CODESRIA Bulletin Online, No. 4, July 2020 Page 1

Online Article

Malawi Makes History: The Opposition Wins Presidential Election Rerun

This piece first appeared on the author’s linked-in page June( 28, 2020) a n d has been republished here with his permission

n Saturday, June 27, 2020 In the struggles for democratiza- became the first Paul Tiyambe Zeleza tion, for the “second independ- Ocountry in Africa where a Vice Chancellor ence” in the 1980s and early 1990s, presidential election rerun was won United States International Malawi’s political culture was by the opposition. On February 3, University, buoyed by the emergence of strong 2020 Malawi became the second social movements. These move- country on the continent where the ments coalesced most prominently Constitutional Court nullified the power since 2004, save for a brief around the Public Affairs Commit- presidential election of May 21, interlude. The two-year interval was tee and the Human Rights Defend- 2019 because of widespread, sys- the presidency of fol- ers Coalition. Formed in 1992 as a tematic, and grave irregularities lowing the death of Bingu wa Muth- pressure group of religious com- and anomalies that compromised arika in April 2012 and the election munities and other forces, PAC the right to vote and the democratic of , the late Bingu’s became a highly respected and in- choice of citizens. The first country brother, in May 2014. fluential political actor. While PAC was Kenya where the presidential functioned as a civil interlocutor election of August 8, 2017 was an- This reflects, secondly, Malawi’s for democracy, the HRDC flexed nulled by the Supreme Court on political culture of collective na- its political muscles in organizing September 1, 2017. However, in tionalist pride that goes back to de- mass protests. Kenya the ruling party proceeded colonization. No region or ethnic to win the election rerun which group claims ownership of the in- Complementing political culture, was boycotted by the opposition. dependence struggle. The national- thirdly, is political socialization. ist movement fought on two fronts, As in much of Africa, regional Malawi’s unprecedented political against British colonialism and and ethnic political mobilization feat sprang from eight powerful against settler colonialism of the and polarization have deepened forces. First, it is a tribute to the Central African Federation of Rho- since independence as the capaci- protracted and unrelenting struggles desia and . Malawi was ties of the political class to deliver of its people for democratic govern- the poorest of the three colonies in the developmental and democratic ance. For a year they persevered the federation that included Zambia promises of uhuru declined and with mass demonstrations against (Northern ) and Zimba- their appetites for primitive accu- the wanton theft of their votes de- bwe (). It was mulation escalated. However, the spite threats and repression by the a labor reserve of Southern Africa, nationalist memories and aspira- beleaguered and discredited gov- a political economy that gave rise tions for nation-building lingered. ernment. They were sick and tired simultaneously to a regionalist and The DPP’s openly ethnocentric of the crass, corrupt, inept, and eth- nationalist outlook, a propensity to and exclusionary regime became nocentric leadership of the Demo- embrace regional developments and deeply resented. The country’s cratic Progressive Party (DPP) in forge a distinctive national path. robust media, both the traditional CODESRIA Bulletin Online, No. 4, July 2020 Page 2 and new social media, provided valued expression of African and The new government represents a ample space to vent against the international solidarity. The legal generational shift in several ways. intensifying regional, ethnic, and community in the country went The new president, Dr. Lazarus religious divides. on unprecedented nation-wide Chakwera, was born in the twilight demonstrations. It was an act of years of colonialism and came of Reinforcing the complex and con- political sabotage that brought ut- age after independence. All his tradictory dynamics and demands ter humiliation to the DPP leader, predecessors were products of co- of the country’s political culture Peter Mutharika, a lawyer edu- lonialism from which they inher- and political socialization was, cated at the ited some of their perverted politi- fourth, the emergence of a fiercely and who taught for cal and psychological dispositions. independent judiciary that refused more than four decades in Tanza- He is also the first graduate of the to be intimidated by the executive nia, , and the US at Rut- country’s first university, the Uni- branch in the country’s tripartite gers University and Washington versity of Malawi, to ascend to the system of government. Not only University. It underscored the fact presidency. The first president born was the judgment of the Consti- that high levels of education and in the 1890s, received his universi- tutional Court annulling the presi- diaspora exposure in the global ty education in the US and Britain; dential election unanimous, it was North provide no immunity to the the second and fourth didn’t attend upheld by the Supreme Court on pathologies of political narcissism, university; the third and fifth also May 8, 2020 against a misguided incompetence, and idiocy. went to overseas institutions as and embarrassing appeal by the they grew up when Malawi had no DPP and Malawi Electoral Com- The strength of the opposition university. mission. In their deliberations the movement against the DPP’s klep- courts demonstrated admirable, tocratic and dynastic rule was facil- President Chakwera’s election methodical and brilliant jurispru- itated, fifth, by a generational shift may also represent the end of the dence. Most critical was the ruling in the country’s politics. Like most diaspora allure and grip over the that the winner in presidential elec- African countries, Malawi’s popu- Malawi presidency started by Dr. tions should amass over 50% of the lation is predominantly young. The Banda. President Banda returned valid votes cast. median age for the country’s 20.1 to Malawi to join the nationalist million people in 2020 is 16.5 and movement after spending 43 years At a stroke, a fatal dagger was 66.7% are below the age of 24. abroad. The Mutharika brothers struck at the heart of regional and This means the vast majority of returned to rule also after decades ethnic politics, of the DPP’s elec- the country’s population have no in the diaspora. Presidents Bakili toral shenanigans, for no party memories of Dr. Banda, the found- Muluzi (1994-2004) and Joyce could any longer win by only mo- ing president, and his dictatorial Banda (2012-2014) were home bilizing its base. The opposition regime from 1964 to 1994. What grown. So is President Chakwera parties, led by the independence they know is the ineptitude and although he did graduate studies party, the , putrescence of the governments of in the US. The diaspora will of and the recently formed United the Mutharika brothers. course continue to play a role in Transformation Movement, quick- Malawian politics, economy and ly entered into a powerful alliance. Ravaged by poverty, unemploy- society, but I suspect no longer at The DPP also forged an alliance ment, and underemployment the the level of the presidency. with the party that had won the youth are hungry for more account- first democratic election of 1994, able and development-oriented The role of the diaspora noted the United Democratic Party, out government. They were the back- above underscores the sixth con- of which the DPP split. bone of the widespread protests that text of Malawian politics and tran- rocked the country following the sitions, namely, the impact of ex- Desperate and ill-guided efforts rigged election of May 2019. They ternal developments. It is possible by the DPP government to fire the were particularly galvanized by to argue that the Constitutional Chief Justice and his deputy a lit- the charismatic Vice President, Dr. Court was inspired by the nullifi- tle over a week before the elections , who was born nine cation of the presidential election provoked national, regional and years after Malawi’s independence. in Kenya in 2017. Earlier in the global outrage from chief justice They could not relate to the octoge- 1990s during the struggle for de- and lawyers associations as well narian and antediluvian DPP leader, mocratization, Malawi’s opposi- legal scholars and activists, a much President Mutharika, born in 1940. tion movement was invigorated CODESRIA Bulletin Online, No. 4, July 2020 Page 3 by the ouster of President Kaunda Thus, given Malawi’s regional ten- demic, the HRDC went to court in 1991 in neighboring Zambia tacles generated by the history of and won an injunction against the through a democratic election, as migrant labor, reinforced by the lockdown. The HRDC argued that well as the momentous demise of transport and communication net- the government had not undertaken apartheid in South Africa, the sub- works of a landlocked country, and consultations and provided meas- regional metropole of Southern Af- the thick circuits of contemporary ures to cushion the poor and most rica that from the late 19th century media, many Malawians are acute- vulnerable against the impact of drew millions of workers from the ly aware of regional developments. the lockdown. labor reserves of the region includ- They are frustrated and angered by ing Malawi. the fact that their country seems to Protests by small-scale traders, be lagging behind their southern most of them young people, de- More recently, two developments African neighbors in terms of de- manded government support in have cast their shadows on the Ma- velopment. They blame it, rightly, terms of cash handouts and food to lawian political and developmental on poor leadership and bad gov- help them manage the harsh effects imagination. First, is the meltdown ernance, exacerbated by the cul- of a lockdown. Underlying these of under the incompe- ture of mediocrity and low national protests was general lack of faith in tent and venal Mugabe dictator- expectations. the government’s capacity to man- ship, a spiral that has continued age the crisis, which fed into the under his successor, President The professionalism of the mili- narrative of government corruption Mnangagwa. Zimbabwe was once tary is the seventh critical factor and incompetence. In short, even a major destination for Malawian in Malawi’s remarkable electoral during, or despite, the most devas- migrant workers and a country that transition. Since independence and tating health and economic crisis in the first decade of independence at crucial moments, they have con- to hit the country and the world in was seen as a model of democratic sistently maintained loyalty to the decades, there was little trust in the developmentalism notwithstand- Constitution of the Republic, not state, which is likely to lead to the ing the heavy structural legacies of to the President as Commander- devastation the economy and soci- settler colonial capitalism. in-Chief. They did so in 1992 dur- ety as the pandemic spreads. ing the referendum on multi-party Second, was the relatively im- democracy and in the subsequent Clearly, the opposition rode to elec- pressive economic growth of Ma- two years. Similarly, in 2012 they tion victory on the backs of sweep- lawi’s neighbors from facilitated the ascendancy of the ing dissatisfaction and disaffection in the north, Zambia in the west, estranged Vice President, Joyce with Malawi’s democratic dispensa- and formerly war-torn Mozam- Banda, when a DPP cabal led by tion since 1994. The June 23, 2020 bique enveloping the southern part the recently defeated president, election rerun itself reveals five re- of the country. Further afield was Peter Mutharika, were planning an markable developments, lessons, Botswana, one of Africa’s most unconstitutional take over. From and possibilities some of which impressive stories of postcolonial the annulment of the election in have implications for Africa as a success. In my own personal fam- 2019 till the rerun they provided whole. First, the new Malawi Elec- ily, we have roots and relatives in security for peaceful protests. toral Commission (MEC) delivered all these countries, in Zimbabwe And the moment it became clear on its mandate with impeccable in- where I and several of my siblings that Dr. Chakwera was the incom- tegrity in record time. The Commis- were born, Mozambique where ing president they beefed up state sion was sworn in on June 9, 2020 my son currently works, Botswana security for him. under the leadership of a relatively where my late father lived for 30 young, dynamic, and incorrupt- years and my young sister has al- The coronavirus pandemic provid- ible chairperson, Justice Chifundo ways lived, Zambia where my late ed the eighth context against DPP Kachale. He replaced the shame- mother spent part of her youth, rule. As elsewhere, COVID-19 ex- lessly partisan Dr. Jane Ansah. and South Africa where we have posed the glaring incapacities of relatives. Our family story is quite the state and the depth of socioeco- Within three weeks the new MEC common among many Malawians. nomic inequalities in the country. was able to deliver the country’s This partly explains the intolerance When the government sought to most credible presidential election for petty ethnic identities. impose a lockdown in April 2020 since the first post-independence to contain the spread of the pan- multi-party elections of 1994. It CODESRIA Bulletin Online, No. 4, July 2020 Page 4 underscores the importance of ap- presidential election that they had each other as party leaders, and af- pointing competent, credible, com- all praised for its fairness.” ter a brief interlude for Peter Muth- mitted, and ethical professionals to arika as noted earlier, as presidents. national bodies and functions and Third, the election was conducted Whatever one might say about the the power of transparency. Unlike without foreign funding. Malawi MCP, it has never nurtured a fam- before, the election results were an- relied on its own admittedly deplet- ily dynasty. nounced at each polling station and ed budget, spurning the ubiquitous broadcast live to an anxious nation. “donor support” that the arrogant As is common in moments such People, including school children, purveyors of the mercy industrial as this, the atmosphere in Malawi could add the math. While the of- complex wave to so many suppli- at the moment is filled with giddy ficial announcement came on the cant African governments to con- excitement and great expectations. night of June 27, within a day of the duct one of the most basic func- I could hear it when I listened to lo- election the winner and the magni- tions of sovereignty—elections. It cal radio last night when the results tude of his victory was known. Per- is humiliating when African gov- were being announced in , sonally I started celebrating on the ernments seek financial support the country’s commercial city, and afternoon of June 24. and political validation for their this morning during the presiden- elections from the cynical and self- tial inauguration ceremony in Li- Second, the election was held serving election observer industry longwe, the national capital. The without international observ- that has grown over the last three excitement will inevitably dissi- ers, whether the European Union, decades since the democratic wave pate and the high expectations will Commonwealth, African Union, at the turn of the late 1980s and encounter disappointments. I re- Southern African Development early 1990s. member the intoxicating euphoria Community, United Nations, or of 1994 only too well. In May that other self-appointed guardians of Fourth, the election result showed year I returned from 17 years of democracy from individual nations that despite the power of incum- self-imposed exile to partake in the such as the United States. These bency that was ruthlessly exploited exhilarating dance of democracy. bodies had betrayed Malawians by the DPP government, an organ- before. To quote Danwood Chir- ized, disciplined, and smart op- The new government represents, wa, a prominent Malawian legal position can win. Talking to some potentially, the dawn of what one scholar and Dean of the law school of the leaders of the opposition al- can call Malawi’s Third Republic. at the University of Cape Town, liance and their supporters, I was The first was the era of Dr. Banda. “Malawians were left to their own impressed by their steely determi- The second era comprises the last devices to claim and defend their nation and calm confidence that 26 years of the Muluzi-Mutharika right to vote. They did this through they would prevail. The opposition dynasties. These conjunctures in a protracted but step-by-step effort alliance leaders crisscrossed the Malawian history coincide, with involving many actors, each play- country, never taking the voters for some discrepancies, with the three ing an indispensable role.” granted, or trying to buy them with eras of development and democ- cheap gimmicks, handouts, and racy in post-colonial Africa. In My old friend from secondary empty promises. my work, I call the first the era of school and college and former col- authoritarian developmentalism league at the Pennsylvania State Fifth, the election succeeded in (1960-1980), the second the era of University, the eminent legal breaking the vicious grip on Ma- neoliberal authoritarianism (1980– scholar and founding Dean of the lawian politics since 1994 by two 2000); and the third the dawn of School of International Affairs at families, the political the era of possible democratic de- Penn State, Tiyanjana Maluwa, put dynasty in which the former presi- velopmentalism (since 2000). it this way, “We don’t need foreign dent has shamelessly transacted election observers to help us con- his son, , who suc- As I have written more elaborately duct a credible election. Indeed the ceeded him as leader of the UDF, elsewhere, the era of authoritarian foreign observers, with their for- to every possible political alliance, developmentalism was character- mulaic verdicts (“the election was most recently as the running mate ized by the intensification of stat- free and fair and generally reflected of DPP’s Peter Mutharika, to gain ism (the growth of state power) and the will of the peoples...”) were ut- power and save the father from a developmentalism (the pursuit of terly rebuked by the very fact that long-running corruption case. The development at all costs). The es- the courts nullified the fraudulent Mutharika brothers succeeded calation of statism after independ- CODESRIA Bulletin Online, No. 4, July 2020 Page 5 ence was accentuated by the under- ideological response to the world trialization proved elusive and the developed nature of the indigenous economic crisis of the late 1960s value chain of African economies capitalist class and the weak ma- and early 1970s that ended the remained low. Similarly, the mar- terial base of the new rulers. The postwar boom. riage between democracy and de- state became their primary instru- velopment was hardly consum- ment of primitive accumulation. Neoliberalism marked the collapse mated in many of the emerging Also important to remember is that of the “Keynesian consensus” and illiberal democracies. Africa’s wily the legitimacy of the postcolonial the political coalitions that had sus- ruling classes sang the performa- state lay in meeting the huge devel- tained it and the rise to power of tive and symbolic tunes of mini- opmental backlog of colonialism to conservative, free-market-oriented malist democracy as they subvert- the expectant masses. governments in the leading indus- ed the substantive and expansive trial economies. SAPs were pur- score of social democracy. State intervention in the organiza- sued with missionary zeal by the tion of economic, social, cultural, international financial institutions The historiography of Malawi’s and political processes intensified and western governments and im- postcolonial political economy as the contradictions deepened and posed on developing countries of- broadly fits into this trajectory. The became more open. As the crisis ten with the connivance of the Af- Banda presidency straddled the of growth and accumulation began rican political class or significant first two eras, while the last quarter escalating globally in the 1970s, fractions thereof. SAPs called for century since multi-party democ- the postcolonial state assumed a currency devaluation, interest and racy was introduced coincide with progressively more precarious and exchange rate deregulation, liber- the last two eras. In other words, openly repressive character with alization of trade, privatization of Malawi like most African countries frequent coups and rearrangements state enterprises, and withdrawal of has been struggling to establish a of ruling cliques, endless constitu- public subsidies and retrenchment democratic developmental state tional revisions and human rights of the public service—in short, for that can produce economic growth violations, and suppression of dem- a minimalist state and an extension and foster integrated, inclusive, in- ocratic freedoms. To be sure, until of the market logic to all spheres of novative and sustainable develop- the mid-1970s, African countries economic activity. ment. In short, the challenge for experienced relatively rapid rates the new Chakwera government is of economic growth and develop- The results were disastrous for to build and sustain a democratic ment, notwithstanding significant African economies. The euphoria developmental state. differences between countries, sec- of independence gave rise to un- tors, and social classes, gender, and relenting “Afropessimism.” The The great Malawian intellectu- generation, as well as ideological collapse of the independence so- al, Thandika Mkandawire, who divergences and disputes among cial contract provoked massive and passed away on March 27, 2020 and within countries. sustained struggles for the “second at the age of 79, produced some independence”, for democratiza- of the most iconic work on the The structural and ideological un- tion which gathered momentum African developmental state that derpinnings of authoritarian devel- in the 1990s and scored significant the policy makers and think tanks opmentalism were reinforced by the victories at the turn of the 2000s. for the Chakwera government can onset of neoliberalism at the turn of This ushered in the possibilities of fruitfully engage. Thandika, as we the 1980s, which ushered Africa’s the third era of democratic devel- all lovingly called him, firmly be- “lost decades” of the 1980s and opmentalism. The resumption of lieved in the existence of an ideo- 1990s. The era of structural adjust- economic growth in the 2000s and logical-structural nexus for build- ment programs (SAPs) threatened 2010s, reprising the growth rates ing developmental states in Africa. to undo the developmental promises of the 1960s and first half of the He argued developmentalism has and achievements of independence, 1970s, brought hope back as en- an ideological imperative in that it to dismantle the postcolonial social capsulated in the narrative of Af- requires making development aspi- contract, and to abort the national- rica Rising/Rising Africa. rations hegemonic, and structural ist project of Africa’s renewal from components that encompass state centuries of the slave trade followed However, the match between eco- capacities—institutional, techni- by colonialism. The rise of SAPs nomic growth and development re- cal, administrative, and political to reflected the global ascendancy of mained elusive as socioeconomic implement effective and transfor- neoliberalism, which emerged as an inequalities deepened and indus- mational development policies. CODESRIA Bulletin Online, No. 4, July 2020 Page 6

Clearly, it is imperative to strength- tal state is defined by its objectives derdevelopment, poverty, inequali- en the administrative apparatus of and its institutional characteristics, ties, tribalism and regionalism, the state while at the same time including the “autonomy” of state marginalization, and social despair building strong state-society syn- institutions, that enable it to define now compounded by COVID-19. ergies. Thandika’s work brilliantly and promote its strategic develop- Thandika, who remained resolute- debunks many of the conventional mental goals and its “embedded- ly committed to the five humanistic diagnoses and prescriptions for de- ness,” that is, its ability to form and historic agendas of progressive velopment. They tend to be based alliances with key social groups in African nationalism—decoloni- on ahistorical determinisms of ge- society that can help it to achieve zation, nation-building, develop- ography, culture, and history. At its developmental goals. ment, democracy, and regional in- one time race and ethnicity were tegration—would have been proud posited as explanations, but they In short, a democratic develop- of the Chakwera-Chilima electoral are no longer entertained in the mental state is characterized by victory this week. In fact, the two academy. More compelling are institutional autonomy and coher- parties and many others publicly explanations that focus on institu- ence and inclusive embeddedness mourned Thandika’s passing. Let tional arrangements, the construc- operating in a democratic order the luminescence of his ideas and tion of inclusive economic, politi- marked by competitive and ac- insights be incorporated into the cal, and social institutions. countable electoral systems and new government’s policy agenda. has the capacity to promote devel- As I wrote in a recent essay, “Coun- opment and growth. The construc- Thandika always believed in the tries with extractive institutions tion of democratic developmental agency of Malawians and Africans have not fared as well in achiev- states requires Africa to confront everywhere at home and in the di- ing sustained growth and develop- and control several sets of chal- aspora. His compatriots vindicated ment. To the quality of institutions, lenges and opportunities. At the him in the June 2020 presidential I would add two other critical fac- domestic level there is need to re- election rerun, while the diaspora tors: the quality of human capital vitalize the nationalist project by did so through the Floyd protests. and the quality of the social capi- reconstructing the state, rebuilding Malawi has a rare chance to con- tal of trust.” At this conjuncture, citizenship, renewing the social struct a developmental democratic authoritarian developmentalism contract, reconstructing society, state and society. I hope that a new belongs to the dustbin of history and rejuvenating integrated and chapter has opened in my beloved because Malawians and other Af- inclusive economies—in short, to country’s history. ricans have and continue to wage manage the nexus of state, market, protracted struggles for democracy. and civil society as effectively as I dedicate this essay to Thandika possible. and the thousands of women and A democratic developmental state men who sacrificed their lives and is one that embodies the principles This is the challenge and oppor- livelihoods during the struggles for of electoral democracy, ensures tunity of the Chakwera-Chilima the first, second, and third repub- citizens’ participation in the devel- alliance that has been voted into lics for the simple dignity of the opment and governance processes, government by Malawi’s expectant human rights of democracy, devel- and fosters growth and develop- masses who are exhausted by un- opment, and inclusion. ment. The democratic developmen-