Madonna adoption hits snag
2007-08-05 15:36
Johannesburg - Pop star Madonna's attempts to adopt a Malawian child has hit a snag after the court-appointed official on the case was refused permission to travel to Britain.
One of Malawi's leading newspapers reported on Sunday that the Minister of Women and Child Development, Kate Kainja, refused to allow Penstone Kilembe to travel to assess the suitability of Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie.
The minister was not immediately available for comment, but
Kilembe confirmed the minister had stopped him making the trip.
Madonna took David Banda in October last year when he was 13 months old after his father Yohane Banda had placed him in an orphanage following the death of his wife.
The High Court of Malawi appointed Kilembe to travel to
Britain twice and was to have relied on his testimony in ruling
whether Madonna should adopt the child in a hearing next year.
The Malawi newspaper reported that the minister accused
Kilembe of obtaining an air ticket and money from Madonna
without government approval.
"We have already contacted Madonna that someone else and not Kilembe will come to assess her, because we feel Kilembe
personalised the whole issue when other people can go," the
Minister told the newspaper.
Kilembe dismissed suggestions that he personally asked
Madonna for an air ticket.
"What this means is that the whole adoption process may
crumble and David sent back to his village," he said.
Justin Dzonzi, a human rights lawyer who led a 65-member
rights group challenge to Madonna's adoption, also said the
minister's decision could halt the adoption process.
"The Minister cannot change what the court set by having
another person to do the assessment; the court will not listen
to anyone else apart from the one it appointed," he said.
Dzonzi filed the case arguing that Malawi laws forbid
international adoption and therefore the government broke its
own laws by granting Madonna an interim adoption.