Mutharika’s farm run down, cattle ‘starving’

By John Chimunhu

Kadoma

Livestock experts have expressed concern over the state of health of Malawan President Bingu wa Mutharika’s cattle in Zimbabwe.

Mutharika owns Bin Farm just outside Kadoma, some 150 kms south-west of Harare, where he farms crops and also keeps dairy cows and other animals.

Kingdom TV sneaked into the farm recently in the company of livestock expert Lewis Mbodza. We discovered that the farm had become run down. Knowledgeable sources said that it had become a pale shadow of its former self following the death of Mutharika’s son and manager, identified only as Dread by workers at the farm.

“These dairy cattle are not healthy at all. They are not well fed. They need food supplements which they are not getting,” Mbodza said.

Workers said money appeared to be the main reason for the numerous problems dogging the farm.

Mutharika had four children with his Zimbabwean wife, Ethel, who died in May 2007. Ethel, who hailed from Epworth and was rumoured to be related to Grace Mugabe, is said to have been the reason why Mutharika bought the farm in the early 2000s, while he was still the secretary-general of Comesa, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

“Mrs Mutharika used to visit the farm about four or five times a year while her husband came once or twice a year,” said a former worker.

People all over Kadoma and the surrounding areas have a story or two to tell about the Mutharikas. Workers at the Kadoma Hotel said the place was shut down a few years ago when Mutharika visited with a large delegation. Although he had built a 20-room lodge in addition to the original farmhouse, he never seemed to like staying there, according to sources.

At the Raylton Club, where Dread used to hang out, some remember him giving people rotten cheese which he had bought for pigs at the farm. The flashy youth, who is said to have been secretive about his family and his own past, was sometimes seen driving one of the trendiest sports cars in this small town, although he often used a pick-up for farm errands.

Kingdom TV was told that production at the farm had declined significantly. However, the farm had been spared from takeover by militant Zanu (PF) supporters who cleaned out white farmers in the area.

Mutharika, a close friend of Robert Mugabe, became president of Malawi in 2006.

His first try for the presidency was in the 1999 elections but he came last among the five candidates, according to a profile by the BBC.

He disappeared from public view for a while but later resurfaced as a surprise presidential candidate for the UDF after President Bakili Muluzi failed in his bid to be allowed a third term.

Muluzi, who dubbed himself the “political engineer”, sold Mutharika to Malawians as the “economic engineer” and did all the campaigning on behalf of his protege – so much that it was a complete surprise that the two fell out immediately after the elections.

To seal the strained relations between the two former political buddies, Mutharika quit the UDF and founded his own Democratic Progressive Party.

Mutharika blamed his decision to quit the UDF on his former political associates whom he accused of frowning upon his tough anti-corruption drive.

The UDF has been in the forefront of attempts to impeach Mutharika over accusations that he used state money to set up his party and other charges of going against the constitution. He denies the charges, saying they are politically motivated.

Kingdom TV