Malawi is at a crossroads...
Malawi is at a crossroads
Date: January 17, 2011
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Is Malawi on the verge of becoming Africa’s newest dictatorship?
President Bingu wa Mutharika’s double-standard behaviour toward Joyce Banda, the country’s vice-president, has certainly moved the troubled country in this direction.
Wa Mutharika also sounded dictatorial last year as he threatened Malawi’s journalists, telling them he’d shut down newspapers that tarnish his government’s image. Just last week a Malawian journalist was arrested in Blantyre and the idea of freedom of expression became even more of a distant memory in the country.
Yet the President has been all smiles internationally, winning prizes for encouraging women’s equality and for promoting Banda as Malawi’s first female VP.
On the home front it’s a different story.
In mid-December Banda was expelled from the ruling Democratic Progress Party (DPP), after vague and questionable allegations that she was forming parallel party structures and refusing to endorse wa Mutharika’s brother for the 2014 presidential nomination.
Banda’s expulsion is the culmination of escalating discrimination from within her own party. Not only have her vice presidential duties been taken away, but members of the DPP have actively campaigned against her and tried to quash any hopes she may have of running for president in 2014, only a few months into wa Mutharika’s second term.
Noel Masangwi, DPP Regional Governor for the South, recently raised eyebrows when he said: “Malawi is not ready for a female president.” Banda has been given fewer funds to cover staffing and the Malawi Broadcasting Company (MBC), Malawi’s only TV Station, has only once reported on the functions of her office.
It’s a long way from 2009, when the President and his vice genuinely appeared as Malawi’s dream team. Banda was recognised as having a huge influence on the party’s landslide victory in the election, largely due to her popularity among the country’s women, who have historically been sidelined in the political arena.
However, things have changed drastically in a short time and a president who once happily endorsed and bragged about his second-in-command is now undermining her credibility and attempting to orchestrate her political downfall.
Apparently the selection of Banda for VP was no more than window dressing in a poverty-stricken country desperate to impress international donors.
The current situation is of deep concern. It diminishes the great strides Malawi has made toward achieving gender equality and greater women’s representation in politics. It also constitutes a serious threat to the democratic principles stipulated in the country’s Constitution as well as regional and international protocols it has signed and ratified, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
It further symbolises how a president with a political majority in a young democracy can pretend to be one thing in the international public eye while practicing something very different behind his country’s closed doors.
“Women in politics have been squeezed as a result of the oppression of the vice president; some are scared to voice their views in support of her due to fear of what will happen.” says Anitta Kalinde, an MP who was assaulted by the DPP Youth Wing because she sympathises with Banda. “This is a sad development. The morale of women is down and this is an example of how a female politician is being used.”
Norway was one country that provided major financial support to the 50/50 Campaign launched prior to the Presidential election in May 2009. The Campaign’s goal was to increase women’s representation and participation in political decision-making positions and it was largely successful. Malawi elected 22% women, more than ever before, including six female ministers and Banda, its first female vice president.
“Statistical increase in women representation in politics is positive. However, the gender imbalance will remain if the numbers are not given a practical meaning and content in terms of active women participation, which continue to be a challenge in Malawi,” argues Bjorn Johannessen, former Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi.
Public Affairs Committee (PAC), the prominent civil society, interfaith organisation made up of the main Protestant, Catholic and Muslim faith groups in Malawi, recently put out a statement about Banda’s treatment and the DPP’s succession plan, which said: “the ruling party’s path wasn’t clean as the selection of a successor never went through a convention which is wrong and undemocratic.”
PAC further stated: “The way the Vice President is being victimised is disrespectful and unheard of. It is tantamount to gender-based violence against a female politician and eroding values and principles of democracy. The way the expulsion was carried out further shows lack of intra-party democracy within the ruling party.”
Aside from this there is little public debate on the controversial matter and the DPP has created an environment in which national and international stakeholders are fearful to protest or present an alternative view.
However, outside Malawi the issue is being taken up.
In a letter of solidarity addressed to the vice president earlier this year the Pan-African organisation FEMNET criticised the DPP’s treatment of Banda: “We feel that such attacks on female politicians are totally unacceptable in the 21st Century and we condemn it in the strongest term.”
Malawi is at an important crossroads and the world is beginning to take notice.
Either government can adhere to the principles of human rights and democracy enshrined in the regional and international documents it has signed, or it can continue down the dangerous path toward dictatorship.
*Chifundo Phiri is not the author’s real name. The author has chosen to remain anonymous.
This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service, which provides fresh views on everyday news.
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While this saga appears to be a gender issue and can be and has been easily sketched as such, if one were to dig a little deeper, a different story could be told. This story is being told but behind closed doors.
While the former president of Malawi, Bakili Muluzi, was in the UK for medical treatment in 2009 a few months after the last Presidential and Parliamentary elections where Bingu wa Mutharika was elected and the DPP won a majority in the National Assembly, Joyce Banda, who had just been elected Vice President with the DPP, paid the old president of the UDF a visit.
During this visit, reliable sources will tell you that Banda and Muluzi discussed the possibility of Banda running as the UDF candidate in 2014 although she was and still is the Vice President of the country and elected in under the DPP. Accusations were later made at a DPP meeting here in Malawi and since then relations within the party have been fraught with tension. If Banda has not been acting in the best interests of the party, within this system inherited from the British, it is not unexpected that she has been fired.
Banda has won the sympathy vote, yet what has she done for Malawi. One colleague told me last week that “Joyce Banda is a bad woman. Go to the Village of Hope in area 43 [an orphan programme] and they will tell you what she has done.”
Issues besides her gender must also be considered in reporting and discussion lest we are blinded by gender-goggles that do not allow us to see political motives from all parties.
Thank you Alinafe, it’s good to hear the story that is being told behind closed doors. You also make a good point about ‘gender goggles’. I would like to know what exactly Joyce Banda has done at Village of Hope that is so bad – do you know? What do you think about Patricia Kaliati and her comments on the Banda issue? She was so derogatory it was embarrassing to me as a Malawian and as a woman.
Thank you, Alinafe. Interesting. However, I dont believe it is true. Why would a vice president consider running as candidate for another party as long as she was still VP and therefore the most likely to be running for DPP as the 2014 candidate? And why would this not simply come out in the open if “reliable sources” knew of it? Admit that she has been pushed into the sideline since the day Bingu got the bright idea of continuing the “family business” of Malawi and pulling his own brother into politics. She was a huge threat. She might not be perfect. What politician is? But the fact is that she has been expelled and discriminated in an unfair manner for the boss to have it his way. I dont know if it has anything to do with gender. But it is not nice to look at, it is not very democratic and it is not very healthy for the political environment in Malawi.
I doubt if Alinafe is a true Malawian woman. What is happening with Joyce Banda is the issue of worry to all Malawian women not considering of her political of religious affiliations. Joyce Banda she is now like a prisoner. As a vice president she is entitled to full security details. By order from above the police removed her body guards. Soon after removing her body guards they plotted to assassinate her thank God the plot yielded to nothing as the truck bumped into her MG2 Benz whilst she was in the other car. The Malawi broadcasting corporation MBC they are busy castigating this woman 24 hours every day. Bingu has actually removed some of her assignments right from the political rally. They are now strategising on how to impeach her. This is just to mention but a few of her atrocities. Alinafe you mean you don’t see these things. The orphan cares you are talking about the village of hope you are asking us to go and see what’s there by the way
To begin with comments raised by one Alinafe cannot go without being contested. The comments are very shameful and unfathomable as they live a lot to be desired. Malawians from all walks of life know that allegations which Alinafe has leveled against the veep are untrue. Out of curiosity I had to crosscheck the allegations including the one which insinuates that she worked with a Lilongwe based orphanage knows as Village of Hope and I found out not to be true.
On allegations that the veep harbors plans to rejoin the opposition UDF are untrue and ludicrous as the lack merit and have no empirical evidence just to say but the least. That some ordinary and senior members of the UDF have made comments in the newspapers to that effect are indeed true but the vice president has neither denied nor confirmed her stance meaning she is still keeping her choices close to her chest and hopefully she would make her position known when the right time comes.
Today, every Malawian including Alinafe knows for sure that the veep has been subjected to public ridicule, insult and abuse but despite all this mud thrown at her, the highly esteemed woman has chosen to keep quite. This should at least give people like Alinafe time to reflect on whether they are doing the right thing or not when they lead the onslaught to demonize the sitting vice president. This woman under discussion has really hlped her country in all facets of life as such she deserves some respect. Let me reason with Alinafe to get ashamed of her unsubstantiated comments.
Just to mention but a few achievements Joyce Banda has carried in her personal capacity include: Her initiative to run 30 orphanages country wide to me thats no mean achievement, in orphan care centers about 4,500 children are being well taken care of. She has also opened a secondary school for orphans in her home area where over 200 youths are being enrolled. That has not ended there as she distributed over 300, 000 day old chicks to vulnerable women in Malawi as part of economic empowerment, this happened last year alone…..as if that is not enough being a believer she has built 13 churches using her personal funds as well as several health centers. Talk of goats and dairy cows she has been distributing them to needy Malawians regardless of their ethnicity. To wrap it all she is also been the brains behind establishment of some of the country’s reputable organizations.
As such with such a distinguished and honorable service the vice president has rendered to people of Malawi I think it would unfair and unchristian for people like Alinafe to go out and about discrediting her for the sake of pleasing somebody, it’s a shame.
Lastly both Malawi and the international community knows better how the Mutharika administration is trampling down anybody who does not adhere to its unpopular endorsement of the president’s brother as the DPP’s standard torchbearer for 2014, victimization of the vice president started way back after inauguration at the Kamuzu stadium, all signs were clear that the president just needed the veep to woo female votes……BUT THERE IS ONE MISTAKE BINGU IS MAKING THAT IS TO UNDER-ESTIMATE HER ENEMY, IT’S A BIG TIM MISTAK, just search meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly speaking. Joyce Banda she a big threat to the president and his brother. the only stumbling block between Peter Mutharika to become the president of the Republic of Malawi is Joyce Banda. this is a fact. even small small children of Malawi knows this fact. Now the president is doing all possible means to get lid of this innocent woman. for the first time since multiparty democracy is vice without any ministerial position. Joyce Banda i would say she is a strong woman fit to rule this country. The DPP led govt they are having sleepless nights because of her. Any person found associating with her, she is either dispelled from the party or face big consequences. Through MBC a public broadcasting cooperation, they have launched a very serious decampaigning programmes against her. they are insulting her on each and every programmes. insults insults I mean insults. they are paying chiefs to castigate her. they have a special programmes Makiyolobasi dedicated on just insulting her for an hour. just imagine. recently we had a pastoral letter written by our Bishops condemning the way the government of Malawi is undermining this woman as the vice president. the Malawi council of churches they have also expressed their concern on the way Bingu is violating this woman’s rights. the Public affairs committee a leading civil society in Malawi has alos issued their statement asking the president to stop abusing this woman. the Malawi human rights consultative committee they have also condemned the DPP led government on the way the are sidelining hon. Joyce Banda. president has come out openly through Ntaba that he can not protect or defend her from the abuses she is getting from MBC. this a very sad story for Malawi’s democracy and women empowerment. just recently the president called her to a pre arranged staged National Governing Council for DPP just to accuse her for things which we doubt they are true . for instance that she was responsible for the failed arrival of the barge at Nsanje port. our story is sad.
To begin with comments raised by one Alinafe cannot go without being contested. The comments are very shameful and unfathomable as they live a lot to be desired. Malawians from all walks of life know that allegations which Alinafe has leveled against the veep are untrue. Out of curiosity I had to crosscheck the allegations including the one which insinuates that she worked with a Lilongwe based orphanage knows as Village of Hope and I found out not to be true.
On allegations that the veep harbors plans to rejoin the opposition UDF are untrue and ludicrous as the lack merit and have no empirical evidence just to say but the least. That some ordinary and senior members of the UDF have made comments in the newspapers to that effect are indeed true but the vice president has neither denied nor confirmed her stance meaning she is still keeping her choices close to her chest and hopefully she would make her position known when the right time comes.
Today, every Malawian including Alinafe knows for sure that the veep has been subjected to public ridicule, insult and abuse but despite all this mud thrown at her, the highly esteemed woman has chosen to keep quite. This should at least give people like Alinafe time to reflect on whether they are doing the right thing or not when they lead the onslaught to demonize the sitting vice president. This woman under discussion has really hlped her country in all facets of life as such she deserves some respect. Let me reason with Alinafe to get ashamed of her unsubstantiated comments.
Just to mention but a few achievements Joyce Banda has carried in her personal capacity include: Her initiative to run 30 orphanages country wide to me thats no mean achievement, in orphan care centers about 4,500 children are being well taken care of. She has also opened a secondary school for orphans in her home area where over 200 youths are being enrolled. That has not ended there as she distributed over 300, 000 day old chicks to vulnerable women in Malawi as part of economic empowerment, this happened last year alone…..as if that is not enough being a believer she has built 13 churches using her personal funds as well as several health centers. Talk of goats and dairy cows she has been distributing them to needy Malawians regardless of their ethnicity. To wrap it all she is also been the brains behind establishment of some of the country’s reputable organizations.
As such with such a distinguished and honorable service the vice president has rendered to people of Malawi I think it would unfair and unchristian for people like Alinafe to go out and about discrediting her for the sake of pleasing somebody, it’s a shame.
Lastly both Malawi and the international community knows better how the Mutharika administration is trampling down anybody who does not adhere to its unpopular endorsement of the president’s brother as the DPP’s standard torchbearer for 2014, victimization of the vice president started way back after inauguration at the Kamuzu stadium, all signs were clear that the president just needed the veep to woo female votes……BUT THERE IS ONE MISTAKE BINGU IS MAKING THAT IS TO UNDER-ESTIMATE HER ENEMY, IT’S A BIG TIM MISTAK, just search meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here in Malawi we have a very big problem in the sense that whenever a regime is making serious and regrettable mistakes we turn to clap hands and ululate. Whether its illiteracy or what but this is the very same practice which led to coronation of Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda as the worst dictator of all time. Because of his political prowess people started to exalt him as if he were a semi-god and nobody needs to study philosophy to guess what happened next…despite enjoying food surplus a lot of Malawians lost their lives for one reason or the other, people were no longer enjoying peace as every time the big time coughed the entire country could catch the flu….up until a fierce uprising which led to his departure in 1994 through the unpredictable ballot that saw man from Machinga Bakili Muluzi being ascended to power.
If Bakili was able to learn from Kamuzu mistakes which he did somehow he would have been the country best president ever but alas he became buoyed with power and when he was at the height of his power h never listened to anyone and it was this strange altitude he had built that led to the handpicking of current president Bingu Mutharika.
Frankly speaking this man has done a good in putting the economy on right track as well as securing food surplus….however he too just like his other predecessors has become untouchable and he thinks he is the only man who can successfully turn around economic fortunes of Malawi. This is why he mobilizing very Jim and Jack to drum up support for his brother Peter Mutharika who is also Higher Education Minister.
In a bid to ensure that the Mutharika dynasty bid does not met any stumbling blocks, lots of innocent souls have suffered at the hands of the tyrannical regime and among the victims include his once close ally and chosen running mate in the 2009 polls Joyce Banda.
This woman has been centre of all sorts of political tactics that have been aimed at frustrating if not entirely wiping out her glittering political career. Today a good fraction of programs on state on MBC media have been aimed at discrediting and destroying her. Somehow this has worked out as she is no longer part of the ruling part’s elite as she was fired together with another former cabinet minister Khumbo Kachali from the party.
Her firing from the party is nothing but pity jealousy and unfounded false allegations being leveled against her.
As far as am concerned this woman is innocent may be until she is proven guilty and in the final analysis it would be Malawians that are going to be the best and objective judge come 2014……………….