Thursday, May 17, 2007

"He was a dictator but we had food and prices were affordable"

This is a quote from an article in the Malawi Nation about President Kamuzu Banda the President of Malawi for 27 years from 1961 to 1994. Banda the 'father of the nation' was ousted from power in 94 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Banda

When we first arrived in 1993 the talk of the country was the referrendum held to decide whether the people wanted a multi party democracy or to retain the one party system under the Malawi Congress Party. Everywhere we went we were greeted by hordes of kids holding up the 2 fingered sign for multiparty. People were so excited, once they had democracy they would be like the West, they would become rich and things would change for the better.

Sadly how wrong they were. They voted for deomcracy and then in 1994 they held the first ever elections in Malawi. They voted in the United Democratic Party (UDF) and their first president was Bakili Mluzi.

Democracy unleashed disent, human rights were everything, and the security system in the country worsened, thiefs were arrested but let out on bail and absconded. Corruption unknown under Banda began to occur and for the next ten years the lives of the people of Malawi worsened.

To read Mzati's full article see here
http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=21783

No comments: