Today, 6 July, is Malawi’s Independence Day. People here are proud of their country but the independence celebrations have become rueful and subdued as the gap widens between everyday experience and the aspirations kindled by the attainment of independence.
A cloud over the independence celebrations this year is the violence that was unleashed last month on a group of peaceful protesters who were campaigning for a fair election – with Malawians due to go to the polls in September. They were attacked by thugs wielding panga knives and some were seriously injured. A particular source of concern is that the police were present but made no effort to protect the peaceful citizens who were under attack. Given Malawi’s history of political violence, inevitably the question was raised as to whether the Government was in some way behind the violence.
By and large, Malawi has been a peaceful and orderly country. There has always, however, been an undercurrent of political violence that can come to the surface, especially when an election is on the horizon and the stakes are high. Anger and despair at the economic situation create pressures that can easily lead to violence. Many young men have little or no stake in the status quo and can easily be tempted to vent their frustrations.
This rather fraught situation is not helped by the decision of the Trump administration to decimate USAID, a major player in the small Malawi economy. Nor by a Labour Government in the UK that has slashed the international development budget in order to provide more funding for the manufacture of lethal weapons. These budgetary adjustments are hardly noticed in the wealthy countries but in Malawi they mean a move from solidarity and hope to despair and desperation.
Malawi at Sixty-one is a wake-up call for me since I am working with colleagues on a book to mark Malawi at Sixty – now high time it was finished. Meanwhile, the book is featuring in a curtain-raising Webinar series hosted by the Scotland-Malawi Partnership – https://www.scotland-malawipartnership.org/events/malawi-at-60-governance-webinar-series It reckons with the scale of the challenges Malawi faces while also celebrating the extraordinary qualities that Malawians bring to the struggle.
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