MALAWI: WHAT NEXT FOR ONE OF AFRICA’S YOUNGEST DEMOCRACIES

Late last week one of the world’s most open secrets was finally laid bare as the Malawian authorities confirmed that the country’s President, Bingu wa Mutharika, 78, was dead. The confirmation put to rest rumours which had gathered momentum in the intervening period that the President had succumbed to a cardiac arrest suffered recently. The delay in announcing the death gave rise to fears of political impasse and dispute in the background regarding the potential successor to the position of President.

One might say that whatever disputes being aired out in the political background were finally resolved when Vice-President, Joyce Banda, was sworn in as President in accordance with the country’s constitution. Joyce Banda thus becomes the country’s first female leader since it gained independence in 1964 and southern Africa’s first female leader.

Needless to say the challenges which President Banda faces, as is also the case with many other African countries or countries in the developing world, are pretty enormous to say the least. The small matters of chronic poverty, poor standards of health and education, countering the HIV/AIDS epidemic amongst numerous others await the new President.

The new President will do well to re-engage with the West as her predecessor seemed to have alienated foreign donors who had managed to keep the country’s fragile economy afloat. Observers will recall that under President Mutharika’s watch, the UK’s representative to the country was expelled after leaked diplomatic cables revealed the West’s concerns about the late President’s autocratic behaviour. Earlier in the year the late President also famously commanded, for want of a better word, the foreign donors to “go to hell”.

One doubts that a clairvoyant, fortune teller or a crystal gazing ball may be able to accurately predict the country’s future in the coming days, weeks, months and even years. What is however known is that the late President’s allies are uncomfortable with the idea of the Vice-President, whom the late President never saw eye to eye with, replacing him. One recalls that both predecessor and successor had a most public falling out over the predecessor’s plans for his brother, also the country’s Foreign Minister, to run as the ruling party’s Presidential candidate in elections planned for 2014.

These political rifts will need to heal and common ground between political opponents will need to be found if any progress is to be made in the interim. The bloodless transition is nevertheless commendable considering the still unfolding situation in Mali and other parts of the continent. As is always the case, time will tell whether this young democracy will see middle, and if lucky, maybe old age.