Democracy and the poor in Malawi

Until quite recently, the dominant view has been that the poor do not care for democracy, supporting this thesis being the “One cannot eat democracy”. Politicians have  taken this dictum as a license to hoodwink the masses by providing cheap entertainment, strewing 50 Kwacha notes at rallies and making irresponsible promises of free fertilisers, free shoes etc. Some of Malawi’s political analysts have shown that they share this view by casting doubt on the seriousness of the poor attending political rallies.

 Recent studies in other developing countries including Malawi completely disprove this thesis. In Malawi in 1993, people voted overwhelmingly against a repressive regime. For 20 of the thirty years that Banda ruled, the model that had shown some promise in the 1960s and early 1970s had run aground. Incomes had fallen, poverty worsened   and the policies had produced some of the worst social indicators in Africa in terms of infant mortality, stunting of children and income distribution.

 Here, the case for respect of basic human rights and the need to combat poverty combined to lead to the rejection of one party rule and the ruling MCP which the poor had concluded was the source of their malaise.

 This year again, the issues of democracy and development were in the forefront. On the democracy front it was clear that whatever  the “letter “ of the constitutions might say, Malawians understood the “spirit”  of that document as saying  a maximum of two terms meant just those two terms. They also saw  Bingu as the incumbent during the last five years had managed to refocus the political course and economic policy around issues of development and the eradication of poverty.  There were signs something was being done about poverty. No wonder the turnout was high and the results clear.