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| Features |
| Kamuzu lives on |
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by
Mzati Nkolokosa, 14 May 2007
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06:39:00
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He led a dictatorship that must never be allowed, again. Yet 10 years after his death, Kamuzu Banda is becoming a hero. Why?
He was a dictator, of course; he was also, directly and indirectly, responsible for all the suffering, fleeing and deaths of hundreds of Malawians for 30 years.
First President Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda came as a freedom fighter but way before independence, dictatorial traits were visible yet neglected for the sake of nationalism. His charismatic leadership moved all parts of the country to the centre of nationalism.
Months into a republic, Kamuzu showed true colours. The 1964 Cabinet Crisis was a shock to many Malawians. In the rest of the years, Kamuzu presided over a dictatorship; he was called all sorts of names. One poet called Kamuzu chitute, a mouse that gathers for itself, even if it won’t finish all. Oral literature developed its own names of the man.
Books that could make a reading list of a first year college student were banned. And the list was long: George Orwell’s Animal Farm was there. Kamuzu’s years were a journey never to be walked again. He was a bad leader.
Yet when he died in 1997, there was no question about his place in the history of Malawi. He turned into a hero and remains so even now. He is a freedom fighter and a Life President who gave up power. Yet this was the man who in 1992 was refusing to accept multiparty politics referring to it as “war”. He was forced into a referendum at a time Zambia and Tanzania had adopted multiparty politics without a referendum.
Still opposed to change, Kamuzu campaigned vigorously against plural politics, visiting each of the then 24 districts with his whole team of Gwanda Chakuamba, John Tembo, Hilda Manjamkhonsi and the rest of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). He lost but was not embarrassed.
This was the man former president Bakili Muluzi despised. Not only that. Kamuzu and others were arrested for conspiracy to murder.
What, then, happened for him to move from a dictator in 1994 to a hero in 1997? So far, historians have not analysed the changing faces of Kamuzu and, in the absence of that, it is alright to do the job for them.
We see the past through the present. We know this is right because it is not left. That is differentiation. Once a new regime came into power in May, 1994, Kamuzu was seen through the Muluzi administration.
The expectations, of course, were high; perhaps unreasonable. Multiparty democracy meant almost heaven on earth: fair sharing of the national cake, re-opening of Teba, free public broadcasters, vibrant economy. But as months passed, Muluzi was becoming what Malawians had fought against. In doing so, people were tempted to think that Kamuzu was better than Muluzi.
“He was a dictator,” people would say, “but we had food and prices were affordable.”
Second, it was becoming clear that Kamuzu might not have been behind some of the arrests. It was his men and women who abused his name and a system he had created to protect his national vision. Kamuzu should have been answerable because, after all, he was President.
But the discerning power of human nature tends to see things in particular not general, to label every person with his duties.
Three years after Muluzi came into power, Kamuzu died. Thambo Lagwa (a hero had fallen), said poet Gospel Kazako. Kamuzu had lived a full life. In old age, when culturally people are honoured, Kamuzu was tortured by the Muluzi regime. No matter how bad a person might be, once old, they are supposed to be left alone and be punished by old age.
This is the lesson Muluzi missed. This is one problem of people in power. They don’t listen to street wisdom. The long Mwanza murder court case compelled people to somehow sympathise with Kamuzu.
But he was not a complete hero on his death. The heroism is building up, especially now 10 years after his death, that Parliament this year unanimously voted to bring back Kamuzu Day on May 14 which will officially be celebrated from next year. (We have chosen to set the ball rolling this year for it is the right time.)
Death or the absence of a person teaches us to appreciate their life. Maybe, if Kamuzu were here, this would not happen, people say. The bad years of Muluzi (2000-2004) were a sharp contrast to Kamuzu.
He was a dictator in one party democracy. Muluzi was becoming a dictator in multiparty democracy. In that case, Kamuzu was better than Muluzi in most senses. Through the Muluzi administration, people saw a decent Kamuzu.
Now people talk about the failures of Muluzi, not of Kamuzu. Years after the death of Kamuzu, people were alarmed with social instability caused by murder attempts at democracy. Law and order deteriorated at alarming rates
The love for Kamuzu and his rise to heroism is outcome of an understanding of his role in Africa and an expression of disillusionment with Muluzi in whose decade solid social structures of Malawian life were falling apart. Perhaps it was quantifiable: drug abuse grew, corruption was almost normal while disorder and violent crime went unpunished, just like that.
Happiness, the goal of life, was dream for Malawians. Kamuzu was a dictator but people were happy, somehow though it is difficult to understand.
Robert Kennedy’s beautifully crafted speech says that what “makes life worthwhile” is “the health of our children, the quality of their education, the joy of their play, the strength of our marriages...our devotion to our country” and our “wit...wisdom and courage.”
These, he said, could not be measured by gross national product. The education of our children was in shambles. Our health bad news: no drugs in hospitals. Patriotism was lunacy.
What was democracy without happiness? This lack of happiness in the Muluzi decade made Kamuzu a hero. Now, a decade after his death, Kamuzu lives in our hearts, not at Sanjika Palace, not Mudi House, not even at the Mausoleum in Lilongwe.
Only great leaders find a place in the hearts of people. Kamuzu was a tyrant yet great. That’s why he lives on. Feedback: mzatinews@yahoo.com
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