AFRICANEWS
MalawiBanda - The beloved dictator gonePoliticsAkwete Sande (340 words)
Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda former president for life in Malawi died on November 25, 1997 in Johannesburg Garden City Clinic, a week after being taken unconscious from a Malawi Clinic. Banda believed to be 99 years (officially born in 1906 on May 14) suffered from pneumonia and high fever from November 15, while at his official retirement home in the commercial city of Blantyre. Dr Banda, revered by his followers as the Lion, Ngwazi - the Conqueror, among other accolades ruled Malawi with iron-fist from the year of independence from Britain in 1964 until he was ousted from power by Bakili Muluzi in 1994 in the first democratic elections. Banda who had spent many years studying and working in the United States of America and Britain returned home in 1958 to lead the campaign for freedom. In his middle ages Banda's fiery oratory galvanised the people of then Nyasaland into severe opposition to wnite settlers who had formed federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, comprising Zambia (Northern Rhodesia), Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia) and Malawi (Nyasaland) in 1953. The federal government arrested him and his followers, following his release in 1960, Banda negotiated for independence of Nyasaland, and in 1964 Malawi got independence. However, Banda's dictatorial tendencies began to appear when two months after independence he dismissed four cabinet ministers, a move which precipitated a cabinet crisis when other ministers resigned in sympathy with their colleagues Banda hounded them and others fled into exile. The issue at stake was the struggle for freedom of Southern Africa and the Portuguese territories. Banda did not want to assist the liberation movements and fraternised with Apartheid South Africa and the Portuguese, as well as slow pace of Africanisation in the civil service. After the cabinet crisis Banda began his long career of repression and terror. He set up a sophisticated intelligence network which eliminated his political opponents from within and abroad. He transformed a youth movement the Malawi Young Pioneers into his own personal army at the expense of the Police and the regular Army. Buildings, roads, airports, colleges and all other important infrastructures were named after him. People were forced to offer him gifts, and thousands were detained in numerous prisons which he constructed throughout the country for those resisting his rule. However, things began to go wrong for him when he mishandled Catholic Bishops following the Bishops Pastoral Letter of 1992 which criticised Banda's autocracy. The Bishops were detained for ten (10) hours and christians began to rally behind them. The International Community intervened, and an underground movement emerged. The Bishops were spared but the change had started. A few months later two pressure groups campaigning for change emerged. Alliance for Democracy (Aford) led by Chakufwa Chihana and United Democratic Front (UDF) led by Bakili Muluzi forced Banda to call for a referendum to determine whether Malawians wanted one party rule or multiparty system of government. The international donor community suspended aid to Malawi on its human rights records, Banda had no choice but hold the polls in June 1993. About 70 percent of the eleven (11) million people overwhelmingly voted for multi-party system of government. The constitution was rewritten and multiparty general elections took place in May 1994, and Bakili Muluzi defeated Banda. Banda frail and senile accepted defeat gracefully and the Government decide to offer him retirement benefits. However, Muluzi had a campaign promise to achieve bringing to book all people who perpetrated ills against the citizens of the country. The glaring issue was the 1983 murder of four cabinet ministers - Dick Matenje, Aaron Gadama, Twaibu Sangala and David Chiwanga, alleged to have died in a car accident. Muluzi set up a commission of inquiry headed by a High Court Judge. The commission established that the four cabinet ministers were murdered and the Police had carried out the operation. Banda and his longtime confidante and Official Hostess Cecilia Kadzamira, John Tembo longtime ally, and some former senior Police Officers were arrested. However, after a year's trial Banda was found not guilty. Then came other charges of fraud in which Banda was accused of abusing Government funds to build a private school and deposit lots of money in foreign banks. All along Banda remained life president of his party - the Malawi Congress Party. In July 1997 Banda retired from politics. Following his retirement President Muluzi appealed to the Director of Public Prosecutions to drop all charges against Dr Banda, and a few months later paid a courtesy call to Banda. The reconciliation between Banda and Muluzi paved way for recent state burial of Banda, cited as a lucky and beloved dictator. Despite all the suffering Malawians underwent during his rule Muluzi's Government accorded him a wonderful funeral with over 100,000 people attending it in Malawi's Capital, Lilongwe. This included Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Quett Masire of Botswana. Wednesday December 3, the day Banda was laid to rest was declared a public holiday. Most amusing were eulogies at the funeral ceremony where Banda was named "gallant Son of Africa, a true Statesman among others."When I die I want to be remembered as a man who united his people, taught them the dignity of hard work", Banda once said. But alleged to have all along favoured his tribesmen the Chewas, it is very unlikely that people will talk of Banda having united Malawians who are divided along ethnic lines. As for hard work, people will not forget his disrespect for local professionals in favour of white foreigners. "I don't want mutu bii (a black person) to teach at this Academy", said Banda when he opened his grammar school in 1981. "Muluzi has united Malawians by holding a state funeral for Banda, because Banda's achievements and atrocities during his reign remain part of history of our nation", said a lawyer who was involved in a 1994 commission of inquiry on the death of four former cabinet ministers in 1983.
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