AFRICANEWS

MALAWI

Tribalism: A time bomb waiting to explode

by Patrick Mawaya (1,040 words)

Malawi is a country of close to 12 million people divided along ethnic groups whose differncess are enhanced by factors ranging from colonial history to recent political developments in the country. Our writer argues that ethnicity is a time bomb waiting to explode - unless it is addressed immediately.

Malawi, formerly under the British colonial system was divided into three administrative regions. Those regions remain up to today. The divisions followed the ethnic groups. The northern region is composed of mainly Tumbuka speaking people while the central region is composed of mainly Chewa-speaking people and the southern region mainly with Sena, Yao and Lomwe- speaking people respectively. This is in addition to other minor ethnic groups found within the regions. Was this division a perpetuation of regionalism or tribalism?

The fight against the colonialists came to an end in 1964 when Malawi attained independence in 1966. Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda became the first Prime Minister and the first president of the newly-established republic. At that time, English was the only alien language to be used officially for business. In addition, Dr. Banda imposed Chichewa, a local language to be the national official language alongside English. He banned the use of Tumbuka in schools and on the national radio, the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation. This resulted in aggression by people from the northern region, mainly the Tumbuka people. For the Tumbuka people, the sense of identity was lost through the ban of the Tumbuka language. The anger against Dr. Banda grew.

As if the ban of the Tumbuka language was not enough, ethnic competition and deprivation became prominent features. There was uneven development arising from colonial development. The University of Malawi was set up in the Southern region. Currently, there are three constituent colleges of the University of Malawi in the south and two colleges in the central region, making a total of five constituent colleges of the University of Malawi.

In addition, the southern region of Malawi is the hub of all commercial activities while the central takes care of the tobacco industry implying that there were not much activities left for the Northern region. Dr. Banda even went further to construct an Academy (Kamuzu Academy) in his own district, Kasungu.

Although Dr. Banda imposed Chichewa as a national language he did not speak the language himself. All the time he was president of Malawi, he only spoke through an interpreter. Was the imposition of Chichewa a reality or mere rhetoric? To contain the situation, a system of one party system developed. This, however, did not take long until the one party system was broken up in the quest for multi-party politics.

The Tumbuka language was banned but Christian churches in the northern region continued to use it. Both the Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches said their prayers in Tumbuka. All hymn books were in Tumbuka. Why the missionaries continued to use a banned language remains unknown. But what is known is that even though Tumbuka was banned from being used officially, it was the language mostly spoken in the north.

In March 1992, the Catholic Bishops of Malawi published a pastoral letter criticising Dr. Banda and his government titled "Living Our Faith". It was in three languages namely English, Chichewa and Tumbuka. Was Chichewa really a national language or did Dr. Banda consider himself as coming from a national tribe or ethnic group?

In 1993, multi-partism was accepted as a system for Malawi's political system. In May 1994, Dr. Kamuzu Banda together with the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) lost the elections and gave way to the United Democratic Front (MDF) of Dr. Bakili Buluzi. Analysis of the parties shows that Malawi's political parties were formed along regional lines. The Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) has a majority of members from the northern region. MCP has a majority of its members from the central, while UDF has a majority of its members in the south. The results of the elections in 1994 also bear witness to the fact that people voted along regional lines. AFORD scooped all the parliamentary seats in the north: MCP won almost all the seats in the central and a few in the South: and UDF won almost all the seats in the south and a few in the central. The current position in parliament is that there is no party in Malawi parliament with a majority of votes.

In order to contain the situation, the UDF retained the Tumbuka language on national radio. But analysts say this was merely a propaganda to win the hearts of the people from the northern region. But other ethnic groups cried foul asking for consideration. Malawi, with only one radio station and two channels has six languages being spoken. Five of the languages are local (Chichewa, Tumbuka, Lomwe, Yao and Sena) with English as the only alien language. During news, one is surprised to hear the news in all the five languages. And if one is to hear all the languages, they should be prepared to sit for one hour listening to the same news. This is not seen as being real but a mere farce.

In addition, the UDF government directed that local languages be used in primary education currently offered free. However, there is no consensus as to what level a common language will be adopted. English continues to enjoy its official recognition as Malawi's official language.

In the are of development, President Muluzi directed that a second University be established in the north. This is seen as a positive move to focus development initiatives to less developed areas of the country. But it will take some time for the northern region to develop, analysts contend.

Ethnic tensions remain an important feature of Malawi's politics. The events currently taking place show that there is still a long way to go before the ethnic problem is solved. The Daily Times published a story recently which said the government forcefully retired principal secretaries who were sympathising with former MCP. The government responded by saying that the principal secretaries had reached their retirement age. However, the government's version was taken with a pinch of salt.

There is no agreement as to which language will be official local national language alongside English. The debate about language and domain of politics remain up to the present day.

Although ethnicity has not unmasked as a problem in Malawi, indicators of a deeper problem are already visible. With sixteen political parties all set along regional lines, there is a danger that is in the making.

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