Agnes Penemulungu, a DPP parliamentarian believed to be the last person in the company of the late president Bingu wa Mutharika when he collapsed at State House on April 5, says she will not speak about events of that fateful morning.

That Malawi is no longer going to host the African Union Summit in July is going to hit hard various players in the private sector, especially the car hire industry and hotels, who had invested heavily to improve capacity in anticipation of substantial windfall from the summit.

Karonga unexpectedly ran out of accommodation space on Friday night as all facilities were fully booked ahead of President Joyce Banda's visit for the confirmation of Nsangalufu Clement Mwakasungula as Paramount Chief Kyungu Mwakabanga III, which happened Saturday.

Parents with students attending some of the country's glamour schools have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay hiked school fees while others should brace themselves for the same due to the recent devaluation of the kwacha, with fees at one school now at over K4 million per year.

Mark Chiutsankhondo, who once acted as CEOfor Blantyre Printing and Publishing Company (BP &P), died on May 17 in Britain after a short illness, his family in Malawi said Saturday.

John Kapito, the former chairperson of Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC), has said his fights with the late president Bingu wa Mutharika were the most exciting of his times at the state-funded human rights body.

President Joyce Banda has told the United Kingdom—Malawi's biggest aid donor—that she will sell the presidential jet and a fleet of 60 Mercedes limousines, according to The Telegraph of the UK.

While Malawi is dithering on the matter of Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al Bashir, Zambia has broken ranks with most African countries on the issue and that it is ready to arrest him if he ever sets foot in Lusaka.

A 12-year-old standard 8 pupil at Chitawira Primary School, Andy Kondwani, has written his Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLC) examinations while sleeping out-doors after Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) evicted her widowed mother from their house in Chitawira on grounds of being illegal tenants.

The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has asked President Joyce Banda to institute "credible and impartial investigations and prosecution" of police officers who shot killed and injured civilians during the July 20 anti-government protests last year.

Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga and Malawi Revenue Authority Commissioner General Lloyd Muhara can count on little sympathy from the general public following their respective roles in the saga where MRA is alleged to have borrowed from banks to defend the Zero Deficit Budget.

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am delighted to preside over the opening of the 2012/2013 Budget Meeting and deliver a statement on the state of the nation.

The body of the late president Bingu wa Mutharika arrived in Blantyre on Thursday evening and viewing of the body by the people in Blantyre and surrounding districts started on Friday and ended Saturday at Sanjika Palace. Grace Thipa sought the reactions of some of those who came to Sanjika to pay their last respects:

SUB-TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY GOVATI

'He gave us electricity'

Grief fills my heart as we have lost someone who was like our parent. He took care of all of us. He was our father. People used to have their needs met through him and therefore we are all touched with his death. In my area (Thambani-Mwanza) we had no electricity, but when he was president, he brought electricity to our area. We had no phone networks but now, because of him, there are two towers. People in my area are just gripped with anxiety that the fertiliser subsidy programme which he introduced may stop with his death. Therefore we are indeed mourning him.

JESSINTHA CHIKHASU - He did great things'

When I viewed the face of our dead president I was filled with great sorrow especially after I remembered the great things he has done for us. He died so suddenly and from his death I have learnt a great lesson that as a Christian I need to be prepared (for death) all the time.

GRACE KATUNGA

'There won't be another like him'

I feel great sadness that our president died in the manner that he did. We have lost a leader and king. I feel that we will never, as a country, find another leader like him.

REJOICE BANDA

'He had his faults'

His death has touched me very much. He was our president despite the fact that he had his faults. He was still like a father to us, so we all have to mourn him.

ELLIA AKIM

'I just had to pay my respects"

I am filled with great sadness as I mourn our departed president Bingu wa Mutharika. He has done so much for this country and this is what has moved me to endure such a long queue to pay my last respects to our leader.

Chief Commissioner of the Malawi Prison Service, McDonald Chaona, died Saturday in his sleep at his Zomba home, aged 58.

Six fuel tankers from Zambia, carrying 210,000 of the five million litres, started arriving in Malawi on Friday under police escort, the first consignment of the five million litres pledged by the Zambian government.

The future of Galaxy radio and television stations owned by late president Bingu wa Mutharika remain uncertain after mansagement sent back home workers end March.

The state funeral of former president Bingu wa Mutharika has so far blown K242 million, exceeding the K150 million initially budgeted for, chairman of the funeral's main organising committee Henry Mussa disclosed Saturday.

The year-on-year headline inflation for the country continued to rise for the month of March 2012.

They flocked to the airport from all across the country on foot, on trucks and others on personal vehicles, despite the fuel shortages that may have interrupted travelling. From as early as 8am, lorries and buses carrying Malawians from all walks of life had started making way to the port of arrival.

People in parts of Mchinji district have been eating dog meat thinking it was lamb after Yohane Nyelere allegedly killed dogs and sold the meat to the unsuspecting public.