Muluzi slams donors over third term

President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi has lashed out at European countries who have called for broad national consultation before the government introduces a constitutional amendment to allow him to run for a third term. "This country is not controlled by donors. Never! You must understand that I am a president of this country. Yes, we are poor. But we want to be poor with our heads up, not with our heads down. And nobody, as long as I'm a president, nobody will control me," Muluzi told a rally at the weekend at Ndirande township, in the commercial capital, Blantyre. "They are saying, you [Malawians] want to change the constitution to allow me to complete my plans of Islamising this country. Nonsense! Why don't these people want to come out in the open? They just want to confuse people," Muluzi said. Last week, four of the country's major donors - Germany, Norway, the United States, Britain and the European Union - issued a joint statement calling for wider debate before the government re-tables a proposed constitutional amendment bill in October. Muluzi's second and final term expires in 2004. The ruling United Democratic Front has been urging Muluzi to stand for a third term, despite the parliamentary defeat in July of an earlier amendment bill. Although Muluzi has maintained an official silence on the issue, since January he has held rallies countrywide, which critics contend are aimed at whipping up support for a constitutional amendment. He has allegedly doled out cash to party supporters and chiefs in what he has described as a "token of appreciation". Last Saturday, Muluzi played dinner host to 600 civil servants at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre, and reportedly donated US $194 million as a loan. The Anti-Corruption Bureau, an independently appointed agency, is investigating allegations that parliamentarians from the two main opposition parties - the Malawi Congress and Alliance for Democracy - had received money from the government to entice them to vote in support of the proposed amendment to the constitution. On Sunday, the Roman Catholic Church in Mzuzu, in northern Malawi, condemned opposition leaders who had joined sides with the government, accusing them of neglecting their constitutional role. "We have noted that certain opposition leaders, who having stayed [a long time] in opposition, have finally chosen to abandon their noble task of giving alternative views to the government, and have allowed themselves to be swallowed up by the party in government for personal gains - thus being enemies of democracy," the church said in a statement. At the Ndirande rally, Muluzi repeated the government's ban on demonstrations related to the third-term issue. "A warning to some people who are planning to demonstrate ... Let someone try to demonstrate. I believe in democracy but we must have guided democracy. In whatever form [they want to demonstrate], they will see what government is going to do. I'm saying all this, whether you are for the ruling party or the opposition, I will demolish all of you together. I will not choose. I want peace in this country. I'm a custodian of peace. You can call me anything on this matter, but I will not allow it," Muluzi said. Meanwhile, an opposition politician, Danga Mughogho, who was arrested last week, was released on bail on Thursday, AFP reported. Mughogho was accused of distributing anti-third term pamphlets.