Anjimile Mtila Oponyo reveals the truth of Malawi culture.

The Malawian people are, without doubt, its greatest asset: friendly and welcoming to a fault. Every visitor is met with a smile and the warmth of the welcome is genuine and long-lasting. With a population of a little more than 14 million, Malawi is one of the more densely peopled countries of this part of Africa. Most of the population is rural, living largely infascinating traditional villages. Many of today’s Malawians are descendants of the Bantu people who moved across Africa and into Malawi for hundreds of years up to the fifteenth century.

This great video explores some of Malawi's beautiful scenery as well as it's especially warm-hearted people. The video is provided courtesy of Credit Suisse, who make an annual donation of  US$1 million to the Roger Federer Foundation (RFF) with whom they are in partnership in developing a dynamic early childhood education initiative in Malawi. See here for more details.
Tribes

There is a rich cultural mix in Malawi with the Chewa being the most numerous tribe. Others include the Yao, the Nyanja and the Maravi. In the north the Tumbuka are prominent. Each tribe has contributed to the modern Malawi scene, whether it be in dress or dance or language. Masks are commonly used in various dances and ceremonies and these are usually tribe-specific, the best known being the Gule Wamkulu, performed by the Nyau of the Chewa. Traditional (African) doctors still attract many people and the two main ‘modern’ religions, Christianity and Islam, frequently exhibit a continuing adherence to traditional beliefs.
Cultural Experiences

All travel in Malawi will include some element of cultural experience as interaction with local people is very much part of any stay. A visit to a local village can easily be arranged at most lodges or hotels, whether they are in a town, forest reserve, National Park or on the lakeshore. These are always real villages, whose residents have an established relationship with the lodge in question, and who welcome the interest from visitors in their daily life. One of the best Cultural Experiences to be found in Malawi is in the Ntchisi Forest Reserve.
Places of Interest

In terms of specific places of cultural and historical interest, Malawi has a few, including original mission stations and centres of excellence for handicrafts. Of its modern-day larger towns, Blantyre, Zomba and Mangochi have a number of historical buildings, monuments and museums. Lilongwe and Mzuzu are of interest for their markets and in the case of the latter, to see the division between the Old Town and modern Capital City. If visiting Blantyre, take the time to visit The Society of Malawi. Situated in the historic Mandala House, the society protects a true treasure trove of the country's history. With thousands of books and resources safely stored away, it provides an opportunity to find out a bit more about Malawi that perhaps many tourists don't ever discover. For more information about the society, please click here.

Along the Lakeshore, Monkey Bay and Nkhata Bay are bustling ports, whilst Nkhotakota is of historical significance and now has a renowned pottery. The link between missionaries and the Lake is strong, with sites of the Livingstonia Mission marked by graves at Cape Maclear and Bandawe, near Chintheche, before it reached its final and current location near Chitimba in the north. Across the Lake, Likoma Island is a wonderful place to interact with local people, and also see its magnificent missionary-built Cathedral – the same size as Winchester’s.

Artistic skills, old and new are on show in and around Dedza. North of the town is the Chongoni Rock Art area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the densest cluster of stone age rock art found in central Africa. And at the edge of the town is the Dedza Pottery, where today’s artists and craftsmen can be viewed producing a variety of items then found all round Malawi or sold for export. Artistic skill is also on display at Mua Mission, almost directly down the escarpment from Dedza. Mua is a mission station whose students create the finest wood carvings in the country, if not the whole of Africa, and is also home to a fascinating cultural museum.

The large agricultural estates, sugar at Dwangwa and the Lower Shire Valley and tea at Thyolo are interesting places to visit also. As well as being able to see the daily workings, the tea estates in particular have fascinating colonial histories.

Story of 50 Years of Malawi Independence by Anjimile Mtila Oponyo

What a year 2013 has been for Malawi! Following the sudden death of the former president Bingu wa Mutharika on 5th April, 2012, vice president Joyce Banda became president and started working hard to mend relations with the world and restore the economy of her country, which had almost come to a complete halt, especially due to the lack of forex caused by the freeze of  foreign aid. Without forex, it became impossible to purchase fuel and motorists all across Malawi were queueing days and nights to get a chance to buy a few liters. Factories could not produce anymore; imported goods were harder to find; prices skyrocketed; and the entire economy of the country started collapsing.

013 in this respect was a good year for Malawi. The supply of fuel remained constant. Large donors (governments of countries such as USA, Germany, Norway, Japan, EU; and international agencies such as IMF and World Bank) resumed their help, crucial for Malawi as foreign partners contribute 40% of the national budget. The tobacco season yielded a good harvest and met increased prices on the market, which brought $361 million of forex into the country. Devaluation and inflation persisted though, but in a contained way compared to 2012. On the political front, President Joyce Band, boosted by her status as the second female president in Africa, continued to tour the world to gather more support for Malawi. At home, the president launched interesting projects, such as the houses the Mudzi Transformation Trust is buidling for the elderly in villages throughout the country. Her main political rival Peter Mutharika, brother of the late former president Bingu wa Mutharika, has been battling in court treason charges but is expected to take part in the upcoming presidential elections in May 2014. 

Now all these promising developments were shattered on 13th September 2013 when Ministry of Finance Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo was shot outside his home in Lilongwe in an assassination attempt and then flown to South Africa for treatment. Shootings are rare in Malawi, and the fact that such a high ranked civil servant had been targeted, stunned the nation. What followed was the uncovery of the biggest corruption scandal in the history of Malawi, what the media quickly nicknamed the "cashgate scandal". Tens of millions of kwacha were found in car boots and houses of clerks and civil servants of various government ministries and up to 20 billion kwacha is today not accounted for ($50 million). The shooting of the budget director is apparently linked with the cashgate scandal, as Mr Mphwiyo was about to denounce financial malpractices. Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga was dismissed. Former minister of Justice Ralph Kasambara also lost his job and was then briefly imprisoned for his involvement in the scandal, before being released on bail. The investigation is in process right now and we are expecting more revelations in the coming weeks. Donors' confidence has been of course badly affected and major aid programs were frozen while foreign partners wait for a strong improvement in the government financial managment. This now risks to relaunch the cycle of lack of forex, shortage of fuel, devaluation and slow down of the economy, even though, as the Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi Asbjorn Eidhammer recently said, "Donors are not walking away".

 

This debacle explains why 2014 must be the year of truth for Malawi. Truth about the cashgate scandal must fully come out. Government reacted swiftly and many suspects have already been apprehended and their houses and assets confiscated. But Malawians deserve the whole truth about what happened to their tax money. In a country where the immense majority live in extreme poverty, this plundering of public resources by civil servants is scandalous and shameful. The president and the government must keep the pressure on and get to the bottom of this extraordinary practice of theft, which apparently has been going on for several years. 

On May 20th, 2014, less than five months from today, the country will hold presidential and parlimentary elections. The 7.5 million electors who have registered to receive their elections cards (a very good outcome, as less than 8 million people are eligible to vote in Malawi) are waiting for answers and in the meantime suffering from the high price of maize, the lack of medicine in government hospitals and the late payment of civil servant such as teachers, all this partly due to the evaporation of public funds resulting from the cashgate scandal. If the government is able to bring the culprits to justice,  eradicate this culture of theft and restore confidence in its financial management, President Joyce Banda and her party will be in a good position for the elections, thanks notably to their good records in civic rights and sound economic policies. If not, Malawians may be tempted by the opposition parties and their two leaders, Peter Mutharika and Atepele Muluzi, respectively brother of the former president Bingu wa Mutharika and son of the 1994 and 1999 elected president Bakili Muluzi. 

In July 2014, Malawi will celebrate 50 years of independence; but Malawians today are still suffering from some of their elites' poor governance. Let's hope 2014 will be a year of truth indeed!