HISTORY
Hominid
remains and stone implements have been identified in Malawi dating
back more than 1 million years, and early humans inhabited the
vicinity of Lake Malawi 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. Human remains
at a site dated about 8000 BC show physical characteristics similar
to peoples living today in the Horn of Africa. At another site,
dated 1500 BC, the remains possess features resembling Negro and
Bushman people.
Although
the Portuguese reached the area in the 16th century, the first
significant Western contact was the arrival of David Livingstone
along the shore of Lake Malawi in 1859. Subsequently, Scottish
Presbyterian churches established missions in Malawi. One of their
objectives was to end the slave trade to the Persian Gulf that
continued to the end of the 19th century. In 1878, a number of
traders, mostly from Glasgow, formed the African Lakes Company
to supply goods and services to the missionaries. Other missionaries,
traders, hunters, and planters soon followed.
In 1883,
a consul of the British Government was accredited to the "Kings
and Chiefs of Central Africa," and in 1891, the British established
the Nyasaland Protectorate (Nyasa is the Yao word for "lake").
Although the British remained in control during the first half
of the 1900s, this period was marked by a number of unsuccessful
Malawian attempts to obtain independence. A growing European and
U.S.-educated African elite became increasingly vocal and politically
active--first through associations, and after 1944, through the
Nyasaland African Congress (NAC).
During
the 1950s, pressure for independence increased when Nyasaland
was joined with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in 1953 to form
the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In July 1958, Dr. Hastings
Kamuzu Banda returned to the country after a long absence in the
United States (where he had obtained his medical degree at Meharry
Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee in 1937), the United Kingdom
(where he practiced medicine), and Ghana. He assumed leadership
of the NAC, which later became the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
In 1959, Banda was sent to Gwelo Prison for his political activities
but was released in 1960 to participate in a constitutional conference
in London.
On April
15, 1961, the MCP won an overwhelming victory in elections for
a new Legislative Council. It also gained an important role in
the new Executive Council and ruled Nyasaland in all but name
a year later. In a second constitutional conference in London
in November 1962, the British Government agreed to give Nyasaland
self-governing status the following year.
Dr. Banda
became Prime Minister on February 1, 1963, although the British
still controlled Malawi's financial, security, and judicial systems.
A new constitution took effect in May 1963, providing for virtually
complete internal self-government. The Federation of Rhodesia
and Nyasaland was dissolved on December 31, 1963, and Malawi became
a fully independent member of the Commonwealth (formerly the British
Commonwealth) on July 6, 1964. Two years later, Malawi adopted
a new constitution and became a one-party state with Dr. Banda
as its first President.
In 1970
Dr. Banda was declared President for life of the MCP, and in 1971
Banda consolidated his power and was named President for life
of Malawi itself. The paramilitary wing of the Malawi Congress
Party, the Young Pioneers, helped keep Malawi under authoritarian
control until the 1990s. Increasing domestic unrest and pressure
from Malawian churches and from the international community led
to a referendum in which the Malawian people were asked to vote
for either a multi-party democracy or the continuation of a one-party
state. On June 14, 1993, the people of Malawi voted overwhelmingly
in favor of multi-party democracy. Free and fair national elections
were held on May 17, 1994.
Bakili
Muluzi, leader of the United Democratic Front (UDF), was elected
President in those elections. The UDF won 82 of the 177 seats
in the National Assembly and formed a coalition government with
the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD). That coalition disbanded in
June 1996, but some of its members remained in the government.
The President is referred to as Dr. Muluzi, having received an
honorary degree at Lincoln University in Missouri in 1995. Malawi's
newly written constitution (1995) eliminated special powers previously
reserved for the Malawi Congress Party. Accelerated economic liberalization
and structural reform accompanied the political transition.
On June
15, 1999, Malawi held its second democratic elections. Dr. Bakili
Muluzi was re-elected to serve a second 5-year term as President,
despite an MCP-AFORD alliance that ran a joint slate against the
UDF.
Malawi saw its first transition between democratically elected presidents in May 2004, when the UDF's presidential candidate Bingu wa Mutharika defeated MCP candidate John Tembo and Gwanda Chakuamba, who was backed by a grouping of opposition parties. The UDF, however, did not win a majority of seats in parliament, as it had done in 1994 and 1999 elections. Through the politicking of party chairperson and former President Bakili Muluzi, the party successfully secured a majority by forming a "government of national unity" with several opposition parties. President Bingu wa Mutharika left the UDF party on February 5, 2005, citing differences with the UDF, particularly over his anti-corruption campaign. He formed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) shortly thereafter, attracting a number of UDF and independent members of parliament (MPs) to his new party. The DPP, however, has also failed to acquire enough support for a majority in parliament, and continues to face stiff opposition from both the UDF and the MCP in parliament. Meanwhile, many politicians are already looking ahead to the next general elections in 2009, with Muluzi, Tembo, and Mutharika all expected to campaign for president. On September 14, 2007, after passing the budget, the President dismissed the National Assembly before the speaker of parliament could act on Section 65 of the constitution. Section 65, a major point of contention between the DPP and opposition parties, allows the speaker to declare the seats of any MPs who change parties after being elected vacant. Vacated seats are filled through by-elections.
