The Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC), a group of 67 Malawian charities, has called pop diva Madonna's adoption of an African toddler 'illegal' and is making efforts to obtain a stay on the adoption proceedings.
The group is objecting to the adoption of one-year-old David Banda on the grounds that Malawian law does not allow foreigners living outside the African republic of Malawi to adopt local children. The 48-year-old pop star and her husband Guy Ritchie were given an interim permission to take custody of the boy, following which the couple left Malawi without David as his passport and immigration papers are in the process of being drawn up.
“The laws of Malawi are clear that if one wants to adopt a child one has to stay with the child for at least 18 months for assessment. If Madonna wants to adopt this baby she has to stay here,” said Justin Dzonzi, the chairman of HRCC. He said that the group will file its objection papers requesting an injunction on the adoption in the Malawi high court on Monday. The
Material Girl and her husband adopted the toddler from the Home of Hope Orphan Care Center, where David's 32-year-old father Yohame left him after the baby's mother died of complications arising from childbirth.
Madonna's spokesperson Liz Rosenberg said that the adoption wasn't as quick as it seemed to be. “Madonna and her legal counsel have been working on her plans to adopt a baby from Malawi for quite some time. She had hoped to keep this very private and a family matter, but things didn't go that way. I was not made aware of many of the chapters in this ongoing process. Hopefully Madonna and family will soon be reunited once everything goes through,” she said.
The chances of the baby being handed over to Madonna 'soon', however, seem slim, as many legal eagles and charities have jumped in the fray and David's family members are also divided on the adoption. “If Madonna wants to adopt this baby she has to stay here. Someone is bending the laws for Madonna,” said Morderchai Msisha, a top Malawian lawyer. While Yohame Banda is alright with his son being taken out of the country, others in the family feel he is unable to understand the full implication of the adoption. “My cousin is illiterate, he doesn't understand a thing. He was made to sign papers he didn't understand,” said Pofera Banda, Yohame's cousin. One of his other relatives wants to visit Madonna's home before David is handed over. “What I want to know is that if this child is taken, as we've been told, when will our child be visiting us? When will we visit him? How much contact will there be between him and us? We want to find out the benefit of the adoption to this family. We have seen other parents who have had their children adopted still living in poverty. They have not seen their children and all they see is pictures. We don't want that to happen to this family,” he said.
Yohame, however, has a different take on the issue. “As David's father I have no problem, so what is their concern? Are they jealous or what? What I want is good life, a good education for my child,” he said. But the impoverished farmer comes across as confused in some instances. Yohame said that he had hoped someday he could bring David back home. “I suppose deep in my heart I always imagined that when he was better, or I had got another wife, I would go and take him back. I hate to see him leave Malawi but I have come to accept the loss,” he said and added he knew that Madonna could give his son a better life than he could.
Madonna is the biological mother of two children – 10-year-old Lourdes and six-year-old Rocco.
