Malawi MPs sit in 'haunted' house

Mutharika angrily denied the presidential palace was haunted

After kicking parliament out of his palace last year, Malawi's president is allowing MPs to meet there again.

They have been searching fruitlessly for a new venue for seven months, rejecting a bombed-out sports complex.

Mr Mutharika's move into the 300-room palace caused outrage at the time and further controversy last month after reports the residence was haunted.

He is likely to face a hostile session as he no longer has a majority in the house, after resigning from his party.

In January, he said he was tired of criticism from the United Democratic Front (UDF), which sponsored him as their presidential candidate last year.

No party at the moment has a majority in the 193-member parliament, which is only sitting at the palace until it finds large enough premises.

Snubbed

According to the BBC's Raphael Tenthani, the UDF is toying with the idea of impeaching the president by finding support from the main opposition Malawi Congress Party - the largest single bloc in parliament.

The palace took 20 years to build

UDF chairman and the president's predecessor, Bakili Muluzi, recently met veteran politician John Tembo - the MCP leader, our correspondent says.

No decision has been taken on impeachment, but a two-thirds majority would be needed to start proceedings in parliament.

Mr Muluzi hand-picked Mr Mutharika to succeed him as leader but the two fell out when Mr Mutharika launched a fight against corruption.

In attempts to heal rifts, President Mutharika invited all MPs - regardless of party affiliation - to a talk at his palace on Tuesday, with a banquet to follow.

But most UDF and MCP MPs rejected the invitation, our reporter says.

Chequered history

The costly palace, which housed parliament from 1994 until Mr Mutharika's election, has had a chequered history.

Last month, Mr Mutharika angrily denied he had moved out of it because of ghosts and suggested Mr Muluzi's supporters might have been behind the reports.

And he justified his decision to evict parliament by arguing that the New State House had originally been built as a presidential residence.

Kamuzu Banda, Malawi's founding president, spent only 90 days in the palace which took 20 years to build and cost $100m.

With its 300 air-conditioned rooms, it is set in 555 hectares (1,332 acres) of land outside the capital, Lilongwe.

When Mr Muluzi came to power in 1994 he refused to live there, condemning its "obscene opulence".

Instead, he used the Sanjika Palace in Malawi's commercial capital, Blantyre.

But President Mutharika wanted to move back to the capital to streamline government operations.