Kwacha: The Violence of Money in Malawi's Politics, 1954–2004

Abstract

One of the strongest limiting factors in the transition to participatory democracy in Malawi is the failure of independent and sustainable cadres of young politicians to emerge. This is caused by the role that money, generated via the informal economy, plays in Malawian politics. This money is channelled into politics via achikulire (neo-patrimonial patrons or ‘big men’), usually without party accountability. This factor may be more critical in retarding the development of participatory democracy than social structure, ethnicity, religion, donors or other aspects of political dynamics. The socio-economic impediments to achieving participatory democracy tend to be viewed through economic theories appropriate to contexts more westernised than Malawi. I will argue that some of the ‘disorder’ in Africa observed by Chabal and Daloz (1999) is actually a function of the unresolved historical dynamic between two economic sectors: the formal cash (colonial European and postcolonial black elite) sector and the ‘informal’ non-cash (rural/peasantry) sector. By controlling this dynamic, neo-patrimonial politicians can minimise ethnic, social, political and constitutional barriers to their hold on power. Successful Malawian politicians have a triple-edged relationship with the peasantry: peasants are their masters at election time, subjects at most times and business clients at harvest. This article will analyse the formation of new patron–client relationships during the 1991–1994 political transition and show how these were successfully exploited by United Democratic Front achikulire. In 2004, money sourced through achikulire enabled Bakili Muluzi to impose his designated successor on a reluctant party and nation, leading to the 2004–2005 constitutional crises.

KuNyasalande Azungu achuluiche, nambo mbiya kwangali.1 Wandu agamba kwenda! (Ndiche Mwalale)

[So many Europeans in Nyasaland now but there is no money. People still migrate…].2

^*‘Kwacha’, the name of Malawi's currency, means ‘A new day dawns!’.

^#Thanks to John McCracken, Patrick O'Malley, Terence Ranger, David Rubadiri, Jim Wilkie, Kings Phiri, Kenneth King, the History Department at Chancellor College, and anonymous peer reviewers and Malawians.

 1 Mbiya: money, disposable/surplus cash.

 2 This is an acerbic comment on 1950s Malawi by the popular musician, Ndiche Mwalale.

Notes

^*‘Kwacha’, the name of Malawi's currency, means ‘A new day dawns!’.

^#Thanks to John McCracken, Patrick O'Malley, Terence Ranger, David Rubadiri, Jim Wilkie, Kings Phiri, Kenneth King, the History Department at Chancellor College, and anonymous peer reviewers and Malawians.

 1 Mbiya: money, disposable/surplus cash.

 2 This is an acerbic comment on 1950s Malawi by the popular musician, Ndiche Mwalale.

 3 J. Hooper, ‘The Politics of Patronage’ (MA thesis, University of York, 1984).

 4 C. Clapham and J. Wiseman, ‘Assessing the Prospects for the Consolidation of Democracy in Africa’, in J. Wiseman (ed.), Democracy and Political Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (London, Routledge, 1995), pp. 220–32.

 5 Compare P. Chabal and J-P. Daloz, Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument (London, James Currey, 1999).

 6 Achikulire: lit. big man, social, organisational elder or boss.

 7 M. Bratton and N. van de Walle, Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 62.

 8 See E. Aryeetey, ‘Formal and Informal Economic Activities’, in S. Ellis (ed.), Africa Now: People, Policies, Institutions (London, Heinemann, 1996), pp. 119–35; and E. Ngalande Banda, F. Nankhuni, and E. Chirwa, ‘Economy and Democracy: Background, Current Situation and Future Prospects’, in K. Phiri, and K. Ross (eds), Democratisation in Malawi: A Stocktaking (Zomba, Kachere, 1998), pp. 70–86. See also G. Anders, ‘Civil Servants between Support Networks, the Free Market and Civil Service Reform’, in H. Englund (ed.), A Democracy of Chameleons: Politics and Culture in The New Malawi (Uppsala, Nordic Africa Institute, 2002), pp. 43–61. K. King, ‘Rethinking the History of Kenya's Informal Economy against the Current Challenge to Industry in Africa’, in S. McGrath, C. Jedrej, K. King and J. Thompson (eds), Rethinking African History (Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies), pp. 407–9.

 9 See P. Forster, ‘Culture, Nationalism, and the Invention of Tradition in Malawi’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 32, 3 (1994), pp. 477– 97; J. Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics and Poverty: the Democratic Transition in Malawi, 1961–1999 (Glasgow, Dudu Nsomba Publications, 1996); Phiri and Ross (eds), Democratisation, pp. 52–69; and M. Schoffeleers, In Search of Truth and Justice: Confrontations Between Church and State in Malawi 1960–1994 (Zomba, Kachere, 1999).

 10 Muluzi blocked creation of a Senate, including chiefs.

 11 J. Lwanda, ‘Tradition, Democracy and Progress: The Case for Malawi’, work in preparation. Compare J. Teffo, ‘Monarchy and Democracy: Towards a Cultural Renaissance’, Journal of African Philosophy, 1, 1 (2002). Retrieved 12 March 2004 from http://www.africanphilosophy.com/afphil/vol1.1/teffo.pdf

 12 Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, p. 22; and J. Lwanda, Politics, Culture and Medicine in Malawi (Zomba, Kachere, 2005), pp. 70–72.

 13 Useful here is S. Devereux, Making Less Last Longer: Informal Safety Nets in Malawi (Sussex, Institute of Developmental Studies, 1999).

 14 See B. Chinsinga, ‘The Politics of Poverty Alleviation in Malawi’, in Englund (ed.), A Democracy of Chameleons, pp. 29–32.

 15 Donated monies were diverted from rural targets into the elite cash sector. See S. Devereux, ‘The Malawi Famine of 2002: Causes, Consequences and Policy Lessons’ (unpublished paper, presented at the Lilongwe Capital Hotel, 30 May 2002); and K. Bird, D. Booth and N. Pratt, The Contribution of Politics, Policy Failures, and Bad Governance to the Food Security Crisis in Southern Africa (London, Overseas Development Institute, 2002). Comprador is used to denote the small- to medium-scale retail merchant class. Malawian comprador classes share some features of the original Chinese comprador classes. (Compare with Mao Tse-Tung, ‘Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society’). Retrieved from http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1926/03.htm on 19 March 2004.

 16 Nyasalande is a term of ‘self-deprecatory’ endearment for the ‘beloved poor country’. Compare Nyasanet and Manyasa.

 17 See the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy paper at www.imf.org/External/NP/PRSP/2002/mw/01/043002.pdf

 18 G. Shepperson, and T. Price, Independent African (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1958), pp. 1–18; J. McCracken, Politics and Christianity in Malawi 1875–1940 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1977), pp. 303–44; G. Mhone (ed.), Malawi at the Crossroads: The Post-colonial Political Economy (Harare, Sapes Trust, 1992), pp. xv–33; and Lwanda, Politics, Culture and Medicine, p. 16.

 19 See F. Pryor, The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity and Growth: A World Bank Comparative Study of Malawi and Madagascar (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991); Mhone, (ed.), Malawi at the Crossroads; and The World Bank, Malawi: Human Resources and Poverty (Washington, World Bank, 1995).

 20 J. McCracken, ‘Blantyre Transformed: Class, Conflict and Nationalism in Urban Malawi’, Journal of African History, 39 (1998), pp. 247–69.

 21 Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works, pp. 155–63 and xv–xxi.

 22 G. Anders, ‘Corruption in Context: Civil Servants in Malawi as Providers and Recipients of Social Support’ (seminar paper, 13th Biennial Congress of the African Association of Political Science, Yaonde, Cameroon, 19–22 June 2001).

 23 S. Paas (ed), English–Chichewa–Chinyanja Dictionary (Zomba, CLAIM, 2003), p. 88. The Montfort Missionaries, Ziphuphu Zimakuonongani Inu Ndi Mtundu Wonse (Balaka, Montfort Media, 1995) terminology is preferred here: ziphuphu = corruption.

 24 Paas, English–Chichewa, p. 50.

 25 Paas, English–Chichewa, p. 33.

 26 The Lamp, 42 (July–August 2003), p. 23.

 27 Mhone (ed.), Malawi at the Crossroads, p. 182.

 28 J. Cross, ‘The Informal Sector’, in P. O'Hara (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Political Economy (London, Routledge, 1998).

 29 Montfort Missionaries, Ziphuphu Zimakuonongani, pp. 1–4.

 30 P. Short, Banda (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974), pp. 41–60.

 31 S. Joffe, ‘Political Culture and Communication in Malawi: The Hortatory Regime of Dr Banda’ (Ph.D. thesis, Boston University, 1973); Hooper, ‘The Politics of Patronage’; and J. Lwanda, Kamuzu Banda of Malawi (Glasgow, Dudu Nsomba Publications, 1993), pp. 91–6.

 32 Short, Banda, p. 270.

 33 Africa Watch, Where Silence Rules: The Suppression of Dissent in Malawi (London, Africa Watch, 1990), pp. 24–5; and Lwanda, Kamuzu Banda, pp. 73–124.

 34 Unattributable personal communications with Asian and African businessmen, September 1994–June 1995 and June 2000–July 2002.

 35 Unattributable personal communications with Asian and African businessmen, September 1994–June 1995 and June 2000–July 2002, p. 367.

 36 T. Bower, Tiny Rowland: A Rebel Tycoon (London, Heinemann, 1993), pp. 71–7.

 37 T. Bower, Tiny Rowland: A Rebel Tycoon (London, Heinemann, 1993), pp. 188 and 366.

 38 Lwanda, Kamuzu Banda, 56–63; Mhone (ed.), Malawi at the Crossroads, pp. 34–48.

 39 C. Kahumbe, personal communication, Glasgow, 4 April 1992.

 40 C. Kahumbe, personal communication, Blantyre, 12 March 1993.

 41 Mhone (ed.), Malawi at the Crossroads, pp. 38–48.

 42 United Democratic Front leadership specialised in services and retail. Anything could be marketed: for example, an environment minister sold charcoal illegally (The Nation, Blantyre, 18 July 2003). Manufacturing has declined since 1994 (Africa Confidential, 45, 2, 23 January 2004, p. 46).

 43 L. Vail (ed.), The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (London, James Currey, 1989), pp. 151–92.

 44 Before ‘IMF liberalisation’ ADMARC provided transport. Now, MCP and UDF achikulire transport produce, often exploiting this role to manipulate crop prices.

 45 The northern historical educational advantage translated into an over-representation of the Tumbuka in civil service jobs. See McCracken, Politics and Christianity, pp. 303–44; and W. Chirwa, ‘Democracy, Ethnicity, and Regionalism: The Malawian Experience’, in Phiri and Ross (eds), Democratisation, pp. 52–63.

 46 Lwanda, Kamuzu Banda, pp. 191–6; and Chirwa, ‘Democracy, Ethnicity, and Regionalism’, pp. 52–69.

 47 D. Bone, (ed.), Malawi's Muslims (Zomba, Kachere, 2002), pp. 42–6; A. Msiska, ‘The Spread of Islam in Malawi and its Impact on Yao Rites of Passage, 1870–1960’, Society of Malawi Journal, 48, 1 (1995), pp. 49–86; and Short, Banda, p. 90.

 48 C. Kahumbe, personal communication, Glasgow, April 1992.

 49 Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, pp. 38–60 and 79–81; and P. O'Malley, Living Dangerously (Glasgow, Dudu Nsomba Publications, 1998), pp. 1–70. See J. McCracken, ‘Fishing and the Colonial Economy: The Case of Malawi’, Journal of African History, 28, pp. 413–29; W. Chirwa, ‘Theba is Power: Rural Labour, Migrancy and Fishing in Malawi, 1890s–1985’ (Ph.D. thesis, Queen's University, Canada, 1992); and H. Chipembere (R. Rotberg. ed.), Hero of the Nation: Chipembere of Malawi (Zomba, Kachere, 2002), pp. 239–54.

 50 According to Jack Mapanje, ‘those who had stolen tobacco from Dr Banda's estates’ (personal communication, York, December 1991).

 51 Personal examination of Mikuyu Prison reception book, at Mikuyu, on 29 June 2003. See also Amnesty International, Prison Conditions in Malawi (London, Amnesty, AFR 36/03/92, 1992); Africa Watch, Where Silence Rules, pp. 23–60; and Chirwa, ‘Democracy, Ethnicity and Regionalism’, pp. 52–69.

 53 B.A. Phipps, ‘Social Stratification as a Vehicle for Cognitive Mapping and Social Assertion’ (seminar paper, Zomba, Chancellor College Library, 1972).

 52 J. McCracken, Politics and Christianity, pp. 303–44; M.L.C. Mkandawire, ‘Elites and Development in Independent African Countries of Africa’ (unpublished BA dissertation, Chancellor College Library, Zomba); and K. Phiri, ‘History and the Past, Present and Future of Black People’, Professorial inaugural lecture, Chancellor College, Zomba, 14 September 2001.

 54 Short, Banda, pp. 274–78.

 55 P. O'Malley, Personal oral communication, Glasgow, July 1996.

 56 V. Ndovi, Personal oral and written communications, London and Glasgow, July–October 1993.

 57 Africa Watch, Where Silence Rules, p. 59.

 58 Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

 59 G. Claver, Personal oral communication, Glasgow, 2 February 1993.

 60 Dr Banda did not like the urban areas crowded with hawkers. See B. Muluzi, Y. Juwayeyi, M. Makhambera, and D. Phiri, Democracy with a Price (Blantyre, Jhango/Heinemann, 1999), p. 92.

 61 J. Mapanje, Personal oral communications, York and Glasgow, December 1991 to June 1993.

 62 B.J. Mpinganjira, Personal oral communications, Glasgow and York, December 1992 to June 1993.

 63 Limbe Leaf was the biggest Malawian tobacco company at the time.

 64 Africa Watch, Where Silence Rules, p. 81.

 65 In his bid for supremacy, Chihana ‘hijacked’ the leadership of a combined opposition delegation to Zambia in March 1992 (Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, pp. 112–17).

 66 B. Mpinganjira, Personal oral communication, York, December 1992.

 67 Muluzi benefited from his uncle, the Yao Chief Kapoloma's patronage. He was astute enough to survive his 1968 conviction for theft and the 1982 ‘voluntary retirement’ (This is Malawi, June 1982, p. 3). Kalonga Stambuli (a former close Muluzi aide, mysteriously killed in February 2004) in ‘How Malawians were hoodwinked by Muluzi’ (mimeograph available from author and from the nyasanet archives [http://listservs.icors.org/archives/nyasanet.html]) alleges that Muluzi was involved in persistent ‘criminal’ and ‘fraudulent’ activities and stole and diverted money from the MCP and Banda's farm; cashed MCP cheques through Indian traders; monopolised sugar quotas; stole from the Muslim Association; and was a notorious womaniser. The Malawian printed Muluzi's prison ‘mug-shot’ in 1994. These allegations are also available at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakili_Muluzi (retrieved 20 August 2003), Hutchinson's Media, http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/htchinson/m0044708.html (retrieved 20 August 2003), in The Chronicle, 21 November 2005, Sunday Herald, 30 October 2005, and in the K. Kapeta (chair) ‘Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Strategic Grain Reserve’ (Lilongwe, Office of the President and Cabinet, 2004).

 68 ‘MTL Wanderers Football Club Speaks Out’, Malawi Standard, 1 August 2003. Muluzi bought Ndirande (‘Malawi's Soweto) Bata Bullets (renamed Bakili Bullets) to boost his political popularity in 2002. Humphrey Mvula, a once alleged Young Democrats boss, chairs Wanderers. See Daily Times, 5 November 2001.

 69 ‘Corruption-Malawi: Fat Cats Still Bask in Glory’, Inter Press News Agency, 12 January 2004, retrieved on 20 August 2004 from http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews = 21872. Kambalame, later PCC manager and was convicted of stealing from the PCC, allegedly with Dumbo Lemani's knowledge (ANC Daily News retrieved on 21 March 2004 from http://www.anc.org.za/anc/newsbrief/1999/news0219). In March 2004, Muluzi ordered maize sales from the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR), donors, regarding the SGR ‘as a famine safeguard’ objected. The Nation, 26 March 2004. K. Kapeta's Presidential Commission suggests that maize ‘seep[ed] into the informal sector from ADMARC’.

 70 Samzidats are photocopied ‘underground’ leaflets. The first samizdat was from Blantyre Polytechnic students.

 71 Samizdat copies in my archives. See O'Malley, Living Dangerously, pp. 139–46.

 72 Muluzi et al., Democracy, p. 136.

 73 Unattributable UDF businessman, 1993: ‘little to lose and more to gain’.

 74 Malawi's 1980s and 1990s political culture was male dominated. Women were ‘likely to be party spies’. Dumbo Lemani said, ‘Women like to gossip’ (D. Kerr, ‘Events of 1991–1993, a Personal Memoir, 1994’ (mimeo copy); and E. Mkamanga, Suffering in Silence (Glasgow, Dudu Nsomba Publications, 2000).

 75 Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, pp. 83–4; and O'Malley, Living Dangerously, p. 140.

 76 Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, pp. 55–6 and 98; and O'Malley, Living Dangerously, p. 148–9.

 77 AFORD (formed in March 1992) succeeded Dr H. Bwanausi's United Democratic Front for Multiparty Democracy (formed in June 1991).

 78 Hence Chihana's jibes: ‘MCP B team’; ‘charcoal sellers and vendors’ (Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, p. 147).

 79 Access to parastatals such as ADMARC and companies such as SUCOMA is crucial. See K. Kapeta (chair) ‘Presidential Commission’. ‘Wanderers Football Club’ names crop up frequently in UDF government corruption scandals. A Sunni Muslim Supreme Council of Malawi letter (The Chronicle, 2 June 2001) criticises Muluzi for extravagance, hypocrisy, diverting donated fertiliser, corruption, manipulating Muslim official appointments and other nefarious activities. Stambuli's mimeo, ‘How Muluzi hoodwinked’, further alleges that Muluzi ‘pocketed a $2 million Taiwanese donation’; took cash from Malawi Savings Bank Deposits; used the 1994 Fieldwork exercise book purchase to repay British Asian UDF financiers; used the ‘Water Appeal Fund’ to raise UDF funds; secured half of PTA Bank loans for UDF functionaries; appropriated funds from the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF); and that he and Kalaria personally got ‘half [of all] cheques from the Malawi Rural Finance Company’.

 80 Unattributable personal communications with members of ADMARC, Balaka, March 1993; and see Kapeta (Chair) ‘Presidential Commission’.

 81 G. Robertson, Personal oral communication, Hamilton, May 1993.

 82 I facilitated this donation from the Scottish Malawi-Asian family to the UDF via Aleke Banda.

 83 Lonrho and others were funding the MCP. Africa Analysis, 197, 4 (13 May 1994).

 84 B.J. Mpinganjira's business card, 1993–1994.

 85 ‘Muluzi Elected President: UDF – A Government in the Waiting Room’, Enquirer, 31 December 1993, p. 1. Mpinganjira and Chilumpha still thought the old guard containable (personal communications with both, March and December 1993).

 86 Most were owned by politicians. J. Lwanda, ‘Paper Tigers: The Rise and Fall of the Independent Media in Malawi, 1961–2001’, Society of Malawi Journal, 55, 1 (2002), pp. 1–23.

 87 Fred Nseula, the National Consultative Council chair when the Army's Operation Bwezani disarmed Banda's paramilitary Young Pioneers, became a ‘presentational leader without power’, deftly assuring the public and the MCP that the army was not staging a coup. For an account of Bwezani see K. Phiri, ‘A Case of Revolutionary Change in Contemporary Malawi: The Malawi Army and the Disarming of the Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP)’, Journal of Peace, Conflict and Military Studies, 1, 1 (March 2002), pp. 1–10.

 88 Lemani specified mipando (chairs of authority), implying political and economic power. See Kerr, ‘Events of 1991–1993’.

 89 This was presented by the old guard as ‘No to another educated Banda!’

 90 I was a delegate (National Resources College, Lilongwe, December 1993).

 91 Bambo Gome, of Salima, to author at the UDF convention, 22 December 1993.

 92 Personal communications, including Headman M. Mayere, Malindi, 9 March, 1994.

 93 Bakili Muluzi, personal communication, 16 March 1994.

 94 A. Banda, Minister of Finance, personal communication, Blantyre 3 June 1995 (J Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, p. 226); Malawi Government, Malawi Social Indicators Survey (Zomba, Government Press, 1996), p. 4; and H. Meinhardt and N. Patel, Malawi's Process of Democratic Transition between 1990 and 1993 (Lilongwe, Konrad Adenauer Foundation), p. 56.

 95 Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, pp. 134–53 and 280.

 96 Self-description, 30 March 2003 (MBC News transcript, Blantyre, 30 March 2003).

 97 Challenged about Muluzi's criminality, UDF supporters declared, ‘Bola wakubayu…!’ (Better the thief [Muluzi] – than the tyrant [Banda’])

 98 Muluzi et al., Democracy; and B. Muluzi, Mau Anga (Pretoria, Skotaville Media, 2002). See W.J. Chirwa, and E. Kanyongolo (eds), ‘The State of Democracy in Malawi (draft report)’ (Zomba, Centre for Social Research, 2000).

 99 Personal communications E. Kazembe, Blantyre, 6 June 1994; A. Makhalira, Blantyre, 26 November 1999; P. Mbewe, Blantyre, 2–4 June 1994 and 28 February 2004; and other UDF executive members. Muluzi neutered ‘critical executive elements’ by delaying their government or parastatal appointments.

 100 Contained in the UDF Referendum Mission Statement (Blantyre, May 1993; copy in my archives): ‘In the mid- to late eighties, the dreams of Dr Banda's detainees, the aspirations of Malawi's young intellectuals, the concerns of the business class, the fears of the clergy, the frustrations of the masses and the winds of change in Eastern Europe and Africa coincided and led to the formation of such an underground protest movement’.

 101 B. Muluzi, personal communication, St. James Hotel, London, 3 March 1994.

 102 Banda's personal fortune was much smaller than Muluzi's 2004 fortune. The Nation's editorial of 27 March 1996 observes: ‘[The] truth of zonse zimene zaKamuzu Banda (everything belongs to Banda) was not so much legal as political’. Muluzi's use of parastatal funds far outstripped Banda's. If Banda creamed profits from state parastatals, Muluzi took profits and capital. See M. Namingha, ‘Muluzi Siphons MK1 Billion from ADMARC’, The Sunday Dispatch, Lilongwe, 21 March 2004; and K. Kapeta (chair) ‘Presidential Commission’.

 103 Africa Confidential, 45, 2 (23 January 2004).

 104 D. Chisiza, Africa: What Lies Ahead? (New Delhi, Indian Council for Africa, 1961), pp. 1–21. At US $2,000 a month, MPs’ salaries make politics a very attractive occupation.

 105 Comment in The Nation, 15 May 1995; Comment in the Enquirer, 17 May 1995; ‘Muluzi Dishes out the Cash to Dancers’, The Chronicle, Lilongwe, 4 June 2001. J.K. van Donge, ‘Kamuzu's Legacy: The Democratisation of Malawi: Or Searching for the Rules of the Game in African Politics’, African Affairs, 94 (1995), pp. 227–57.

 106 Africa Confidential, 45, 2 (23 January 2004), p. 46.

 107 See H. Englund, ‘Winning Elections, Losing Legitimacy: Multi-partyism and the Neo-patrimonial State in Malawi’, in M. Cowen and L. Laasko (eds), Multiparty Elections in Africa (Oxford, James Currey), pp. 172–86; and B. Mpinganjira's admission that the UDF ‘rigged’ the 1999 elections (The Chronicle, 15 March 2004).

 109 Tembo was offered the vice-presidency in a government of national unity.

 110 ‘Third Term Defeated’, The Chronicle, 8 July 2002, p. 1; and ‘Trounced: Parliament Throws out Open Term Bill’, The Daily Times, 5 July 2002, pp. 1–3. See ‘Anti-Corruption Bureau Probes Muluzi, [Chief] Kaomba on Third Term’, The Nation, 7 July 2005.

 108 J. Mapanje, ‘Orality and the Memory of Justice’, Leeds African Studies Bulletin, 60 (1995).

 111 ‘Trounced’, The Daily Times, 5 July 2002.

 112 Muluzi relied on paid UDF party workers; ‘Young Democrats’ who intimidated opponents; most UDF and some opposition MPs and chiefs; and the police National Intelligence Bureau (NIB). One UDF member (N.O.) boasted: ‘every visit to Sanjika earns me K500,000’. See ‘Chiefs Probed on Third Term Bill’, The Nation, 2 May 2005, p. 1.

 113 The Chronicle, 20 August 2003, p. 1. Chilumpha, a Muslim, was favoured to succeed Muluzi before the anti-Muslim backlash to Muluzi's ‘Islamisation and Third Term agendas’. ‘Many’ Christians objected to ‘another Muslim president’. Mutharika's appointment was to ‘woo Christian voters’, neutralise Mpinganjira's candidature and impress western donors. It was also Muluzi's attempt to install a malleable successor who would protect him from future prosecution for alleged corruption (R. Tenthani, ‘Moving on’, BBC Focus on Africa magazine, 15, 2 (April–June 2004), pp. 28–9.

 114 ‘Wadi to Probe Muluzi on UDF Vehicles’, The Nation, 4 October 2004.

 115 ‘Government Lies on PSI Contract’ and ‘More Dirt on K20m Credit Scheme’, The Chronicle, 30 June 2005, Lilongwe.

 116 ‘Bingu Entices MCP MPs’, The Chronicle, 4 April 2005; ‘Zikhale exposed’, The Chronicle, 5 May 2005. See the resignation letter of Zikhale N'goma, one of the DPP's founding fathers, retrieved from http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A2 = ind0509&L = nyasanet&P = R99769 and J. Lwanda, ‘Mutharika, Mbuya and Mipando: When the Elephants Fight’, retrieved from http://www.malawi-update.org/index.php?issue_number = 54&articleid = 110

 117 Compare C. Baylies and M. Szeftel's ‘Democratising and the 1991 Elections in Zambia’, in J. Daniel, R. Southall and M. Szeftel (eds), Voting for Democracy (Aldershot, Ashgate, 1999), pp. 83–109.

 118 J-F. Bayart, ‘Finishing with the Idea of the Third World: The Concept of the Political Trajectory’, in P. Chabal (ed.), Rethinking Third World Politics (London, Longman, 1991); J-F. Bayart, The State in Africa (New York, Longman, 1993); and Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works.

 119 P. Ekeh, ‘Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 17, 1 (1975), pp. 91–112; and E. Osaghae, ‘Colonialism and Civil Society in Africa: The Perspective of Ekeh's Two Publics’, presented at the Symposium on Canonical Works and Continuing Innovation in African Arts and Humanities, Accra Ghana, 17–19 September 2003.

 120 Ekeh, ‘Colonialism and the Two Publics’, p. 93.

 121 ‘We all know why you have come back home with no national colours flanking your black Mercedes Benz …/ Welcome home to the poached reed-huts you left behind;/ Welcome to these stunted pit-latrines where only the pungent whiff of green flies…’ (Mapanje, ‘Coming home without chauffeurs’, in Of Chameleons and Gods (Oxford, Heinemann, 1981), p. 59.

 122 ‘The disgruntled are easily appeased’. Malindi rural woman, unattributable, July 2003.

 123 Using one definition of culture, see A. Kuper, Culture: The Anthropologist's Account (London, Harvard University Press, 1999), pp. 69 and 226–47; no lasting non-personality ‘political cultural’ institutions are being built.

 124 See Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, pp. 17–37; and Phiri and Ross, Democratisation, pp. 9–16.

 125 See Lwanda, Promises, Power, Politics, pp. 86–187.

 126 Using institutional strategic informers the UDF ‘economically disabled’ potential dissidents (personal communication with politicians and civil servants, 1999–2002). Many observers see the hand of the Muluzi regime in the ‘institutional killing’ of dissidents like James Njoloma, Manken Chigawa, Matafale and Stambuli, as well as the assaults on religious leaders (The Nation, 29 March 2004).

 127 See ‘Privatisation Delay Drains Resources’, Nation Online, retrieved from http://www.nationmalawi.com/print.asp?articleID = 7670 on 24 March 2004. Failing parastatals were ‘bailed’ out by the Muluzi government whose party functionaries, as board members and managers, had ‘drain[ed]’ the companies.

 128 Unattributable UDF female supporter, July 2003, Mangochi.

 129 The Malawi National Roads Authority's (MNRA) road fuel levy fund was often raided for UDF rallies (Personal communication, unattributable, Lilongwe, 19 February 2004); ‘EU withdraws Funding for Nsanje-Bangula Road’, Nation, 6 October 2004; and ‘Muluzi Leaves UDF Women Stranded’, The Dispatch, 28 March 2004.

 130 J-F Bayart, ‘Africa in the World: A History of Extraversion’, African Affairs, 99 (2000), pp. 217–67; ‘Malawi-Libya Saga Deepens’, The Chronicle, 9 May 2005; and ‘Finance Bank Closed Down’, The Daily Times, 20 May 2005.

 131 Malawi business, reflecting society in general, is a male-dominated sector.

 132 ‘Mosque on Illegal Land’, Weekend Democratus, 15 May 2005.

 133 T. Maliyamoko and F. Kanyongolo, When Political Parties Clash (Dar es Salaam, TEMA Publishers, 2003), concludes that parties are ‘understood as vehicles for the acquisition of power […] and for the rewards of power’ rather than as vehicles for specific programmes (p. 301). See also Englund (ed.), A Democracy of Chameleons, pp. 17–18.

 134 F. Kanyongolo, ‘The Limits of Liberal Democratic Constitutionalism in Malawi’, in Phiri and Ross (eds), Democratisation, pp. 353–75. Contrary to elite discourse, traditional authority has provided rural Malawi with continuity and stability in the face of severe pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial social, economic and political shocks (Lwanda, Politics, Culture and Medicine, pp. 53–62 and pp. 64–109).