Lilongwe (Malawi): Malawi's Government is happy with the way pop diva Madonna is looking after a one-year-old Malawian boy after her plans to adopt the child last year caused a storm of controversy, an official said on Friday.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare Adrina Mchiela said that the Government is satisfied so far at the way Madonna is looking after David Banda.
"We have been monitoring her and so far we see a loving mother in Madonna and David is very fine. The father should not be worried," Mchiela said.
Yohane Banda, David's father, this week said he wanted to talk to Madonna and find out how the child is doing.
The deputy director for Child Welfare in the Ministry, Cyrus Jeke said a senior government official has been assigned to monitor how David is faring with Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, with the help of the British government.
Neither Mchiela nor Jeke would disclose whether the official had visited Madonna's London home, where David has been living since October.
Madonna signed interim adoption papers when she and her husband visited in October on what they said was a humanitarian mission to help Malawi orphans.
David Banda, whose mother had died, was living in an orphanage and his father, who initially voiced some questions about the process later said he supported it.
Under the interim order, David Banda was to stay with Madonna for 18 months during which time his progress would be monitored by Malawian officials before deciding whether final approval may be given for him to remain with her family.
Yohane Banda complained early this week that he does not have access to the American singer and wants to find out how his son is doing. But Mchiela said he would have to wait.
"Banda will have a chance to see his child again after 18 months elapses because Madonna will have to come back to Malawi for the court to rule whether she can get full custody of the child. He need not worry," Mchiela said.
A Scottish well-wisher last week gave Banda a check of 400 pounds ($775) sterling to help him get in touch with Madonna and get to talk to his child.
Madonna's adoption of the child grabbed world headlines and caused some rights groups in Malawi to question whether she had used her celebrity to bypass laws governing the adoption of Malawians by foreigners -- an argument denied by her lawyers.
The adoption controversy has helped to spotlight the plight of orphans in Malawi, where more than 900,000 children are orphaned and another 500,000 have lost at least one parent, many of them to the country's devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic.
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