Yearbook 2009
Malawi. According to countryaah, President Bingu wa Mutharika was re-elected in May for a second five-year term with 66 percent of the vote. In the parliamentary elections, his party Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) got its own majority. The DPP was formed by Mutharika as late as 2005, when he broke out of the former United Democratic Front government party after a schism with Representative Bakili Muluzi. In 2008, Muluzi had been authorized by a court to re-run for office, despite having served a maximum of two terms. In March, however, the Election Commission ruled that his candidacy was a violation of the Constitution, and the same opinion had the Constitutional Court to which Muluzi appealed. Election supervisors from the EU and the Commonwealth criticized the state media’s unilateral support for the government during the election movement, but protests against the election results won no hearing. After taking up his second term, Mutharika presented a heavily reformed government. It attracted attention that the successful Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe was moved to the post of Minister of Local Government, after being responsible for one of Africa’s and the world’s fastest growing economies for several years. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for abbreviation MW which stands for the nation of Malawi.
Malawi, which was previously regularly hit by malnutrition and famine, has been steadily increasing harvests of barley maize since 2004. The success is mainly attributed to a long-term program for heavy subsidies of artificial fertilizers and seeds. The country has become self-sufficient in maize and can also export. Since 2005, economic growth has been over 7 percent per year and for 2009 it was estimated at close to 8 percent.
HISTORY
On the territory, included in the orbit of the empires or potentates that controlled the trade, both licit and illicit, between the great lakes and the coast, in 1891 Great Britain proclaimed its protectorate, thus blocking both Portugal’s attempts to extend its power towards the interior is the activity of the Arab slaveholders. There was no shortage of episodes of rebellion against colonial rule, but the first nationalist party in the strict sense, the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC), was only founded in 1944. It soon strengthened its raison d’etre with opposition to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953), commissioned by London. As the struggle against colonialism and the Federation became radicalized, the British government reacted strongly by outlawing the NAC (since 1958 led by HK Banda) and establishing a state of emergency. But when the party could reorganize itself as the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the colonial authorities came to terms. On 6 July 1964 independence was proclaimed and the name Malawi was adopted, in memory of a kingdom that belonged to the Zimbabwe civilization, definitively replacing the colonial name of Nyasaland.
In 1966 Malawi gave itself a republican, one-party and presidential constitution, but in fact it was subject to the authoritarian regime of Banda, declared president for life since 1971, concentrating all power in his person. The Malawi established normal diplomatic relations with the Republic of South Africa (1967) and was also held later on the margins of the commitment against colonialism and racism. Moreover, he had a territorial dispute opened with Tanzania and Zambia; with Mozambique it came several times to moments of tension. The war in Mozambique pushed over half a million refugees towards Malawi causing a very serious problem in economic and stability terms.
The opposition to the regime, particularly pressing since the early 1990s, achieved the reintroduction of multi-partyism, then a new Constitution, always of a presidential type, followed by elections that led to the presidency Bakili Muluzi and his United Democratic Front (UDF). Once the political prisoners were released, a policy of reconciliation began. Although there were signs of improvement, accentuated by the resumption of international aid, the structural conditions of the economy remained characterized by extreme fragility, above all due to the strong dependence of agriculture on climatic conditions. Furthermore, the spread of the AIDS epidemic had heavy economic repercussions. In the years following Muluzi’s re-election (1999), the food and health situation became dramatic. Suspicions of harboring authoritarian aims also gathered about Muluzi. In the presidential elections of 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika, surprisingly designated by Muluzi as his successor, prevailed. In February 2005, the new president decided to leave the UDF, claiming he was not supported in its anti-corruption policy, and founded the Democratic with his supporters. Progressive Party (DPP). After facing an attempted impeachment, Mutharika consolidated his power, but the bitterness of the political battle hindered his government action and he faced the same accusations of inefficiency leveled against his predecessors. In 2006 the vice president Cassim Chilumpa and the former president Muluzi were arrested, the first for treason, the second for corruption. Re-elected president in 2009, Mutharika passed away in April 2012 and was replaced by outgoing vice president J. Banda, 61, the first woman to hold this office in the country. In October 2013, following the arrest of some officials accused of embezzlement of public funds, the female politician carried out a government reshuffle. The presidential elections held in May 2014 registered the defeat of the political woman in the confrontation with the DDP candidate P. Mutharika, brother of the former president, who took over from her mandate; reconfirmed in office in May 2019, his election was canceled in February 2020 on suspicion of fraud. The non-governmental candidate L. Chakwera won the new consultations, held in June 2020, obtaining 59% of the votes against the 39% awarded by the outgoing president, who took over the office.
August
Churches are closed as a result of covid-19
9th of August
Bars and churches are closed after the spread of the covid-19 viral disease gained new momentum. It will also be mandatory to wear a mouth guard and all gatherings of more than ten people will be banned. The number of new infections is described as alarming. Confirmed corona falls in the country are now up to 4,624, which is a doubling compared to four weeks ago.