A Peaceful Transition

The current situation in Malawi - Osadandaulu – Hakuna Matata – No problem
by Doug Miller

I was in Malawi from February 18 until March 29 this year and it is certainly an interesting time in the country’s recent history. Much as it has been a somewhat charged atmosphere, full of suspense, it has, nonetheless, been a very peaceful transition after the death of the late President Bingu wa Mutharika. It has been very much a climate of business as usual, with much hope that the new president can use the remaining 2 years of her mandate to reconstruct the economy. I am inserting a short quote from the Sunday service of a prominent Catholic priest attesting to the serenity with which things have gone, and I have also appended links to further news at the end of this article.

A prominent Catholic priest, Joseph Kimu told his congregation … [i]n his Easter homily, broadcast live on the church’s Radio Mary, he said the usually peaceful country had “taught the world that we can change power without war. All African countries should come here to learn real democracy,”

For those who have been following Malawi current affairs, there has been considerable discontent with the government of the late Bingu wa Mutharika. The bottom has fallen out of tobacco prices as the government tried to fix minimum prices for buyers at the auction floors and the multinationals responded by taking their business elsewhere. This has impacted small farmers enormously by depriving them of almost their only source of income. In a series of escalating and foolhardy moves Mutharika alienated literally all the country’s traditional donors, who slowly but surely cut their support of the government’s recurrent operating budget. A number of extravagant and unwise moves have made foreign currency very scarce, strained relations with the neighbouring countries, and led to shortages that have almost shut down the economy. The most critical is the lack of petrol and diesel which limited road traffic enormously.

In addition, the declarations by the late President had become more and more authoritarian and irrational. For many of us they started to sound like what we used to hear during the time of the dictator for life Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Between issues of governance and economics, the people were getting very unhappy. We travelled from Blantyre in the south to Karonga in the extreme north and everywhere we went the feelings were of extreme discontent with life under Bingu. This discontent exploded in March when the UDF leader Atupele Muluzi, son of the first president elected under the democratic dispensation in 1994, called a legally organised political rally in a Lilongwe township. The police moved in, and unprovoked, they attempted to disperse the people with teargas. The reaction was swift and furious. The crowd turned on the police en masse and severely beat a number of them, then moved to the local police station and burnt it to the ground. The lesson to government should have been clear.

In July 2011, there had been violent police repression of protests organised in the major centres and in a very Malawian reaction the leaders of civil society, human rights and faith based organisations stepped back from further protest and agreed to sit with government and work through the grievances. In an apparent co-incidence, after months of intransigence, and just days after the March disturbance in Lilongwe, the same forum came together and reached agreement on a number of the sources of discontent, that they had been mandated to settle.

The unexpected death of Bingu wa Mutharika, was therefore a cause of considerable concern, especially since the inner sanctum of the ruling party had been laying the ground for a dynastic secession from Bingu to his younger brother Peter Mutharika. True to form a small cabal of ministers withheld the news of the president’s death to forestall the application of the constitution by which the elected vice-president becomes president.

Despite attempts to bully the rest of the cabinet into submission, the army, police and a significant number of the cabinet opted to respect the constitution and on Saturday April 7, amid great fanfare, Her Excellency Joyce Banda was inaugurated the 4th President of the country to great applause and with many declarations aimed at reconciliation.

I am writing this in order to re-assure you that the country is going through an important phase in its evolution from dictatorship to democracy and the rule of law has prevailed. The leadership at all levels is striving to learn from the past and avoid the problems that have beset so many other countries on the African continent. The opposition, civil society and human rights organisations have made their point and the rogue elements in government have been obliged to fall into line. The whole process has been undertaken with a minimum of disturbance and with great civility. Things are so peaceful that neither the Canadian government nor the Americans have deemed it necessary to issue any travel warnings.

Rural and secondary centres like Kasungu and especially small villages like Makupo have remained very quiet throughout. The major issues last year and this were enacted in the major urban centres, but even those were very focussed on the ruling party and at no point did the unrest have an impact on visitors. I have spoken with Makupo relatives in the Southern, Central and Northern Regions of the country who have re-assured me that the country remains the Warm Heart of Africa and that visitors are very welcome. Takulandilani.


Further reading:
http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2012/04/08/malawians-hope-for-better-economy-under-new-president-joyce-banda/

http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2012/04/07/malawi-leader-joyce-banda-calls-for-cabinet-meeting/

http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2012/04/07/mia-leads-ministers-to-president-banda-as-malawi-mourns-mutharika/