A unitary state for all Malawians (I)
When I read in newspapers that the people of Scotland would in September 2014 vote on whether Scotland should continue to be part of the United Kingdom (UK) or be independent, I developed anxious thoughts. I felt that if Scotland seceded from the UK, it would encourage secessionist movements in Africa. That such movements might exist in my own country Malawi never crossed my mind. But as I write this article, the unitary State of Malawi seems to be in balance.
In this article, we should look at how federal systems have come about their histories and effects of secessions. History is an essential subject for those who participate in public life. From the history of one’s own country or the history of other countries, you can acquire the right experience, wisdom for success in the field of politics and statesmanship. First, let us talk about federalism and the history of federal States.
Federalism is a system of government where the three powers; Executive, Legislature and Judiciary are shared between the sovereign State and the subordinate states. This usually has come about when individual states agree among themselves to surrender their sovereignty to a super State, but retain some State rights which they have been exercising hitherto.
The best known and possibly the oldest federal State is the United States of America (USA). Up to the year 1776, what is now called USA consisted of 13 British colonies which owed allegiance to King George III. On July 4 1776, they rebelled against the monarch and declared themselves independent of Britain.
As British colonies, each country had a governor, high court system legislature which operated within its geographical boundaries. The only relationship between them was commercial or social. But politically they were distinct countries.
To safeguard their independence, these countries decided to develop closer relationships than had existed before. At first, they essayed a confederation of equal States, each independent in external relations with the rest of the world.
Their philosophers and statesmen like Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson felt a closer union was better than a mere confederation. They, therefore, settled for a federal system. Nowadays, the USA consists of 50 States, each with its own state legislature, Judiciary system and governor. All these States are subordinate to the federal State with its headquarters in Washington, District of Columbia.
The American Federal Constitution stipulates powers reserved for the federal government and those for the states. Let us repeat here that the federal system created close association or union. In Australia, there were colonies like New South Wales, Victoria and West Australia. Each of these had direct relationship with London. At independence, both in Canada and Australia, these colonies chose closer relationships between them by establishing federal systems.
From 1949 to 1933, white settlers in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi) approached the British government that they wanted these countries to be amalgamated (become one country). After some hesitation, Britain granted their will and established a federal State known as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
Africans in Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia were united in opposition to the federation because it placed political power exclusively in the hands of white people called Europeans.
The federation consisted of four governments. At the top was the federal government headed by the governor general to represent the British monarchy and the prime minister who managed the political affairs of the three countries in the manner a British prime minister does.
Below the federal government, there was the government of self-governing Southern Rhodesia with a governor and prime minister, Northern Rhodesia government, a protectorate with a governor answerable to the colonial office in Nyasaland and a governor responsible to the colonial office.
Each of the four governments had a legislature called Parliament in Southern Rhodesia, but legislative council in Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia. The federal Parliament in Salisbury (Harare) passed legislation on matters that concerned all the three countries; the legislature of each of the countries passed legislature matters concerning each country separately such as African education, police service and agriculture.
The British administered Nigeria as a unitary colony, but at independence, it became a federal State with the East (mainly Igbo) and the West (mainly Yoruba), and the North, which was predominantly Muslim, dominated by the Hausa and Fulani ethnic groups. In the course of time, Nigeria was further fragmented into 30 states, each with a governor. Each State was closely associated with language and tribe. With a population of over 160 million, a federal system of government is quite appropriate.
There are suggestions that Malawi should have a federal political system with each region as a State. There would be Southern Region state with its headquarters in Blantyre, the Central Region with its headquarters possibly in old Lilongwe, the Northern Region state with its headquarters in Mzuzu. Above all, these would be the federal State with its headquarters in the new capital.
To be continued…
