Our democracy still stubborn 30 years later

Countrymen and women, we are three days into June, the month which marked a major turning point for Malawi’s long and bloody struggle for freedom, peace and democracy.

I will take you back briefly for the sake of the ‘skrr skrr generation’ that was born between the late 1990s and the 2000s, way after the decisive June 14 1993 referendum.

On this chilly Monday morning, millions of motivated patriotic Malawians queued up across the country in readiness for the highly-anticipated referendum on the question of whether they wanted to continue with the then one-party dictatorship or switch to the second multi-party dispensation.

Only 33 percent of the voters subsequently chose to remain in the past while the majority (67 percent) leaped over their rational captivity and threw the ruthless autocracy into the trash can, paving the way for the first democratic elections in May 1994 won by Bakili Muluzi of UDF.

Now, in the past two weeks, UDF and Aford, which are pioneers of democracy in the country, have been holding political rallies celebrating 30 years of their existence, but there is almost nothing for the citizenry to celebrate because since then the expedition has been marred by ups and downs.

For 30 years, this country has been duped of many development opportunities by a cadre of opportunists we mistook for leaders who clearly lacked vision and misplaced governance and development priorities soon after winning office.

They may have read it in history books, but obviously many skrr skrrs do not know that after tasting power, the first democratically-elected president tried in vain to amend the Constitution to prolong his stay in power beyond the maximum two five-year term.

Skrr skrrs, during one of his campaign rallies at Kabula Township in Blantyre in 2002, atcheya literally pleaded for patience from Malawians, saying zaka faifi zoyambilira zimakhala zamapulani, faifi zinazo zachitukuko (the first five years in office are for setting up development plans and the other five for implementation of the plans), a clear hint that he was not going to leave office easily just like his predecessor Kamuzu Banda who ruled for three decades.

“[Ndani angalamulire dziko zaka eyiti zokha?  Amayi ndi abambo boma sitisintha ngati malaya…No! No! No! (Who wants to rule a country for only eight years? You don’t just change governments the way you change clothes… No! No! No!”

All this happened amid mounting pressure from donors, churches and human rights groups against Muluzi’s open term and third term bids. In the end Malawians triumphed again just like was the case during the 1993 referendum.

Almost a similar episode happened in 2020 when the majority of voters rejected DPP because of its mediocrity. Such is the beauty about our democracy. This country always wins.

But get me right here. I am not saying all our leaders were bad. No.

Some worked so hard to improve our country, but there were still many democratic reversals during their reigns, including stifling political spaces and violations and threats to people’s freedoms, the same things we fought against 30 years ago.

So, as we remember 30 years of our democracy in few weeks’ time, let us also remember to play our rightful roles in providing checks and balances to the system we all embraced to make it better than yesterday.

If not, we shall continue to experience reversals that will counter our aspirations for the future as a country.

See you next Saturday!