A Malawi Moment – July 2011

The Rotary Club of Stony Plain has had an interest in Malawi for a number of years since it became involved with the building of the Atsikana Pa Ulendo Secondary School for Girls about 40 km west of the capital of Lilongwe.  The club continues to provide funding for the school and scholarships to the girls who attend and has provided a significant microcredit fund to help the girls and their families.

Malawi has evolved since independence into a stable parliamentary democracy that until recently has been well managed economically given that it is one of the poorest countries in the world with over 70% of the  population living on less than $1 a day. However, during the past year, there have been serious issues involving the violation of human rights, a disregard for the rule of law on the part of the government and the management of the economy and donated funds.  In addition, the government is less and less tolerant of criticism to the point of considering negative comments about the government or the President as treason.  Given the above, the British government, the largest provider of aid to Malawi, discontinued it aid program.

With the ever decreasing amount of aid flowing to Malawi, the government raised taxes and prices which has led to demonstrations in the cities against the increased costs of essentials such as food and the lack of electrical power and gasoline.  The government responded with a heavy hand resulting in the deaths of 19 protesters in mid-July.  This prompted  the US Millennium Challenge Corporation to suspend an agreement to provide $350,000,000 to improve the power supply in Malawi.

It is the cultural heritage of Malawi not to question authority but that is changing and those in power do not appreciate this change.  There are clear indications that the Malawi democracy is slowly drifting once again toward an autocracy, not understanding that the world has moved beyond that mode of governance.  The rest of the world will be unwilling to provide aid to a country that does not treat its citizens with respect and the result may well be a retreat from the progress already made.  We hope that this trend will be reversed shortly for the benefit of all Malawians in “the warm heart of Africa”.