The Tribune (Blantyre)
3 December 2008
It will be very difficult for international pop diva Madonna to adopt another child from Malawi following her divorce with her British filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie, a senior government official has said.
The official's remarks come amid reports that Madonna is planning to visit Malawi in the near future to adopt a girl orphan, who she once met at an orphanage in 2006.
The official says if the pop diva would have an uphill task to have her ambition of adopting another Malawian child because she is currently single.
"The truth of the matter is that it is almost impossible for a single parent to adopt a Malawian child and those celebrities who think that they can bend the law to adopt children here when they are single parents are totally wrong," he said.
The senior government official said government would continue with its principle of carefully scrutinising adoption of children by among others checking the stability and suitability of adopting families.
"It is a mockery of the principles and rules of adoption for government to allow children to be adopted by broken families or single parents," he said.
The Malawian official said Madonna and Ritchie divorce has not affected the status of the already adopted David Banda.
"Malawi has nothing to do with the status of the little boy David Banda. It is now the jurisdiction of the British courts to determine issues of custody," he said expressing optimism that Madonna would take good care of David.
There are reports that Madonna has reassured the biological father of David, Yohane Banda, that three-year old boy is safe despite her recent divorce.
The pop diva is claimed to have sent a message to David's biological father through Philippe van den Bossche, the executive director of Raising Malawi, the charity set up by Madonna to help orphans.
Madonna and Ritchie dissolved their eight year marriage a fortnight ago after a British court granted them a "quickie' divorce.
Court documents indicated that Madonna petitioned for divorce on the grounds of Ritchie's continued unreasonable.
The wealth of the two was pegged at about $500 million and it is reported that Ritchie would not demand a share from the fortune.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 The Tribune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.
Firstly I want to inform the audience that I am a black African. I lived and worked in several African countries. In understand African culture and Africans are right to cherish their heritage…a heritage that encourages respect and care for the elderly, love among siblings, service to the community, hard work and etcetera. Respect, love and civility have no boundaries. This means we are to respect those that don’t look like us or behave like us. Xenophobic, homophobic, ethnocentric or racist comments on this blog don’t portray the African heritage I know and cherish. How can we as a people… [Read Full Text]
If Madonna is deemed to be fully ready to take care of this child she,ll definitely be granted the right to adopt her,if the judge,s view is to the contrary he must have seen something to say no.On the other hand, we vehemently oppose the granting of adoptions of African children to those who think it,s normal for a man to marry a man or a woman to do same,stay off African children,go adopt children from Europe or........
I commend the judge's decision against Madonna's request to adopt a Malawian baby girl. Madonna's motives for adopting "poor" African babies might be rooted in her selfish religious beliefs in Kabballa. It might be that adopting poor children from a poor African country is one of the tennets of attaining to a higer ellevation in the religious sect. Please do not get me wrong, I am not against the principles of adoption,just not in par with the selfish motives of so called "money bags" celebrities, who crave for publicity. If any… [Read Full Text]
The New Celebrity Colonialist like Mad-ddona needed to be reminded that, Malawi does have rules and regulations, whicvh everybody must follow. Otherwise, use of her money to buy lawyer's or jugde is corruption. Her aim of trying to circumvent the law, is about her and the not the best interest of the child. If she had the best interest of the child-she would have been sepaking to the extended relatives and asking them how she could help them be there for the child. She should be less arrogant, less direspectful and less selfish. After all, her children… [Read Full Text]
See all comments (28).
Active Discussions: Madonna and African Adoption