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| Malawi Supreme Court hears appeal in Madonna adoption saga
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By Raphael Tenthani,
PANA Correspondent
Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) -
Madonna's controversial bid to adopt a second Malawian
child was due to go before the Malawi Supreme
Court of Appeal, the highest court in the southern African country, on Monday (4
May)..
The head of Malawi's judiciary, Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo, was slated to begi
n hearing in the appeal case, in which the pop
superstar wants to overturn an earlier High Court dismissal of her application t
o adopt a three-year-old Malawian girl.
Malawi judiciary spokesman Joseph Chigona told PANA that the Chief Justice would
be joined by two other senior judges,
Justices of Appeal Duncan Tambala and Isaac Mtambo.
High Court judge Esme Chombo, sitting in the capital, Lilongwe, dismissed Madonn
a's application to adopt Mercy Chifundo James
because the world's highest-paid female entertainer does not have permanent resi
dence in Malawi.
Madonna, who last year successfully completed the adoption of another Malawian t
oddler - David Banda, 3, has visited the southern
African country three times and is funding six orphanages, feeding and educating
more than 25, 000 orphans.
The singer's Malawian lawyer, Alan Chinul, appealed against Justice Chombo's rul
ing, calling it "erroneous" since - according to him - the
judge relied on archaic laws of more than 50 years ago.
Chinula, who also represented Madonna in the David successful adoption, said the
star had complied with Malawian laws.
"We are hopeful she will succeed in the appeal," he said.
But there are yet more hurdles in the recently-divorced, 50-year-old entertainer
's adoption bid.
A 24-year-old man, named James Kambewa, has come up to claim paternity of the ch
ild, saying he is not consenting to the adoption and he
is ready to take care of the child who is currently in an orphanage.
"I may be poor but I think I have what it takes to raise a daughter," he told PA
NA. "I will fight the adoption."
Kambewa, a security guard who admits he has not seen his alleged child since her
birth three years ago, said he was making efforts to claim
rights of custody of the child.
He has approached the Malawi Law Society to assist him obtain an injunction to s
top the singer's adoption process.
But Mercy's uncle, Peter Baneti - who is representing the family in the adoptio
n case - told PANA on Sunday night the family does not
recognise Kambewa.
"Where was he all this time? He is just coming out now, why? We don't recognise
him," said Baneti who signed the adoption papers for the adoption.
Madonna found Mercy at Kondanani Children's Village in the southern town of Bvum
bwe, some 20 kilometres south of the commercial capital, Blantyre,
when she first visited Malawi in October 2006, the same year she found David at
the Home of Hope Orphanage Centre in the central border
district of Mchinji.
Mercy was placed at the orphanage following the death of her teenage mother two
weks after she was born.
Kambewa met Mwandida Maunde, then only 15, when they were both students at a sec
ondary school in Zomba. They fell in love and
Mwandida became pregnant.
But Kambewa denied responsibility, dropped out of school and disappeared.
Mwandida, who also dropped out of school to nurse her pregnancy, gave birth to M
ercy on 22 January, 2006 at her home at Zaone in the
district assisted by her untrained mother, Lucy.
According to Baneti, they could not find transport quickly when Mwandida was in
labour so she had to deliver in the village.
She lost a lot of blood, became very sick and eventually died on 5 February, 200
6.
Baneti said the family then decided to place Mercy at Kondanani Children's Villa
ge in the southern town of Bvumbwe, 20 kilometres outside Blantyre,
where Madonna discovered her the same year.
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| Blantyre - 04/05/2009 |
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