05Oct06

THE president of one of Africa's most impoverished countries has been living
it up on a luxury Gold Coast holiday.

Malawi's Bingu wa Mutharika spent ten days in the opulence of a Sovereign
Islands holiday home which costs $5600 a week to rent, before flying home
this week.

The land-locked nation of Malawi is rife with AIDS and the average adult
earns less than $1 a day.

For most of the population, many meals consist of grasshoppers or termite
larvae.

One in 10 children never makes it to adulthood, while the average life
expectancy is just 41.

However, those problems must have seemed a world away for Mr Mutharika, who
stayed at Valencia, a super-luxury holiday home on the exclusive islands at
the northern end of the Coast.

Sovereign Islands is one of the Gold Coast's most luxurious addresses, and
Valencia is one of the estate's most glamorous rental properties, and is
frequently hired out by celebrities.

Many of the Gold Coast's rich and famous live at Sovereign Islands,
including motor racing legends Dick Johnson and Russell Ingall.

Valencia boasts huge living areas, state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment,
Natuzzi leather lounges, a designer kitchen, swimming pool and private
jetty.

The mansion's five double beds are fitted with 500-thread count sheets.

The place costs about $11,000 a week to rent in the high season.

Mr Mutharika stayed with his wife and a 12-man entourage, including security
guards, cooks and administration staff.

He also received an Australian taxpayer-funded police escort to and from
Brisbane airport.

Mr Mutharika came to office in the troubled nation in 2004 and has since
made many enemies by pledging to stamp out corruption.

However, the president himself has been accused of corruption, a
heavy-handed approach to media outlets that oppose him, and a cavalier
approach to human rights and police brutality.

A former director of trade in the United Nations, he has been an enigmatic
figure since returning to politics in Malawi.

Several journalists were arrested after last year reporting the president
was refusing to sleep in the state mansion because he believed it was
haunted.

He denied the reports.

Earlier this year he hosted former US President Bill Clinton, who visited
Malawi to sign an agreement for an aid work project.

Mr Clinton and Scottish sporting goods magnate Sir Thomas Hunter are pouring
money into the country to help victims of AIDS and HIV.

Valencia owner Kym Illman said his high-profile guest had seemed like 'a
pretty good bloke'.

"He was a lovely fellow," he said.

"He seemed pretty down-to-earth and he said his favourite part of the trip
was catching a fish on the back jetty."

He said Mr Mutharika had stumbled across the spectacular Valencia property
on the internet and decided he 'had to' stay there.

"He just decided he wanted to come to Australia and started looking at
accommodation," he said.

"He hadn't really settled on a particular part of Australia, but he saw
Valencia and decided he would come here."

Sovereign Islands residents said their short-term neighbour had been a
fairly quiet guest.

"They were pretty low-key," said one neighbour. "They had the odd limo pull
up and there were security guards there, but they were pretty quiet and
weren't really drawing attention to themselves."

There has been some controversy over Mr Mutharika's trip to the Gold Coast,
with Malawi's Nation Online website reporting the government had declined to
provide information regarding the president's Australian visit.

The country's opposition criticised the trip to Australia for 'lacking
transparency'.

The president's allegedly extravagant ways have come in for a barrage of
criticism over the years.

While signs were first emerging that Malawi was about to face an acute food
shortage, the Mutharika administration ordered three state-of-the-art
limousines from Germany.

Last year he was accused of commissioning dozens of portraits of himself at
a cost of almost $1.25 million.

And the Sovereign Islands mansion, while grand, pales when compared to the
president's official residence at home  a sprawling, Persian-style, 300-room
complex built by a former dictator.

A spokesman for the federal police said they could not provide details of a
police escort given to Mr Mutharika to and from Brisbane airport.

A spokesman for Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said he
was unaware of any official functions being held during Mr Mutharika's
visit.