HAMBA KAKUHLE UBABA WETHU: EULOGY OF MALAWI’S THIRD PRESIDENT, PROF. BINGU WA MUTHALIKA

By: Qeko

It was first the death of Kamuzu Banda in November 1997 then Chakufwa Chihana in June 2006 and now it’s Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika. Death has once again robbed Malawi of her valuable Son who happened to also be the third President of the country since independence. It was on the 5^th of April around 10am that I received messages stating that State House convoy were at Kamuzu Central Hospital where a very important Person was being treated in an intensive care ward. I infact ignored this message because somebody told me that this was part of the extension of the 1^st April Fools’ Day. So i went about doing my normal books assignment. By lunch hour as I open my email, there were close to 20 messages stating that the Malawi President Bingu wa Muthalika was being treated at Kamuzu Central Hospital. I quickly recalled the Prophecy made by the famous Nigerian Prophet, TB Joshua that an old African leader was to die a sudden death. Upon remembering this, my hearts melt down and realised that the messages that i had received from many of my friends may be true. However by the end of the day business, many prominent websites covered the event in Malawi that the President was to be airlifted to South Africa for further medical treatment. However days later we heard the official news that our president Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika passed on into the Lord’s glory. Yes death had once again robbed our Motherland of a leader who has been buried today at his Ndata farm in Thyolo district in the southern region of Malawi.

HIS EARLY LIFE

The late President  Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika, who was the  father and founder of the Democratic Progressive Party and the third President of the Republic of Malawi since independence was born on the 24^th Feburary 1934 in the southern region town of Thyolo. His parents Mr Ryson and Eleni Tom Muthalika were teachers who got their education from the early Scottish missionaries schools in the region. As a young man Muthalika attended many primary schools in the southern region which included Ulongwe, Ntambanyama and the Henry Henderson Institute in Blantyre. In 1956, Bingu wa Muthalika passed the UK’s Cambridge Oversea School Leaving Certificate at Dedza Secondary School which booked him a place into University education overseas.

SECONDARY AND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

After passing the UK's Cambridge examination Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika  got a scholarship to study Economics at the renown University of Delhi in India. At this India’s prestigious university, Muthalika studied the Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Art in Economics and graduating in 1963 after which he went back to Nyasaland to work in Dr. Banda government as the Administrative Officer. During this time, Muthalika was one of the first educated Malawian economists in the Kamuzu Banda administration. However due to political tension that resulted to the famous 1964 cabinet crisis, Muthalika fled the country into Zambia where he joined the newly independent Government of Zambia and worked in similar capacity in the Kenneth Kaunda regime. 

In 1984 however, Prof wa Muthalika attained his PhD in development Economics at the Pacific Western University in Los Angeles in the USA.

In honour of his great achievements in life and his career, various world institutions recognized his great service to the world, Africa and Malawi in particular by awarding him with honorary degrees. For instance, the following institutions awarded him with such honourary recognition; The Professorship of Economics from the East China Normal University in 2010; Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) Degree Honoris Causa from the University of Delhi in October, 2010; Doctor of Law (PhD Degree (Honoris Causa) from Mzuzu University, in 2008 and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree (Honoris Causa) from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland in 2005.

PROFESSIONAL AND WORK EXPERIENCE

Before becoming the President of the Republic of Malawi, the late Muthalika worked in various international organisation and governments serving in different capacity. To begin with, from 2004 to April 2012, Prof Bingu wa Muthalika served the Malawi people as the Head of State and Government. From  2003-2004, Prof Muthalika Senior served as a Senior Minister of Economic Planning and Development while from 2001-2003 he served as the Deputy Governor of the Malawi Central Bank. From 1991-1997, he served as the Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) where he pioneered the establishment of several regional economic organizations such as the Association of African Central Banks (AACB), Conference of African Ministers of Finance, African Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (AFCCI), and Eastern and Southern Africa Business Organization (ESABO). From 1978-1990, Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika served as a Director for Trade and Finance Division at the World Bank. From 1975-1978, Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika served as the World Bank’s Loan Officer for Tanzania and Kenya in the Secretary’s Department while from 1966 -75, he worked as the as the Chief, Africa Trade Centre; Head Africa-EEC Relations Unit for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Finally in from 1963-66, Prof Bingu wa Muthalika worked as the Administrative Officer in the Governments of Malawi and Zambia respectively.

HIS POLITICAL CAREER

The late Prof. Muthalika Political ambitions were clearly seen in the formation of his party the United Party which contested the first multiparty general elections in Malawi in 1999. However it was in 2003 when he was appointed into Cabinet as a senior Minister responsible for Economic Planning that his political ambitions took off. His involvement in the nation’s planning at the Cabinet level created the trust that the former President Muluzi had in him and was later appointed as the UDF Presidential candidate for the 2004 presidential and parliamentary elections. However Muthalika won 36% of the Presidential votes in 2004 and became the third President since independence. Soon after assuming the highest office of the land, Muthalika came into conflict with his former boss, Muluzi over issues of corruption which led to his abandoning the UDF and forming his very own the DPP in 2005. At its formation, many UDF members of parliament crossed the floor and joined the newly formed DPP which later became the main ruling party in control of government.

HIS FIRST TERM OF OFFICE

President Muthalika’s first term has been described by many as the most productive time where he had the support of all Malawians. During this political era, Muthalika demonstrated and planted trust in the lives of Malawians and during those days, many commented that he was the only hope for the nation and their long awaited man in the transformation of the nation. This was a time when Malawi had all her foreign debts cancelled a situation which made it easier for the stabilisation of the nation's economy. In Bingu, Malawians had a leader whom others have described as having a listening ear and able to work with the people. It is due to the trust that he created in the lives of many Malawians that he won the landslide victory during the 2009 Presidential election where Malawians gave him the overwhelming mandate to lead them.

However like his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi who also started very well in the first term of office and failed in the second term, Prof. Bingu wa Muthalika also had a rough political time during his second term of office despite the fact that his party the ruling DPP had 2/3 in Parliament. Many analylists have said that during the second term of office there was the abuse of the majority rule in parliament in that Muthalika and the DPP passed laws that were not in line with the democratic values of the nation. The second terms of his rule was the time when the wa Muthalika's government went flat in conflict and head-on crash with the civil society over governance issue which led to donor withdraw of aid to the country which in turn created the worse economic crisis in Malawi which was evidenced in the scarcity of fuel and forex.

INTERNATIONAL HONOURARY AWARDS

The late President received many international awards in recognition for his effort to transform Malawi and improve food security. These awards included; The United Nations Special Millennium development Goal Award and the COMESA Distinguished Award (2010); Southern Africa Trust Drivers of Change and the Medal of Glory Awards (2009), The Most Excellent Grand Commander (MEGC); The Food Agriculture and Natural resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) Food Security Policy Leadership Award and the FAO's Agricola Medal (2008); Louise Blouin Foundation Award for Exceptional Creative Achievement and the Danish Government Award of recognition for outstanding performances in promoting gender equality and women empowerment (2008). In addition, the late President was the the founder and chairman of the Bineth Trust – a nonprofit organization promoting education; Founder of the Silvergrey International; and founder and Chairman of the Bingu Silvergrey Foundation of the elderly and retired persons. He was also the founder of the Malawi University of Science and Technology and the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources

HIS LEGACY

The legacy of the late President could be described as having the good and bad just like any living being. There is no-one born of a woman who has gone to the grave with a perfect and good legacy. Dr Kamuzu Banda, Dr. Chakufwa Chihana who were our leaders, had the good and the bad side only that the world tend to magnify the bad side of them ignoring the good and positive contribution they made to the country. So in terms of the late Prof Bingu wa Muthalika, he had his strong points and also his weak points in his leadership. A brief summary of his strong points could show that this Prof was a visionary leader whose focus was to transform Malawi in terms of infrastructural development. He had vision of a better and transformed Malawi. The advantage he had of having worked with the World Bank and other international bodies helped him to come up with viable infrastructural projects that showed that he dreamt in colours and not in black and white. The state of art hotel, new parliament building, Kamuzu Banda Mausoleum, presidential villas, the University of Technology, Karonga Chitipa Road, Research Bank office in the Northern Region and many other infrastructural projects underway in Malawi will remain the benchmark of his legacy and his contribution in the social economic development of the nation and Malawians will remember him for this contribution. 

However in terms of his weak points, the late president made some few wrong judgement over the following; the University quota system, education freedom which led to a brief closure of the University of Malawi, surrounded himself with hand-clappers instead of depending on professional advice. The lack of professional advice on matter of national governance created a situation where the President many times had to make decision himself on matters which in other instances led to disgorgement on issues. In politics its dangerous for the President to surround himself or herself with hand-clappers because these are the same people who many times contribute in the downfall of a leader. If President Bingu wa Muthalika had picked professionals with whom he could sit down one on one and discuss with them on issues of national interest with open mind, all the mistakes he made could not have been there and the later part of his reign could have been good. With this therefore, we can conclude that the later part of his reign had some challenges that negatively affected his legacy.