Malawi officer off Madonna case

2007-09-04 08:03

Raphael Tenthani

Blantyre - The senior Malawian child welfare official who was to go to London to assess whether Madonna could adopt a little boy from the southern African country has been removed from the high-profile case after allegations he solicited money from the singer for the trip.

Simon Chisale, the country's chief social welfare officer, said on Monday that the government had gone to court last week to have Penstone Kilembe, the director of Malawi's Child Welfare Services, replaced as the assessor in the Madonna adoption.

Chisale was now planning to go to London, arriving on Tuesday to carry out the first, much-delayed assessment of toddler David Banda's progress.

Kilembe, who returned to Malawi late on Monday after attending a conference in the United States last week, said he had not heard of the move and denied any wrongdoing.

Madonna granted temporary custody

He said: "I am not aware of these developments. I have just arrived from New York and nobody from my office has told me anything. I will be in the office tomorrow."

Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, were granted temporary custody of David, then 13 months old, last October. His father had placed him in an orphanage after his mother died.

Critics accused Madonna, who found David in the orphanage while in Malawi to launch a project to help the country's two million Aids orphans, of using her celebrity status to circumvent Malawian adoption laws - allegations she denied.

The allegations were likely to be revived because of Kilembe's removal, as well as new reports on Monday that Madonna was paying for a Malawi welfare official to study at a British university.

The latest developments and delays in carrying out the assessment as well as reports of internal government wrangling were likely to raise concerns that Malawi's child welfare department was in a state of disarray at a time when it was under international scrutiny.

Madonna 'is paying for everything'

Andrina Mchiela, a top civil servant in the child welfare ministry, said on Monday that a staffer's tuition was being funded by the singer.

She said: "Madonna is paying for everything and we are extremely grateful. She asked us whether we had any problems and we told her the ministry lacked trained personnel. We told her about the staffer, and she immediately responded.

"Madonna indicated a willingness to sponsor more officers. We just have to inform her of our need."

An email was sent to Madonna's US-based spokesperson Liz Rozenberg requesting comment, but there was no immediate response on Monday, a national holiday in the US.

Malawian rights organisations had said their government needed help monitoring Madonna's planned adoption.

There had been reports in Malawi that Minister of Gender and Child Welfare Kate Kainja-Kaluluma stopped Kilembe from going to London because he had allegedly solicited funds from Madonna for the trip without the minister's knowledge or permission.

- AP