretary General, World Conference 
on Religion and Peace WCRP.

"However, if Africa has the scars of violence, she has also produced 
resources for its transformation," noted Vendley while addressing over 100 
delegates attending the landmark Inter-Faith Peace Summit in Africa held 
near Johannesburg.

Speaking on "Multi-Religious Cooperation and Conflict Transformation in 
Africa," at the October 14-19 summit, Vendley identified factors that 
contribute to violent conflict as: group identity, power relations and poor 
leadership.

Group identity may be based on ethnicity, clan, tribe, race, religion, 
geographical affiliation or a combination these features. "Even religious 
identity can be misused to promote conflict". True peace, he noted, "calls 
for justice in these relationships".

Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat from Kenya, a senior consultant on peace and 
conflict resolution in Africa, said the theological outlook of religious 
organizations and their relationship with the state, determines their 
effectiveness in fulfilling their roles in dealing with conflicts.

Speaking on relations between religious communities and the state, he said 
most of the continent's conflicts are intra-state-rebellion against the 
state. Since 1960, thirty-five out of the 53 current members of the African 
Union AU have suffered from conflicts.

Concerning the type and background of African leaders, Kiplagat said that 
at least 23 heads of state or government "come from military backgrounds 
and these include leaders who have led armed rebellion against the state". 
He singled out Sudan and Algeria as examples of countries in which religion 
was a major cause of conflict.

Several countries in Southern Africa benefited tremendously from church-led 
initiatives to bring peace. The South African Council of Churches SACC led 
by retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, played a crucial mediation 
role between the apartheid regime and liberation movements.

"From time to time, the SACC held meetings with the two opposing parties 
putting across the humane aspect of reconciliation and co-existence," Ntate 
Kgalushi Koka of the African Traditional Religion observed.

"This helped a great deal because, eventually the truth and reconciliation 
project came up to be the center of uniting South Africans from all spheres 
of life. We tried to cure racism and impress upon the oppressors that after 
all we have a common humanness - Ubuntu," he said.

In Mozambique, ravaged by civil strife since independence in 1975 to the 
early 1990s, churches put aside their differences and dedicated themselves 
to work for peace. "Religious organizations took an active part in efforts 
to bring about dialogue and negotiations between the ruling Frelimo (Front 
for the Liberation of Mozambique) and Renamo (Mozambique National
Resistance).

"Millions of civilians lost their lives and the infrastructure was 
destroyed," said Rev  Lucas Amosse, general secretary of the 
Inter-religious Council of Mozambique. He noted that when the Christian 
Council of Mozambique CCM first became involved in the search for peace in 
the country their immediate task was to organize public worship to pray for 
peace.

"As time went on, churches made it a regular feature of their life to make 
the last Sunday of the month a day of public worship interceding for 
peace". It was because of the churches' sterling efforts that the opposing 
leaders met and agreed to a cease-fire in 1992.

Today, Mozambique is enjoying the fruits of that dialogue and courageous 
initiative by the churches, said Amosse, a former CCM general secretary.

In Angola, churches and civic society took it upon themselves to mediate in 
the conflict between the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) 
and government forces by seeking audience with members of the United 
Nations Security Council in 2000.

"Catholics and Protestants and other members set up a working group which 
was later transformed into a full-time Council. This acted as a catalyzing 
force as it prepared the ground for future negotiations between the warring 
parties," says Rev. Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga, executive secretary of the 
Inter-Eclessial Committee for Peace in Angola.

He said Angolan civic society engaged in public prayers for peace and took 
the initiative to be heard by the world for the first time because in 
failed previous peace processes, the two opposing sides were the only 
participants.

The Angolan government, obviously took a cue from the churches' initiative 
and negotiated a cease-fire with the opposition after the February 2002 
death of Unita leader, Jonas Savimbi.

"This was a consequence of the role of the church and civil society as 
preparations for the parties to meet in a more friendly manner had already 
been made during the past three years prior to the end of the war," 
Ntoni-Nzinga said.

Perhaps one the worst examples of an African country that has seen the 
misuse of religious identity to promote conflict is Sudan. For nearly 20 
years, the people of Sudan have suffered through the current civil war, 
pitting the mainly Islamic north against the Christian and African-religion 
south, resulting in the death of almost two million people.

Rev  Samuel Ador, executive secretary, Church and Society in Khartoum, 
Sudan, says ethnic and national identity are critical issues in Sudanese 
nation building and conflicts that are associated with it. The northerners 
believe they are superior to the southerners, and this concept is misused 
to alienate the latter group from the mainstream of economic and social 
development.

"In a broad sense, the issue of identity has been grossly misused by 
consecutive military elite that have been in power since independence (from 
Britain in 1956). It is used to confer political and economic advantages to 
the dominant group that claim Arabism and Islamic faith," Ador said.

South African Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi hailed faith 
communities in Africa for their significant role in the historic 
transformation and shape of many countries on the continent.

"This summit proves that churches and religious leaders continue to embrace 
within Africa a philosophy of commitment and direct participation in the 
events which can shape our future," he said at the Inter-Faith Peace Summit 
in Africa.