Give Me Money!

This is the resounding request we get from children and even adults all day long as we walk through town. It gets really old quickly. However, you can’t blame the people, considering this is a country with nearly half their national income coming from foreign aid. Malawi is experiencing a serious fuel shortage these past months and the president actually traveling to individual countries begging for fuel buyouts, China bought Malawi out in January; and just recently, the president was in Nigeria asking for the same.

So why is Malawi this way? In honor of the national holiday we experienced while visiting Malawi, Martyr’s Day on March 4, here is a very brief history of Malawi, as I understand it:

In the early 19^th century, Malawi was ripe with the East African Slave Trade. In 1859, British explorer, Dr. David Livingston, reached Lake Malawi. He describes in his writings a body of water so full of skulls and dead bodies that it was straight from hell. He set a mission to abolish the slave trade in Malawi. He died during his cause in 1873, likely from Malaria. Hence, Martyr’s Day is a celebration of Dr. Livingston. His death inspired a legion of British missionaries to come to Africa, bringing with them commerce and Christianity. Thousands of these missionaries died of malaria, young husband and wife and infant child all buried together.

Following the missionaries, European adventurers and trade pioneers began to arrive in Malawi in masses. By the early 1900s, the British had colonial rule over the country, mainly using Malawians as a labor source for their mining and trading in surrounding nations. Although colonial rule brought with it an end to slave trade and intertribal conflicts, as Americans know that colonies pay a price, so soon the struggle for independence began. It is interesting to note that when Malawi finally gained its independence, it was left with none of the benefits of colonial rule that we had in the United States, such as sufficient railroads, roads, or transport system, nor a decent education system.

Malawi gained its independence in 1964 and the leader of the independent movement was made President, Dr. Banda. He declared himself “President for Life” and ruled for 30 years before his downfall and then death 3 years later. In 1993 Malawi became a multi-party system and elected United Democratic Front (UDF) Leader Muluzi in 1994. With Muluzi’s leadership came many positive changes- such as freedom of speech and print. He was re-elected in 1999. In 2002, Muluzi failed to pass a bill t6hat would have given him life presidency and named Mutharika as his successor, who won the election and is the president of Malawi today.

Although Mutharika did great things for the economic growth (like the fertilizer subsidy program) and healthcare (stepped up the fight against AIDS/HIV) it seems that the power may have started to go to his head and political corruption has ensued. For example, the government has a monopoly hold on the lumbar industry in Malawi. Furthermore, a recent email from the Malawian British ambassador back to the UK was (purposefully?) leaked. This email suggested that Mutharika has become more of a dictator than a democratic ruler. Mutharika promptly asked the British ambassador to leave the country, and Britain, who had provided considerable aid to the country since its independence, subsequently withdrew their financial aid in Malawi. As a result of this, several European nations have since done the same-- hence, the “Give me money” desperation of this country.

Malawi has a very difficult time ahead of it. The next election is in 2014 and the press is very openly criticizing the current president. Malawians are very peaceful and religious people. War and major violence has never disrupted the natural beauty of this country or ravaged its culture. Let’s hope it stays that way.