Meetings went well today (have more work/fine-tuning to do) and the Ministry officials were all very receptive to the work I am planning on doing. I just finished dinner (best I have had so far in Malawi) and have settled in to the room for an evening of (re)packing to prep for my 6:00AM ride to the airport tomorrow morning.
But before I do, I want to actually follow through on one of the many things I keep teasing that I want to use this forum to discuss. While clearly the blog is an opportunity to be atrociously pithy and serve up my best Seinfeld-ian observations, it is also a way for me to communicate some of the more important, and difficult, aspects of my trip thus far. Mom and Dad, now would be a good time to avert your eyes.
Rarely do we get an opportunity to see a country on the verge of a historic precipice. Sometimes symbolic, sometimes revolutionary, sometimes tragic, countries, and speaking more agency-correctly (thank you Keith), a country’s citizenry can often become drastically impacted by a single event. We saw it this past year in Egypt, we’ve witnessed it in Japan and Haiti, and 10 years ago this month, we in the States felt it as well. Malawi, in my opinion, is at the verge of one of those moments.
In 1994, Malawi made the leap to single-party democracy, ending the one-party “Presidency for Life” rule of Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda. The process to get there wasn’t easy; protests and demonstrations had begun two years prior and Banda, unwilling to give up his life appointment, refused to move from office. It was only after donor countries began to cut their funding for Malawi that the people of Malawi were asked to vote for what kind of government they wanted; 80% of the voters chose plural politics.
Since then, the status of the Malawian government has been relatively benign. Multiparty elections have occurred regularly. A judicial system has been put into place, refined, and is working as it should. Last year, when I came to Malawi with a group of civic-minded colleagues from parts of the US and Africa, it became apparent that the democratic political system was continuing to grow, and efforts being made to incorporate civic education into the curriculum. Democracy was not only embraced, but becoming defined and redefined in the Malawian context itself. One year later, those definitions were put to the test.
Angered by the current regime’s perceived political and governance grievances, along with severe economic issues facing the country (including acute and growing petrol/diesel shortages, electricity problems, and the lack of foreign exchange), Malawians took to the street on July 20, 2011 across the country in a series of demonstrations and protests. The results were not good. 20 lost their lives, many more were injured, and dialogue between civil society organizations and government collapsed entirely. My good friend and colleague Misheck Munthali, in an email correspondence to me following the events stated: “The fact that people took to streets is good enough because it reminds those in authority that as Malawians we are not interested in being taken back to the days of oppression and intimidations. It is unfortunate that blood was shed and life was lost. I gues [sic] any meaningful struggle, has a sacrifice [sic].”
Misheck’s sentiments were seemingly shared when in August, candlelight vigils around the country were planned as both a remembrance of those who lost their lives and continued protest to their unanswered appeals to their government. But in the eleventh hour, the vigils were cancelled, most likely due to the sudden involvement of United Nations mediation and the hopes of actual constructive dialogue. This mediation too has failed however; it seems one cannot have a dialogue when the other speaks only in soliloquy.
Now, echoes and rumblings of “Wednesday” are heard in hallways, dining rooms, and offices. Civil society organizations have named September 21, 2011 a day of candlelight vigils across the country in “strategic locations” as a means to remind the government that is has to be accountable to the people of Malawi. By doing so, these organizations are operating under a basic democratic tenet: that the rules of engagement in a democracy entail that citizens demand accountability and transparency from elected officials without equivocation. The fact that the situation escalated to tragic proportions in July bears no matter. The drive to create a better Malawi, for current and future citizens is too important, and too vital, to abandon hope of good and fair governance.
All that said, this post was not meant to strike fear into any of your hearts concerning my safety (ahem, Mom and Dad). Optimism is high that these vigils will be peaceful and no animosity seems apparent in the city. Currently, injunctions are in place stopping the demonstrations, and there is doubt from many that they will even occur. Nonetheless, by Wednesday I will be safely in Blantyre, away from the capital, and hunkered down in my hotel watching the news. But I want everyone who is reading this to think both of what Malawi is facing, and what we have every day in our country. Perspective is as fragile as a glance in the other direction. Don’t forget to take a look every once in a while.
I will keep you posted.
