Part 3 (1/2)

However, all this changed in the second half of the 18th century with the arrival of new immigrants, which altered the cultural mix of northern Malawi. These were the Balowoka, or those who ”crossed over” Lake Malawi from Tanzania. Mlowoka Gondwe, leader of this small group of traders, sought alliances of friends.h.i.+p that in the end enabled him to expand the incipient ivory trade and promote long-distance trade. Aligning himself with local leaders and marrying into the most powerful clan, the Luhanga, Mlowoka soon established economic control over the HengaNkhamangaPhoka areas. He secured his economic position by placing his compatriots along this ivory trade route, which extended from eastern Zambia to Lake Malawi. Oral tradition suggest that Mlowoka's sphere remained economic and did not develop into a political hegemony.

However, at Mlowoka's death in the early 19th century, his son usurped the succession line from the Luhangas, and from this point is dated the beginning of the Chikulamayembe line. The new authority followed Luhanga administrative patterns and allowed the local judicial system to continue. The Chikulamayembes established no bureaucracy and no army in the area; in fact, their subordinate rulers were given a significant measure of autonomy. Although economically powerful, the dynasty exercised political leaders.h.i.+p only in Nkhamanga, just east of modern Rumpi boma.

Farther north, in present-day Karonga and Chitipa districts, the political structure in the pre-circa 14,000 period was clan based. There was no form of centralized leaders.h.i.+p; instead, along the Karonga lakesh.o.r.e, authority was religious and exercised through a snake cult. Even when the Simbowe established themselves at Mbade Hill in the 15th century, attaining the respect of the indigenous peoples and a.s.suming political control of the area, the clans retained some independence. The Simbowe seem to have been selling ivory to an east coast network (in the 15th to 17th centuries) when the Portuguese were in command of the coast. Their successors, the Kyungu, originated from Ukinga in southwestern Tanzania, and around 1600 successfully plotted the death of the Simbowe leader, wresting power from the trader family. The Kyungu were to rule the Ngonde until Nyasaland became a British colony.

At about the time the Kyungu were forging the Ngonde kingdom, two polities emerged in Ulambya and Misuku in present-day Chitipa, specifically in the areas of the Lambya/Nyiha and Sukwa, respectively. The region between Ulambya and the Nyika plateau was inhabited by Nyiha-speaking peoples, but no central authority emerged until the 18th century when the Kaonga and Kayira, both from modern Tanzania, founded the Ntalire and Wenya.

Nineteenth-Century Incursions In the 19th century, the inhabitants of the Lake Malawi region witnessed the arrival of the Yao, Ngoni, and Swahili-Arabs, all of whom were prepared to take power from existing authorities by violence where they met resistance. The Yao moved from their nuclear area in northern Mozambique when they were attacked by the Makua-Lomwe (Lolo) peoples, their neighbors to the east. Furthermore, a severe famine aggravated Yao life, causing them to flee to southern Malawi. The Yao were established long-distance traders, having bartered with those from the east coast since the early 1700s. At Mozambique and Kilwa, the Yao had traded with the Portuguese, Indians, Arabs, and French; ivory was the desired item of exchange followed by others including beeswax and tobacco, all of which were exchanged mainly for cloth. In fact, the Yao were the princ.i.p.al middlemen in the commercial region, which stretched from the Mozambican coast in the east to the Bisa country east of Luangwa Valley in modern Zambia. Their involvement in the slave trade was a much later development and remained subsidiary to their ivory commerce.

Small groups of Yao traders conducted their business in the southern Malawi villages before midcentury but, after 1860, they arrived in the region in greater numbers. As conflicts between the different Yao groups increased and the Ngoni exerted pressure on peoples of northern Mozambique, more Yao fled southwestward, into the southern Malawi lakesh.o.r.e and s.h.i.+re Highlands, homeland of the Nyanja/Mang'anja, who lived in small villages each led by a chief. By the late 1860s, most of the area east of the s.h.i.+re River had fallen under Yao authority. Many of the Yao were involved in the ivory trade, some were more interested in the slave trade, and yet others actively partic.i.p.ated in both forms of commerce. Among the latter were Makanjira, Mponda, Kawinga, and Matapwiri, all heads of powerful chiefdoms, and between them they dominated the commerce of the east coast and the interior.

Through their a.s.sociation with the Swahili-Arabs, many, but not all, Yao embraced Islam. When European Christian missionaries arrived in Malawi in the 19th century, Yao chiefs permitted mission stations to be built in their areas. The missionaries hoped to lure the Yao into their sphere of influence, but Commissioner Harry H. Johnston (1890s) was intent on ”pacifying” the Yao, ending their opposition to the European intrusion, and curbing Yao commercial activities, including the slave trade. In 1896, after five years of war, Johnston in fact broke the Yao dominance of commerce in the area.

The Ngoni had preceded the Yao into Malawi by several decades. In about 1819, two groups of Ngoni fled the powerful Zulu king Shaka and migrated north, crossing the Zambezi River in the 1830s. One group, the Jere Ngoni, was led by Zw.a.n.gendaba and his successor M'Mbelwa; the second group, the Maseko Ngoni, was headed by Mputa and later by Chikusi and Chidyawonga. Both the Jere and Maseko Ngoni were highly organized politically and militarily, and both plundered and captured people during their northern trek.

The Maseko Ngoni first entered the Dedza district of Malawi in the 1830s and then proceeded south to the s.h.i.+re Valley and east of Lake Malawi to Songea, Tanzania. After Mputa's death, his brother Chidyawonga returned to southern Malawi (1860s) and settled in Chewa country. The Ngoni adopted the Chewa language, while the Chewa imitated many Ngoni customs and Chewa men joined Ngoni military regiments. Chikusi, son of Mputa, succeeded as chief when his uncle Chidyawonga died. The Maseko were undecided over whether Chikusi or Chifisi (Chidyawonga's son) should reign. As a result, there became two lines of succession: today Chikusi's successor is Gomani III and Chifisi's descendant chieftain is Kachindamoto II.

Zw.a.n.gendaba led his Jere Ngoni into what is today Lilongwe district, raiding and terrifying the local inhabitants. Upon his hearing rumors of cattle herds to the north, Zw.a.n.gendaba directed his followers to an area south of Lake Tanzania. After his death (c. 1848) there was a dispute over succession; subsequently, some Ngoni moved north and others migrated east. But the main body traveled south and settled in Malawi, in the area between the Henga Valley and southern Viphya. In about 1857, Mhlahlo M'Mbelwa became inkosi (paramount chief) of the Jere Ngoni. Under his rule (185791), both Tonga and Tumbuka peoples were subjugated.

The Chikulamayembe were unable to resist the superior military organization of the Ngoni. Some accommodation occurred, however, as Tumbuka headmen and Tumbuka religion were permitted to continue. With further a.s.similation, the Tumbuka and Ngoni intermarried and the Ngoni, like so many other groups before them, also adopted the local language. Although neither the Tonga nor the Tumbuka relished being integrated into the Ngoni state, their attempts at revolt (187480) were not very successful. Only the imposition of British rule restricted the activities of the Ngoni. However, even with the establishment of the British Protectorate in 1891, the country of the northern Ngoni was not annexed and they did not pay taxes to the new colonial government. In 1904, the Ngoni agreed to accept British rule, in part because of the ameliorating effects of Scottish missions on Ngoni life. Today's, descendants of the sons of Zw.a.n.gendaba hold chiefly offices in the name of M'mbelwa, Mabulabo, Mperembe, Mtwalo, Mzukuzuku, Chinde, and Mzikubola.

The third group that moved into Malawi in the 19th century was the Swahili-Arabs. Swahili traders arrived in northern Malawi just prior to the coming of the Ngoni. In the 1840s, the Jumbe, Salim bin Abdallah, brought an impressive number of guns and ammunition when he and his retinue made Nkhotakota an eastwest commercial center. Both the Chewa and Tonga sought alliances with these well-armed representatives of the Sultan of Zanzibar to fend off the Ngoni. When the European missionaries arrived in the 1870s, they abhorred, but tolerated, the Jumbe's trade in slaves. The British took more direct action in 1894 when they deposed the last Jumbe and sent him to Zanzibar. In the early 1880s, another Swahili-Arab trader, Mlozi bin Kazbadema, established himself at Karonga, which he used as a base for his ivory business. Karonga had also just become the major station for the African Lakes Company. Conflict between them was inevitable, especially after the Ngonde complained of Swahili-Arab hara.s.sment and appealed to the African Lakes Company and the British for a.s.sistance. In 1889, Harry Hamilton Johnston, the British consul general, attempted to negotiate an end to the conflict, but the terms of the treaty were largely ignored. Finally, in 1895, with 400 troops as reinforcements, Johnston destroyed Mlozi's stockade; Mlozi was captured, tried, and executed.

Europeans were another group to enter and settle in Malawi in the 19th century. Although the Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit Malawi in about 1616, and even though the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) had briefly operated in the s.h.i.+re Highlands in the 1860s, it was only after the death of Dr. David Livingstone in 1873 at Chitambo, Zambia, that many of them turned their attention to the Lake Malawi region. First to arrive were Scottish Presbyterian missionaries who established centers in the south and north of Malawi. The Dutch Reformed Church, Anglicans (UMCA), Catholics, Baptists, and others followed. By the early 1890s, there were also a significant number of Europeans in the area to farm and conduct other business.

From Protectorate to Nation Although traders, planters, and missionaries were in the region of Malawi, it was not until 1891 that a Protectorate was declared by the British. Called British Central Africa, the Protectorate was administered by Harry Johnston who was appointed commissioner and consul-general. Certainly the British did not rush to add this overseas possession to their empire, but, increasingly, Great Britain felt obliged to protect the missionaries, traders, and early settlers from other European powers, namely the Germans and Portuguese, who were players in the ”scramble for Africa.”

Harry Johnston spent the next five years establis.h.i.+ng British authority in the area. He led several military expeditions against slavers and local chieftains in order to a.s.sert British paramountcy. In addition to administering these territories, Johnston would also exercise authority over lands chartered by the British South Africa Company. The Scottish missionaries, operating in the s.h.i.+re Highlands following the death of David Livingstone, and the traderplanter communities had exercised their own ”administrative powers” for many years but were now subordinate to British rule and Commissioner Johnston. Prior to 1895, when the British Treasury a.s.sumed full financial responsibility of British Central Africa, Johnston had little money with which to accomplish all he did. During his brief tenure, he ended the slave trade and set up the administrative infrastructure for governing the Protectorate. He gathered together an effective staff: Alfred Sharpe, John Nicoll, C. A. Edwards, William Manning, as well as a small number of civil servants who were responsible for taxes, public works, customs, and postal services.

Johnston left the territory in 1897, and his deputy, Alfred Sharpe, succeeded him. During the administrative reign of the colorful Sharpe, the name of the Protectorate was changed to Nyasaland. The Order in Council of 1907 also changed the commissioners.h.i.+p to a governors.h.i.+p, creating an Executive Council of three senior officials (European) and a Legislative Council (LEGCO) consisting of nominated nongovernment members (European planters, traders, and missionaries). This would remain the const.i.tutional basis for the central government of Nyasaland until after World War II, with changes occurring in numbers or composition, most notably the addition of one Indian and two African representatives to LEGCO in 1949. Until then, governors seeking African opinion had to rely on their district commissioners-missionaries-one of whom, a member of LEGCO, was to represent African interests or the Native a.s.sociations.

The first Welfare/Native a.s.sociation, the North Nyasa Native a.s.sociation, was established in 1912 and was followed in 1914 by the West Nyasa a.s.sociation; others emerged in succeeding decades. Political organizations reacting to the laws of the new colonial administration, the a.s.sociation held formal meetings with minutes, rules, and elections. Consisting mostly of Western-educated members, these Malawians sought to make recommendations to the British authorities, who invariably found their suggestions inappropriate. In 1930, the a.s.sociations began working with and through district councils. One issue in the 1930s drew the a.s.sociations tightly together: the proposed union with Rhodesia. A decade later, the a.s.sociations joined together, creating the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC). At its first conference in 1944, Levi Mumba was elected president. Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda would become one of its most steadfast supporters and its main financial underwriter. In 1959 the NAC would become the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

Members.h.i.+p in the a.s.sociations waned only when the independent churches seemed to be more effectual. Usually the leaders of the a.s.sociations were also active in the independent churches. Early initiatives by Malawians to be independent included the formation, before World War I, of churches separate from the Scottish mission at Livingstonia, such as Charles Domingo's Seventh-Day Baptist and Elliott Kamwana's Watch Tower. Malawians understandably resented the European's racist att.i.tudes and condemnation of traditional customs. With the advent of World War I, many Malawians became distressed at being recruited for a cause that was not theirs, but that of the Europeans. A large death toll, combined with land problems and labor abuses on certain estates, produced in January 1915 an uprising against European control. The Chilembwe rising shook European complacency, resulted in an official government inquiry, and recommended, but never implemented, reforms.

In the interwar years, the British adopted a policy of indirect rule in which certain judicial powers were delegated to chiefs, permitting them to hold court, and various administrative responsibilities were given to chiefs, such as levying taxes. To raise living standards, the British, patterned after the Jeanes educationalists, established centers in the 1920s and 1930s in which community workers, chiefs, and headmen attended courses to promote the use of better hygiene, nutrition, child care, and agrarian methods. Addressing the critical land problem that plagued the Protectorate, a 1936 Order in Council secured 90 percent of the land for African use, leaving the remainder for towns.h.i.+ps, forest reserves, Crown land, and that already alienated by Europeans. The Abrahams Commission in 1946 designated more alienated land in the s.h.i.+re Highlands for African use. Subsequent purchases of alienated land have been necessary since then to reduce the number of squatters.

Unlike its neighbors, Malawi did not have an abundance of minerals to draw Europeans to its soil. European traders and planters wanted an a.s.surance of good transport, cheap labor, and land. The latter two were easily obtainable, but the rail system, developed at great expense to the Protectorate, made transport costs inordinately high. A cla.s.sic underdevelopment case, Malawi had few industries, forcing its male population to seek employment in neighboring states, which were more industrially advanced. Severely straining the family social structure, the Malawian migrant laborers influenced the economic development of Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, leaving Malawi without skilled labor. Men who were migrant laborers or recruits fighting in World War II returned from those travels with experiences that often made them dissatisfied with their own political status, living standards, or educational opportunities.

PostWorld War II, the native a.s.sociations had drawn together into the Nyasaland African Congress, and the very small but vocal European community was attracted to the possibility of uniting with a richer territory. Establis.h.i.+ng a closer union among east and central African territories had been bandied about since World War I and gained considerable support in the 1930s among the Europeans. However, agreement could not be reached before the onset of World War II, which placed dreams of amalgamation on hold. Finally in 1953, after many more months of discussion, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was established. At no time were discussions about a closer union ever supported by the vast majority of Africans in Nyasaland. The Bledisloe Commission Report in 1939 recognized that the opposition to a federation was overwhelming. Whenever the a.s.sociations, provincial councils, or chiefs were polled for African sentiment, the reply was always the same: the Federation would benefit Europeans, not Africans. Not surprisingly, Malawi did not, in fact, benefit economically from the union. Along with total rejection of the Federation came the movement to end the union and become independent. Led by a generation of younger leaders, such as Henry Chipembere and Kanyama Chiume, the followers of the NAC became more militant in their demands for controlling their own lives.

In 1958, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda returned to Nyasaland to take over heads.h.i.+p of the nationalist movement, to work for secession from the Federation, and to revise the const.i.tution, providing for an African majority and independence from British rule. When, allegedly, the NAC advocated violence, Governor Robert Armitage declared a state of emergency (March 1959), during which unnecessary brutality was used against NAC members; Banda, Chipembere, and many others were sent to prison. The Devlin Commission of 1959 exonerated Banda and the NAC, which was now the MCP. In the following year, a const.i.tutional conference was held in London, with Banda, Chirwa, and Chiume, three chiefs, and two Asian delegates in attendance. The MCP emerged from this meeting with a majority in LEGCO, and in the election under the new const.i.tution held in August 1961, all 20 lower roll seats were won by the MCP, which obtained 99 percent of the votes cast. The issues at the polls were to keep the Federation or become independent, to support Africanization of government positions, and to improve social conditions. Banda became de facto prime minister; the British agreed to permit Nyasaland to secede from the Federation and subsequently, to grant independence on 6 July 1964.

The Postcolonial Era Sovereignty obtained, Banda set about administering the new nation. Almost immediately, his efforts to directly control the entire government met with opposition from some of the younger men who had struggled with him for independence. Unable to reconcile their differences on domestic and foreign policy issues, the former cabinet ministers were forced to leave Malawi in what came to be known as the Cabinet Crisis. In 1966, Malawi became a republic and a one-party state. From the mid-1960s, Banda nearly single-handedly governed his nation, often appealing to the people to trust him to rule in their interests.

The apparent political stability and positive economic climate in Malawi pleased foreign aid agencies, which oversubscribed loans and saw Malawi's economic growth rates at 5 percent annually. Some of the development money went to the extension of roads and railways so as to enable the movement of produce from rural areas to markets within and outside the country. There was also an expansion of the educational system as more schools were built. Health programs were also implemented. Most of the aid was allocated to the planning and execution of rural agricultural projects aimed at increasing productivity of the smallholder producer, thereby ensuring food security in the country. The results were mixed partly because the prices set by the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC), which had a virtual monopoly to market smallholder produce, were inadequate to make agriculture profitable to the farmers. On the other hand, the estate sector (mostly tobacco, tea, and sugar) operated under more favorable conditions, with the result that, throughout the 1970s and for most of the following decade, it experienced tangible growth.

Toward the end of the 1980s, the economy of Malawi was not in good shape. It was adversely affected by world market prices, it lacked diversification in its exports, and it increasingly experienced weaknesses in management, especially of the parastatal organizations, which had become dominant features in the socioeconomic life of the country. The government accepted the structural adjustment program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which involved, among many other measures, lifting subsidies on fertilizers and oil, resulting in the rising cost of most consumer goods. The program also liberalized the marketing of smallholder produce so that ADMARC no longer held the monopoly in this field.

Meanwhile, although Banda and the MCP continued to be intolerant of dissent, pressure was mounting on the need for political reform. As the Soviet Union broke apart, Western nations that had hitherto supported Banda because of his anticommunist stance demanded change as a prerequisite for aid. For a period in 199293, Malawi received little foreign a.s.sistance, and this badly affected the economy. Malawians in exile also called for immediate reform and, within the country, underground opposition began to surface and openly call for multiparty democracy. In March 1992, the Catholic bishops issued a pastoral letter, which was read in their churches and criticized the human rights record of the government. Before the end of the year, new political parties, the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), were formed. As the political agitation increased, Banda was forced to accept change, which a national referendum in May 1993 confirmed overwhelmingly. In June the following year, the first general election in over 30 years took place. Elson Bakili Muluzi of the UDF defeated Banda and two other candidates; the UDF also won the majority of the seats in the expanded National a.s.sembly. Freedom of expression and a.s.sociation had returned to Malawi, and the political tension eased considerably.

Muluzi inherited an unstable economy and, like Banda, he turned to donor agencies for a.s.sistance. The IMF and the World Bank advised on more structural adjustment programs, including a ma.s.sive devaluation of the Malawi kwacha and an acceleration in the privatization of nearly all statutory organizations. In foreign affairs, Malawi extended friends.h.i.+p to Arab and Islamic nations, most of which had been shunned by the Banda government. Muluzi became a more active partic.i.p.ant in inter-African affairs and even offered to contribute to an Africa-based peacekeeping force.

Although practically retired, Banda remained head of the MCP until his death on 25 November 1997; within a few months, Gwanda Chakuamba was elected to succeed him. In the general elections of June 1999, he was the presidential candidate for the MCP-AFORD, and Chakufwa Chihana of the AFORD stood as vice president. Muluzi won and his party also took the majority in the National a.s.sembly. Although the election results were hotly contested by the MCP-AFORD and by the smaller Malawi Democratic Party led by Kamlepo Kalua, it seemed clear that the culture of democracy was beginning to take root in Malawi. The second term (19992004) of the Muluzi presidency was marked by political uncertainties, mismanagement in government and public service generally, and by poor economic performance of the country.

In the early 2000s, Muluzi indicated that he planned to initiate measures to change the const.i.tution so that he could stand for a third term, and this issue dominated the rest of his presidency as he showed determination to pursue the matter and as opposition to it increased. Other political parties protested, and within the UDF itself there was some disquiet. The churches, Catholic and many Protestant ones, resisted the plan and campaigned actively against it. Courts became involved too as some people sought to resolve the matter via the judicial system. In the meantime, the economy performed poorly during this time, especially as agricultural production declined. The drought of 2000/2001 followed by floods in 2003 contributed to this decline, and although the World Bank gave Malawi $50 million to deal with the effects of the drought, this period also marked the donor community's withdrawal of most economic a.s.sistance because of mismanagement and lack of accountability in public service. Furthermore, inflation rose to 30 percent and the discount rate to 47 percent.

In 2004, Bakili Muluzi announced that he would not stand as UDF presidential candidate in that year's general elections, and that Minister of Economic Affairs Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika would do so instead. Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika duly won the contest but, in January 2005, he broke away from the UDF, and in the following month, formed his own party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Using organs such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika tackled mismanagement and corruption immediately and paid more attention to agricultural production. This impressed donors, and aid returned to Malawi; and, by 2005, domestic debt lessened, credit became more available to the private sector, and growth rose to about 5 percent. In 2006, harvests were particularly poor, adversely affecting the economy, so to improve the situation, the government embarked on a large-scale program of fertilizer subsidies, with good results.

With external aid resumed and an increase in the harvest, the economy took a turn for the better, leading to a swelling in the government's and the president's popularity. Many on the opposition benches in the National a.s.sembly changed parties, and by 2007, the DPP was virtually in the majority in the legislative house. In the May 2009 general and presidential elections, the DPP won 114 out of 193 seats in the National a.s.sembly, the MCP 26, the UDF 17, AFORD 1, and independent candidates, most whom were closely aligned with the DPP, won 26; the rest went to small parties. Seven candidates contested the state presidency, and Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika won 65 percent of the votes and embarked on his second term.

In January 2010, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika was elected as chairman of the African Union (AU), replacing Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, who in 2002 had been instrumental in transforming the Organization of African Unity into the African Union. As a result of this position, Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika attended most international summits of note, including the Group of Twenty (G20) and G8, thereby raising Malawi's profile. In Malawi itself, the Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika government decided to modify the shape of the national flag so that, among other details, a full sun replaced the rising one. The government's justification for the change was that the full sun reflected the fact that Malawi was now more developed than it had been at independence in 1964. Although civil society, some churches, the Malawi Congress Party, and the United Democratic Front Party opposed the change, requesting more time to debate the matter, the government proceeded to alter the flag in July 2010.

There were other contentious issues of national importance, and among them was the government's decision to amend Section 46 of the penal code to enable the minister of information to ban publication and circulation of publications determined not to be in the best interests of the public. Despite widespread opposition in Malawi and abroad, the amendment became law in February 2011. Another controversial matter was the government's expulsion in April that year of the British high commissioner because of a leaked report to the British Foreign Office in which he remarked on the increasing dictatorial behavior and intolerance to criticism of President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika. The unprecedented decision troubled Malawians, including civil society and church organizations, especially in view of the historical relations between the two countries, and of the fact that since independence in 1964, Great Britain had been Malawi's major donor. Besides, asking the Malawi envoy to leave immediately, the British government reviewed the bilateral relations between the two countries, and announced that it was cutting aid to Malawi.

Another issue that preoccupied many Malawians in the first half of 2011 was the closure in April of Chancellor College and the Polytechnic, const.i.tuent colleges of the University of Malawi. This followed the boycott of cla.s.ses by faculty in reaction to Inspector General of Police Peter Mukhito's interrogation in February of a political scientist at Chancellor College concerning a lecture that he had given in which he referred to the upheavals that were taking place in North Africa at the time. Concerned that the principle of academic freedom had been violated, the faculty decided not to return to their cla.s.ses before Peter Mukhito apologized, and only after the government a.s.sured them of their right to teach without interference. In sympathy, students joined the boycott, and so did the faculty and students at the Polytechnic in Blantyre. Early in April, the University Council closed the two colleges and, in the following month, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika announced that he was appointing a commission of inquiry to resolve the impa.s.se. He also instructed that students to return to their campuses by 4 July. However, whereas cla.s.ses resumed at the Polytechnic, there was no change in the situation at Chancellor College. Its faculty decided not to start teaching before their dispute with the university council was resolved. On 27 August, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika ordered that the college be closed.

In the meantime, the uneasy relations between Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika and his Vice president Joyce Banda worsened as it became evident that there was a movement within the ruling DPP to nominate the president's brother Peter m.u.t.h.arika as the party's flag-bearer in the 2014 national elections. As rumors spread that Joyce Banda was about to establish her own political organization, she was expelled from the DPP in December 2010. Although she continued to be the official vice president of the Republic of Malawi, she formed the People's Party in May 2011, and it was understood that she would be its presidential candidate in 2014.

In June, civil society leaders announced that there would be nationwide demonstrations on 20 July to force the government to attend to the many problems confronting Malawi, including poverty, corruption and mismanagement, fuel shortages, and erosion of human rights. On that day, police shot dead nine people at Mzuzu, and wounded more than 40 others. Other deaths occurred in Lilongwe and Blantyre, and a total number 20 people died. Despite national and international condemnation of the government's response to the demonstrations, President m.u.t.h.arika blamed the organizers for the deaths, and threatened to arrest them. In the meantime, leaders.h.i.+p of civil societies gave notice to the government that if this was the response to their grievances, there would be another national protest on 17 August. On their part, Muslim and Christian clergy organized a national day of prayer in Blantyre on the day before the demonstrations were due to take place. However, the organizers of the protest postponed them because of a court injunction taken against it and because the United Nations had offered to mediate between them and the government.

On 7 September 2011, President Bingu m.u.t.h.arika reshuffled his cabinet, introducing a leaner one, as many observers, including civic societies had called for. Goodall Gondwe returned to the government as minister of natural resources, energy, and environment, and so did Patricia Kaliati as minister of information and civic education. The president's wife, Callista m.u.t.h.arika, became a member of the cabinet in her capacity as the National Coordinator of the Maternal, Infant, and Child Health, and of HIV, Nutrition, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. Among those dropped were finance minister Ken Kandondo and foreign affairs minister Etta Banda. Several deputy ministers also lost their positions, reducing the total number of ministers and their deputies from 41 to 30. Also excluded from the cabinet was vice president Joyce Banda.

A.

A. L. BRUCE ESTATES. See BRUCE, ALEXANDER LOW; CHILEMBWE, JOHN; LIVINGSTONE, WILLIAM JERVIS.

ABDALLAH, YOHANNA BARNABA (?1924). This distinguished Christian worker and Yao historian was born in northern Mozambique. Ordained as an Anglican priest at the Likoma Cathedral in 1898, he was briefly a.s.signed to a church center in Zanzibar but spent most of his working life at the Unangu Mission station, east of Lake Malawi. A noted Greek and Bible scholar, Abdallah visited the Holy Land in 1905, an event that heightened his devotion to Christianity. He was the author of Chikala cha Wayao, which was translated and edited by Meredith Sanderson and published in 1919; the book was a pioneering study of the Yao and their homeland. Abdallah died in 1924.