Upon our return to Malawi from Mozambique on April 5th, 2012, we heard a rumor that Malawi’s president, Bingu Muntharika (a democratic president turned corrupt dictator when he realized how much power he had), had died of a heart attack. I shrugged it off as a too-good-to-be-true rumor, an act of sensationalist false reporting.
But no, he died. He had a heart attack doing something somewhere. He was an old man with a lot of health issues. But if you ask a Malawian, they’ll tell you the reason he died was that God looked down and said “time to throw Malawi a freakin’ bone” (at least, that’s what they mean, I’m paraphrasing). It wasn’t until days later, on the 9th, that his death was announced publically. During this time, Malawi was eerily quiet. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe rejoicing and a flood of political opinions being spewed loudly. But I certainly wasn’t expecting Malawians sweeping their dirt front yards as usual. It was like they were all holding their breath to see what was going to happen. One of my buddies had a theory that people were scared to speak their minds, remembering the days of Mubarak’s (the first president) reign of terror and mysterious disappearings.
The delay in announcing Bingu’s death was due to the corrupt political powers scratching their heads about what to do and then clawing at each other’s throats and eyes for control, and when that didn’t work, throwing corrupt political temper tantrums. The Malawian constitution says that if anything happen to the president, the vice president takes over automatically. The vice president was Joyce Banda, whom Bingu and the ruling party, the DPP (Democratic People’s Party) had essentially thrown out because she was against a lot of the stuff Bingu was doing. She left the party but was never removed from her position as the VP. So when Bingu died, the DPP tried to go behind the government’s back, break the constitution, and swear in Peter Muntharika, Bingu’s brother, as the new president. The #1 and #2 police people were both DPP and so, backed this move. But #3 in the police department, who actually had direct control over the police force, backed the constitution, which put the DPP conspirators in a bad position. This, compounded by the fact that their evil plan got out and back to Joyce Banda, pretty much insured they’d be screwed. Somehow, despite people’s high anxiety of protests and quiet questionings if Malawi would accept a female leader, the most peaceful hand over imaginable occurred. Banda was sworn in officially, members of the DPP quickly asked Banda for mercy and switched parties, many of the DPP members behind the evil plan are now on trial for treason, and #1 and #2 police men were removed or something.
A ten day mourning period commenced for Bingu. During this time, if you asked a Malwaian what they thought of the whole ordeal they would say they are sad and mourning the loss of Bingu, because that is respectful. But as they shake their heads and say this they will also smile and say they are very happy, in the same breath. They can’t really keep their happiness about the whole situation hidden. The death of Bingu is one of the most important milestones in Malawi’s recent history. Not only are they now rid of his insanity and corruption but also they now have a female president, the first female president in sub-Saharan Africa. It’s a really cool time to be in Malawi. It seems that Joyce Banda is a legit person, not corrupt, and might actually be able to put Malawi back on track. She’s already repairing relationships with neighboring countries and the World Bank and the West (all of which had left Malawi to rot in the last year because Bingu went nuts). Foreign donors are returning (which I’m not too psyched about because I think Malawi needs to end its dependence on aid money) and there’s some amount of petrol in the country again. The kwacha was devalued again but inflation has stabilized. Laws on foreign money have been changed and lifted, essentially squashing the black market exchange. People are hopeful about the future and they should be.
But no, he died. He had a heart attack doing something somewhere. He was an old man with a lot of health issues. But if you ask a Malawian, they’ll tell you the reason he died was that God looked down and said “time to throw Malawi a freakin’ bone” (at least, that’s what they mean, I’m paraphrasing). It wasn’t until days later, on the 9th, that his death was announced publically. During this time, Malawi was eerily quiet. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe rejoicing and a flood of political opinions being spewed loudly. But I certainly wasn’t expecting Malawians sweeping their dirt front yards as usual. It was like they were all holding their breath to see what was going to happen. One of my buddies had a theory that people were scared to speak their minds, remembering the days of Mubarak’s (the first president) reign of terror and mysterious disappearings.
The delay in announcing Bingu’s death was due to the corrupt political powers scratching their heads about what to do and then clawing at each other’s throats and eyes for control, and when that didn’t work, throwing corrupt political temper tantrums. The Malawian constitution says that if anything happen to the president, the vice president takes over automatically. The vice president was Joyce Banda, whom Bingu and the ruling party, the DPP (Democratic People’s Party) had essentially thrown out because she was against a lot of the stuff Bingu was doing. She left the party but was never removed from her position as the VP. So when Bingu died, the DPP tried to go behind the government’s back, break the constitution, and swear in Peter Muntharika, Bingu’s brother, as the new president. The #1 and #2 police people were both DPP and so, backed this move. But #3 in the police department, who actually had direct control over the police force, backed the constitution, which put the DPP conspirators in a bad position. This, compounded by the fact that their evil plan got out and back to Joyce Banda, pretty much insured they’d be screwed. Somehow, despite people’s high anxiety of protests and quiet questionings if Malawi would accept a female leader, the most peaceful hand over imaginable occurred. Banda was sworn in officially, members of the DPP quickly asked Banda for mercy and switched parties, many of the DPP members behind the evil plan are now on trial for treason, and #1 and #2 police men were removed or something.
A ten day mourning period commenced for Bingu. During this time, if you asked a Malwaian what they thought of the whole ordeal they would say they are sad and mourning the loss of Bingu, because that is respectful. But as they shake their heads and say this they will also smile and say they are very happy, in the same breath. They can’t really keep their happiness about the whole situation hidden. The death of Bingu is one of the most important milestones in Malawi’s recent history. Not only are they now rid of his insanity and corruption but also they now have a female president, the first female president in sub-Saharan Africa. It’s a really cool time to be in Malawi. It seems that Joyce Banda is a legit person, not corrupt, and might actually be able to put Malawi back on track. She’s already repairing relationships with neighboring countries and the World Bank and the West (all of which had left Malawi to rot in the last year because Bingu went nuts). Foreign donors are returning (which I’m not too psyched about because I think Malawi needs to end its dependence on aid money) and there’s some amount of petrol in the country again. The kwacha was devalued again but inflation has stabilized. Laws on foreign money have been changed and lifted, essentially squashing the black market exchange. People are hopeful about the future and they should be.
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