The morning of 19 May 2009 was quite eerie in Kanengo as the entire Area 25 seemed to have returned to being a village. At first it sounded as if a riot had broken out nearby. All that could be heard were shouts and voices coming from all different directions. For once, the voices were not drowned out by rush-hour traffic or by factory noise. They could be clearly heard as if in a rural area. A good omen for our election day!
How Did We Get to Where We Are?
Malawi as a multi-ethno-religious state has been peaceful and free to such an extent that it is known as the Warm Heart of Africa. During the countrys 30 years of one-party rule under Dr Kamuzu Banda, ethno-religious differences were suppressed. Ethno-religious identity did not have an overt influence on politics because the regime did not allow for emphasis on parochial identities. People identified themselves only as Malawians.
Under Banda, one religious group, the Jehovahs Witness, was persecuted because its faith practices contradicted or threatened the ruling party. In the Referendum of 1993, Malawians voted for a multi-party system of government. The desire to overturn the status quo autocratic government united Malawians across ethnic and religious lines in the Referendum vote. However, the presidential and parliamentary elections that followed in 1994 confirmed underlying ethnic and religious polarisation.
Since the Referendum, Malawis politics have been very dynamic. Its first general elections in 1994 marked a new era. Malawian society was excited to participate in the process of democratisation and development. The momentum of peoples voices from the Referendum continued to guide this process.
President Bakili Muluzis first term in office (1994-1999) was perceived as successful. While most people did not fully understand the principles of democracy, the new system of governance offered them an opportunity to contribute to the nations development in their own way. However, Muluzis second term of office (1999-2004) saw gross misuse of the newly founded freedoms and resources. The peoples enthusiasm for political participation waned.
During the second multi-party general elections in 1999 ethno-religious affiliation took centre stage and shaped the political agenda. In the run-up to these elections, the ethno-religious factor featured highly in political campaigns. When Bakili Muluzi won the polls again, certain sections of people in the Northern Region demonstrated and vented their frustration on those from the Southern Region. A growing rift between ethno-religious groups influenced voting patterns in the 2004 general elections. Voters supported candidates merely because they came from their region. In the build-up to these elections, Muluzi attempted to secure a third presidential term.
Foiled by pressure from faith communities, he settled on handpicking the next United Democratic Front candidate, Bingu wa Mutharika. The elections went in favour of the UDF. However, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the Mgwirizano Coalition contested the results. President Bingu resigned from the UDF in February 2005 and formed his own political party the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Having campaigned vigorously for Bingu, UDF party members felt cheated. Many are still aggrieved to this day.
For the 2009 elections, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) confirmed seven presidential candidates and 1,151 candidates aspiring to Parliament (CCJP March 2009), both women and men, of whom 481 were Independent. At both levels, some candidates were party affiliates while others were independents. For the first time in the history of Malawi, we had a woman presidential candidate whose running mate was also a woman, and another woman as the running mate from the current ruling party.
The 2009 elections were historic and were closely contested by all, but chiefly by the three major political parties: the DPP, the MCP and the UDF. The build-up to this event showed that these elections carried the potential for possible conflicts. The reasons for this are rooted in the recent history of these political parties as analysed below.
Unresolved Issues Which Impacted the 2009 General Elections
1) The Aftermath of the 2004 General Elections: the MCP and the Mgwirizano Coalition contested the 2004 presidential elections and accused UDF of rigging the electoral. The courts turned down the case on technical grounds based on the 48-hour rule. Still, the majority of the public felt that the MCP had a valid case. Contesting parties in this years elections worked to ensure that the elections were not rigged. This could be seen from each partys campaign mode.
2) The Third Term Bid By Muluzi: the failure by Bakili Muluzi, the former president, to secure a third term or open term of office in 2004 compelled him to choose Bingu as presidential candidate from outside the UDF ranks. Bingus defection from the UDF still haunts the UDF partys leadership and its supporters. Muluzis insistence to return to power in the 2009 elections was primarily to remove Bingu from office. The UDF aligned itself to MCP only after the Malawi Electoral Commission rejected Muluzis candidacy for the UDF party, indicating that he had already served two consecutive terms of office according to section 83(iii) of the Malawi Constitution. This was the last alternative for the UDF as a party.
3) Loss of Confidence in the Judiciary: the loss of confidence in the judiciary is a major cause of concern. Only the 1994 poll results were not disputed in a court of law. Other subsequent elections have been referred to courts for attention and redress. All the results have favoured the government. Before the 2009 elections it was thought that those aggrieved might not go to the courts but seek other means of redress such as refusing to recognise government, conflicting with government or even pushing for a government of national unity as modelled by Kenya and Zimbabwe.
4) The Lack of Implementation of Section 65: the failure to implement Section 65 of the Malawi Constitution is a continual cause of tension between political parties and their followers. The section says:
The Speaker shall declare vacant the seat of any member of the National Assembly who was, at the time of his or her election, a member of one political party represented in the National Assembly, other than by that member alone but who has voluntarily ceased to be a member of that party or has joined another political party represented in the National Assembly, or has joined any other political party, or association or organisation whose objectives or activities are political in nature. This section targeted a number of MPs who crossed the floor when they defected from the UDF party that sponsored them into the National Assembly to Bingus newly formed DPP. The Speaker of the National Assembly has not yet acted on those who had crossed the floor.
5) Ethnicity and Regionalism: the widening between ethno-religious and regional divides propelled by top political leadership remains a challenge for all Malawians. The nation was increasingly becoming a place where people identify themselves ethnically, religiously or regionally. Ethno-religious and regional alliances threaten the very foundation and fabric of a country that is supposed to remain one nation. Some church institutions have unfortunately also taken sides with certain political parties to the extent that church conflicts have become a source of conflict between political parties.
The 2009 Presidential and General Elections
The results of the 2009 Elections are extraordinary and show an amazing turn around in Malawis political history. The electorate have made it clear that they no longer want the old guard and are hoping for new blood, as the Catholic Bishops asked for in their pastoral letter of May 2008. Not only that but perhaps regionalism is over by the voters backing the DPP in all three regions. Or is it? Are we now heading towards a new Malawi of sliding back to a one party state with the Ngwazi wa lero? This remains to be seen. With its majority in the National Assembly the DPP government should be able to pass any bills it wishes and rule us as it wants. If such power is not used for the good of the country then we might as well take our democratic history back to pre-1993. This would be a very sad development for everyone, especially for those who have sacrificed so much to give us our free and effective vote.
Religious leaders and civil society need to keep a keen eye on the political events and should not be afraid to speak out if they see that our freedom is being eroded.
The landslide victory for DPP could also be a result of the abrupt marriage between MCP and UDF, which did not take with many supporters as there was little consultation on the electoral alliance. In certain situations it even confused people; this was noted in the actual voting process where the UDF/MCP supporters marked their ballot papers in both places especially in parliamentarian vote. This led to enormous null and void votes the highest recorded was 4,000.
This alliance would have needed more systematic civic and voter education to prepare the local mind. The continued broadcast of Muluzis past speeches against Tembo and MCP in general played a great role in eroding peoples confidence in the alliance. People still believed that Muluzi and Tembo could not work together. People who keenly followed the alliances manifestos and political campaigns did not see their main agenda besides the intended topple of Bingu from office.
It is believed that MCP and UDF would have fought a cleaner battle as separate parties or entities. One would think that they dented each others image based on their recent history. From statistics, it is possible that MCP had more votes because of significant contribution from the Southern Region districts. MCP did not do well at home, that is to say, the Central Region. The DPP and the MCP approach to the elections carried an element of ethnicity and regionalism, which was noted in their choice of running mates. It was basically to amass the needed votes to score the political mileage. The unequal access to public media and resources were a key factor in allowing DPP to carry the day.
However, with this years elections results, the problem of ethnicity and regionalism may be gone from politics, but that remains to be seen. Only we the people of Malawi can make it so. The other four unresolved issues the 2004 election results, presidential third term, confidence in the judiciary, and Section 65 still remain and no doubt will be compounded with the wounds inflicted on the MCP by the voters in the recent elections. On inauguration day, Bingu and Muluzi reconciled. Hopefully this is genuine and they will cooperate with each other, while opposing each other, in a healthy way for the good of Malawi. All the same though, will Bingu now try to take up the mantle of the third term? Will he too begin to tilt at the windmills of future politics? Confidence in the judiciary needs to be restored, but is that public confidence or political confidence, or maybe both? When there was no other resort, politicians ran to the courts for decisions.
In this way the judiciary became polluted by politics instead of remaining an autonomous arm of the government. Hopefully it will be restored to its rightful place when the new Parliament convenes. It is possible that Section 65 will not disappear. We have a different situation with this Parliament but already many of the Independent MPs were scurrying across the floor before the Assembly resumed.
This does not bode well for the next session of Parliament, but maybe the situation will be different now because the President and the DPP government have a mandate. Maybe Section 65 can be resolved instead of it blocking bills that are essential for the countrys development, not the least of which is the passing of the Budget.
What the Future Holds
As yet the future is unknown. In the past Bingu has swayed between developer and dictator. With a large majority and a weak Opposition it will be interesting to see which Bingu we will see during his second term of office. If he is truly dedicated to the good of his people and the country and wants to leave a legacy worthy of such a mandate then we will see the Developer.
If not, if he is seduced by the trappings of power that will bring us back to a one-party state, then we may find ourselves with the Dictator. One can be sure that this was not the reason the people of Malawi voted for him and the DPP in such numbers. Let us hope and pray that Mose wa Lero, who asked us to judge him by the work of his hands before the elections, will not be found wanting and that the whole country will benefit from his leadership.
* The article appeared in The Lamp magazine
Nyasa Times
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