LILONGWE - Pop star Madonna took a step ahead in her adoption plans of a one-year old Malawian boy after it was reported that a private jet carrying the boy has taken off from the southern African country and will land at Johannesburg.
The child, named as David Banda, was accompanied by Madonna's bodyguard as well as her personal assistant.
Meanwhile trouble is stirring up in Malawi after various aid agencies, child charities and church groups protested against the adoption. As per current Malawian law, adoption by non-residents is prohibited in Malawi. However officials have agreed to grant an exemption to this case.
This has not gone down well with the protesters who say that while they are not against the adoption, they are angry that laws are being changed to accommodate the rich.
Says Emmie Chanika, director of the Civil Liberties Committee, "The rich shouldn't get preferential treatment. I am fine with the idea of the adoption but I want people to go through the system." A group of 59 interested agencies, which is trying to block the adoption, plans to get Banda's family to cooperate.
"We are making an application for the court to recognize us as a sufficiently interested party ... so that we can file an injunction later in the week," said Justin Dzonzi of the Human Rights Consultative Committee. However a government official said that a final decision on the adoption could only be arrived at in two years time after agencies monitor how the boy grows up in his new surroundings.
The boy's father, Yohame Banda has already agreed to the adoption and that makes it as good as done. "What I want is a good life for my child," he said. Madonna has toured Malawi extensively and plans to donate $3 million to help 900,000 orphans in the country.
The 48-year-old pop diva is the mother of two children, son Rocco, 5 and daughter Lourdes, 9 with her husband Guy Ritchie.
