THE father of the Malawian boy whom Madonna plans to adopt has said that he did not want his son removed permanently from his country.

Yohane Banda, 32, claims that he never intended to give up 13-month-old David for good. Instead he believed that the American pop star and her British husband, Guy Ritchie, would raise the child before returning him to Malawi.

His comments contrast with his earlier remarks, condemning human rights organisations trying to block the adoption.

The boy arrived in Britain last week, triggering a debate about international adoptions.

Speaking at his home in the village of Lipunga, near the Zambian border, Mr Banda said that he believed the Ritchie family would be carers and that David would be returned to him after his education.

“Had they told us that Madonna wanted to adopt my son and make him her own son, we would not have agreed to that,” the farmer said. “It would have been better for him to stay at the orphanage because I see no reason why my child should be given away for ever when I can feed him.”

Mr Banda said that because he was illiterate he had to rely on advice from Malawian officials. He insisted that he had not understood the documents that he had signed, but had been told that they established a similar contract to that which he had with the orphanage: to care for and educate the child before returning him.

He said that he had originally given the child to the Home of Hope Orphan Care Centre in Mchinji for medical care and breastfeeding after the boy’s mother died of malaria after giving birth.

“We sent this child to an orphanage because at one month we could not look after him. We did not have a health centre near by and the orphanage was the ideal place for him,” he said. “What we agreed with Madonna was that she looks after my child until he finishes school, becomes independent and comes back home to us.”

Asked why he had not made his position clear when journalists first spoke to him, Mr Banda said that the media had not given him a chance to explain fully.

However, his comments contrast with his first interview, in which he said that the couple’s intervention was a “blessing from God”. He also pondered whether his son would ever return to his home town.

Madonna and her husband were given temporary adoption rights by the Malawian authorities last week. On Friday a judge in the country will rule on whether proper procedures were adhered to.

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