Historical Dictionary of Malawi Part 7

COLBY, GEOFFREY FRANCIS TAYLOR, KCMG (19011958). Governor of Nyasaland from 1948 to 1956, Colby was born in England in 1901 and attended Cambridge University, after which he joined the colonial civil service, his first posting being to northern Nigeria in 1925. By 1945, he had risen to the position of administrative secretary in the secretariat, Lagos, and, in 1948, he was appointed governor of Nyasaland. Colby is credited with developmental plans. .h.i.therto not experienced in Nyasaland; agriculture was at the center of the schemes. He retired in 1956, and died two years later.

COLLECTOR. In the early colonial period, this was the designation of the head of the district administration. They were termed collectors because central to their duties was the collection of revenue. This was later changed to resident and then to district commissioner.

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE FUND. Through the authority of the Colonial Development and Welfare Act of 1940, funds were made available to the British colonies for the use of development projects. In Nyasaland, programs such as the agricultural cooperatives and the Master Farmers Scheme of the 1950s benefited from the fund. See also COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION.

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (CDC). Established in 1947 as a vehicle for harnessing agricultural and mineral development in the British empire, it was largely financed by public sources including those made available to it by the Colonial Development and Welfare Act of 1940. The CDC's first major project in Nyasaland was the development, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, of tung estates in the Viphya Highlands and a subsidiary one, the Limpasa Dambo project in Nkhata Bay. The latter was intended to concentrate on rice production to feed workers in the tung growing region. Although both projects failed, Mzuzu grew out of the tung project, to the extent that in 1954 it replaced Mzimba as the headquarters of the Northern Province. As the British empire diminished, the corporation changed its name to the Commonwealth Development Corporation. In Malawi, it extended its activities but this time as a joint investor with local interests. Among the current projects are coffee and tobacco production. See also COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE FUND.

COLONIAL GOVERNORS. See BRITISH COMMISSIONERS AND GOVERNORS OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA/NYASALAND.

COLVIN, Rev. THOMAS STEVENSON (19252000). Born on 16 April 1925, Colvin was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who joined the Blantyre synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) in 1954, serving mostly in Blantyre. Upon his return from leave in 1959, the Nyasaland and Federation governments refused him reentry into the colony because of his anticolonial and pro-African views. Between 1959 and 1964, Colvin was a missionary in Tamale, Ghana, but returned to the Blantyre synod in the year Malawi attained its independence from British authority. In 1968, he founded the Christian Service Committee of the Churches in Malawi, of which he became executive secretary until his retirement to Great Britain in 1974. In 1984, he went to work in Zimbabwe and, three years later, he returned to Malawi in the service of another nongovernmental organization. In 1990, Tom Colvin retired to Scotland; he died on 24 February 2000.

COMMON MARKET FOR EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA (COMESA). COMESA grew out of the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) for Eastern and Southern African States, an a.s.sociation of states with the purpose of promoting a free trade area, a customs union, a common market, and, ultimately, an economic community with some uniformity in economic policies. Although discussions leading to the PTA's formation go back to 1977, its establishment dates to 21 December 1981, when the heads of state of partic.i.p.ating countries met in Lusaka, Zambia, and signed the Preferential Trade Treaty detailing its aims and programs. At that stage, the signatories were the Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Somalia, Uganda, and Zambia; in the following year, they were joined by Burundi, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. Rwanda became a member in 1984, the year of the organization's formal launching. In that year, the PTA inst.i.tuted its Multilateral Clearing Facility (Clearing House) to handle settlement claims originating from deals between member states but, from the beginning, this department was operationally problematic. The UAPTA (the monetary unit of accounting of the PTA), through which intraregional commerce would be articulated, equivalent to the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was introduced in the early 1990s, but it proved to be unpopular.

Under a new treaty, the 1994 PTA was replaced by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and by that time the membership had increased to include South Africa, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), and Angola. Malawi hosted COMESA's summit conference in December 1994, and President Bakili Muluzi has served a term as chairman of the organization. Malawian Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika replaced Bax Nomvete, the first secretary general of the PTA, in 1989 and oversaw its transition to COMESA. In 2009, Sondiso Ngwenya headed the COMESA secretariat.

COMMONWEALTH DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. See COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION.

COMMUNICATION SERVICES. The communications network has expanded considerably since independence. Telecommunications services include telephone, telex, and telegraph. Most investments in equipment, plant, and buildings are in the major urban centers and are funded by British and Danish government loans. Virtually all districts in Malawi now have telephone facilities. Most rural exchanges are manually operated, but replacement by automated exchanges is continuing. International service improved greatly in 1976 with the introduction of direct satellite circuits to Great Britain and South Africa. That same year in Blantyre, a telecommunications training school began operation under the sponsorship of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union. Students from Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland attended courses. The most recent international a.s.sistance has been used to fund the expansion of the rural telephone network, the BlantyreLilongwe microwave link, and the development of a national mail sorting and storage center.

Post offices and postal agencies are located in most areas, and the postal service enjoys a fine reputation because its deliveries are usually prompt. The postal services include the Post Office Savings Bank. Deposits are collected at post offices, and tax-free interest is also paid there. In 1994, the banking part of it became independent, and, under the name of Malawi Savings Bank, it a.s.sumed full banking services.

There is also now an increasing use of electronic mail (email) in Malawi. Malawi.net, a parastatal organization, was established in 1997 as the main provider of Internet services. Also government owned with the a.s.sistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the Malawi Sustainable Development Network Programme. Others include the Globe Internet, Africa-Online, the Malawi Telecommunications Limited, and Zain, formerly Celtel. See also TRANSPORTATION.

CONFORZI, IGNACO. One of the most successful tea and tobacco growers and businessmen in Malawi, Conforzi was born in a landed family just north of Rome, Italy, in 1885. He trained in agricultural science and, in 1907, he became a manager in Nyasaland of one of the tobacco estates belonging to the British and East Africa Company. Two years later, Conforzi started his own tobacco plantation in Thyolo (Cholo) and other parts of the Shire Highlands and, by the end of World War I, he was a major producer, selling most of his tobacco to the Imperial Tobacco Company (ITC). In the interwar period, Conforzi, with A. F. Barron and Roy Wallace, opened up large estates in the central region where they became pioneers in growing tobacco through the tenant system. Besides selling tobacco to the ITC and, later, to Gallaher Ltd. of Belfast, Northern Ireland, he and other Italians started a tobacco brokerage company, Clagget, Brachi & Co. Conforzi also established major tea estates in Thyolo, becoming one of the significant tea producers in the country. In addition, he became a leading blanket manufacturer, the brand name, Chiperoni, being particularly identified with the Conforzi family business. In 2001, the estate fell into liquidation, and two years later, the estate was bought by a Limbe-based Asian firm.

CONGRESS FOR THE SECOND REPUBLIC (CSR). Formed in 1964 by Murray William Kanyama Chiume, not long after he sought exile in Tanzania, the political party, whose membership is difficult to determine, was the subject of regular infiltration by Malawi's security agents. In 1994, Chiume returned to Malawi to contest the presidential elections. He and all his parliamentary candidates had lost. He was not a candidate in the 1999 general elections, and the Congress for the Second Republic is now extinct.

CONGRESS LIBERATION PARTY (CLP). Formed on 4 May 1958, by Thamar Dillon Thomas Banda, former secretary general and president general of the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC), its agenda was in general similar to that of the main nationalist movement: one man one vote, independence, no color bar, and free education. However, it also reflected the moderate views of its founder: continuation and respect for the power of the chiefs and respect for private property. Although the political party did not achieve notable support, Thamar Banda attended the Federal Review Conference in London in 1960 and, unlike African delegates from the three territories of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, he attended the full conference. In March 1961, the CPL and Chester Katsonga's Christian Democratic Party (CDP) joined and contested the 1961 general elections later that year but lost, marking the effective demise of the political party.

CONSt.i.tUTION. In 1995, the current Const.i.tution of Malawi replaced the one that had guided the country during Hastings Banda's 30-year rule that ended in 1994. The earlier one had increasingly given authority to the presidency and, in 1971, was amended to make Banda president for life, thus allowing him to emerge as a dictator. According the 1995 Const.i.tution, the president would be the head of state and government and commander in chief of the armed forces (see ARMY). Every five years, the president and vice president are elected through universal adult suffrage, and the Const.i.tution allows the president to appoint a second vice president as long as he or she is from a different political a.s.sociation. This is what Bakili Muluzi did in 1994 when he appointed Tom Chakufwa Chihana as second vice president. The president also appoints the cabinet from within or without the National a.s.sembly, which consists of elected members who serve for five years. Although there are provisions for a Senate of 80 members to represent traditional rulers, regional interests, and special groups including the disabled, such a chamber has not yet been formed.

The Const.i.tution also provides for a viable local government system in all the 28 districts of the country. Although each district is headed by a career civil servant, appointed by the office of the president, district a.s.semblies are expected to deliberate on matters affecting their areas. Elections to such a.s.semblies must take place a year after the presidential and parliamentary elections. The first local government elections took place in 2000. Those that were supposed to take place in 2005 were postponed, just as the 2010 ones were deferred to April 2011.

The Const.i.tution stipulates that the judiciary must be independent and, since Malawi inherited the British judicial system, it has many features of the British bench's hierarchy: magistrates' courts, a High Court, a Supreme Court of Appeal, and the Const.i.tutional Court. The 1995 Const.i.tution left out the parallel traditional court system, which, with its less strict rules of evidence, enabled the Banda government to send cases to it, with almost certain conviction of the accused. This was the route that the government took to ensure that Orton Chirwa and his wife, Vera Chirwa, were imprisoned.

The 1995 Const.i.tution also ensures individuals of the protection of human rights and of their freedom of expression and a.s.sociation. Such provisions have allowed individuals to take the government and other powerful ent.i.ties to court whenever they believe their human rights had been violated. This is a major improvement on the situation in Banda's era when free speech and human rights were nonexistent.

CONVENTION OF a.s.sOCIATIONS. This was the coordinating body of all settler organizations in Nyasaland. Such a.s.sociations included the Planters a.s.sociations of Zomba and Mulanje, the Cholo Settlers a.s.sociation, the Nyasaland Council of Women, and the Cholo Tea a.s.sociation. It became a particularly powerful organization and had a direct influence on the colonial government. In time, a.s.sociations of residents who did not identify themselves as Africans also joined the convention. Organizations in the latter category included the Indian Employees a.s.sociation, the Sikh a.s.sociation of Nyasaland, and the AngloAfrican a.s.sociation of Nyasaland. See also WOMEN.

COOPERATIVES. As early as the 1920s, a European cooperative shop existed in Blantyre. Also, during the interwar era, African credit unions and brick-making cooperatives were a feature of urban centers, such as BlantyreLimbe, Zomba, and Lilongwe. However, agricultural cooperatives were a postwar phenomenon and were part of the policy of the colonial government to encourage self-sufficiency and discourage labor migration to the farms and mines of the Rhodesias and of South Africa. Among some of the successful agricultural cooperatives were the Kilupula Rice Growers Co-operative Union, the Ulambya Ghee Producers Co-operative Union, the Kasitu Valley Ghee Producers Co-operative Union, and the Shire Valley Rice Growers Co-operative Union. Three years after independence, the government decided to disband all such organizations; it also closed the Department of Co-operatives, which had been in existence since 1945.

CORRUPTION. Corruption and mismanagement in the public sector have grown since the end of Dr. Hastings Banda's long rule. Although, primarily through patronage and nepotism, there was a measure of corruption during the era of his domination of Malawi, Banda was known to have a strong aversion to this practice. To ensure accountability in government and parastatal organizations, he personally selected chairpersons of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Public Accounts, and such officeholders showed him their annual reports first before tabling them in the National a.s.sembly. During his time, the laws regulating embezzlement of public property were very strict, and in most cases, those found guilty in court were imprisoned for a minimum of 14 years.

The political liberalization that followed the elections of 1994, which ushered in the United Democratic Front (UDF) government led by Bakili Muluzi, marked the beginning of an increase in corruption, financial mismanagement, and poor accountability. At the behest of external donors, mainly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Parliament of Malawi pa.s.sed the Corrupt Practices Act of 1995, which created the Anti-corruption Bureau as an independent organ with powers to investigate and prosecute offenders. The bureau has investigated many cases, including the high-profile case of Samuel Mpasu, eventually leading to his imprisonment. Other cases, such as one that dogged Bakili Muluzi in his postpresidency era, were yet to be prosecuted in court in 2011.

In 1999, Malawi was ranked 45 on the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index, but, by 2001, the country had climbed to the 61st position, indicating a marked increase in corruption in the country. In 20012, donors, including the IMF, the World Bank, and the Danish government, suspended aid to Malawi on the grounds of corruption, bad governance, and overexpenditure in the public sector. In 2004, the last year of President Muluzi's presidency, Malawi had climbed up to the 90th position, in the company of Nepal, the Gambia, India, Russia, and Tanzania. When Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika became president of Malawi, he announced that combating corruption and mismanagement in the public sphere would be high on his list of priorities. However, the TI corruption index continued to ascend to 115 in 2006, 118 (2007), and 115 (2008). There was some improvement in 2009 when Malawi was 89th in the world. Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika continued to speak against corruption, but it became obvious that the practice was thriving and that it was difficult to prosecute powerful politicians. For its part, civil society has argued that corruption could be tackled effectively only with strong political will, including meaningful cooperation between the government and opposition parties, and many nongovernmental organizations are trying to encourage them to work together on this matter.

COTTON. In the early colonial Malawi, cotton was one of the major export crops, grown primarily in the Lower and Upper Shire, Karonga, and Salima districts. Although some European settlers grew cotton, many indigenous people also produced it. Even after it was replaced by tobacco in importance, it remained a significant cash crop throughout the colonial period. Today cotton is extensively, but not exclusively, cultivated by farmers in the rural agricultural development projects in Karonga, Lower Shire, and Central Lakesh.o.r.e. Production of medium staple cotton by the smallholder sector is bought by the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) and sold to the local textile industry, with any surplus cotton being exported. In the early 1980s, when producer prices favored maize, farmers lost interest in cotton. Since the late 1990s, cotton production has become a major aspect of the government program of the poverty reduction and growth strategy, and Malawi farmers now produce between 13,500 and 50,000 metric tons annually, just over half of which comes from the Lower Shire. Three private companies-the Great Lakes Cotton Company, Cargil, and Iponga-form the Cotton Development a.s.sociation of Malawi and own most of the cotton gins, some of which are located at Karonga, Balaka, and Bangula. See also AGRICULTURE; BRITISH COTTON GROWING a.s.sOCIATION.

COUNCIL FOR NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN MALAWI (CONGOMA). Formed in 1992, this organization coordinates about 175 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Malawi. With the increase in the role of NGOs in civil society in the postHastings Banda era, CONGOMA has become a powerful partic.i.p.ant in Malawi's economy and politics.

CREECH-JONES, ARTHUR (18911964). Member of the British Labour Party and the Fabian Society, he was a shadow minister of colonial affairs during the time Clement Atlee was the leader of the opposition in Great Britain. He became secretary for colonies in the postwar Labour government, which also presided over the establishment of the Colonial Development Corporation. In 1947, he met with Dr. Hastings Banda and a deputation of the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) and, as result of the meeting, funds were made available to the Nyasaland government for the establishment of the Dedza Secondary School and for the Domasi Teacher's College. Creech-Jones was strongly opposed to the introduction of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and he a.s.sured Nyasalanders that they would not be part of any such a.s.sociation. After he left office, he campaigned widely against it, but his successor, James Griffiths, was more sympathetic to the Federation scheme.

CROSS, DAVID KERR (18561935). Kerr Cross was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. He received his medical degree from the University of Glasgow in 1885 and that year left for the Lake Malawi region to work in the Livingstonia Mission. He was posted to Ncherenje in Mwenewanda, Ulambya, in today's Chitipa district, where he joined Rev. A. J. Bain. Chosen partly because it was on the Stevenson Road joining Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika, the site was near a malaria-infested area, and in 1886, his wife, Christina, died. When the mission was abandoned in 1889, he moved to Karonga where he was both pastor and doctor. In 1896, he joined government service, working in Zomba and Blantyre before going to Durban, South Africa, in 1902. He returned to Great Britain, where he died in 1935.

Cross was the first person to produce a medical report on the Karonga Lakesh.o.r.e. Among the common diseases he encountered were malaria, smallpox, goiter, syphilis (which he mostly a.s.sociated with the Swahili-Arabs), epilepsy, and meningitis; he also saw some cases of elephantiasis and filariasis, but no cases of tuberculosis. See also HEALTH.

CURRENCY. In 1971, Malawi adopted a modern decimal system and dropped the use of British pounds/shillings. The main unit of currency is now the kwacha (MK), which is divided into 100 tambala (t). Decimal coins have been issued: 1 t, 5 t, 10 t, 20 t, 50 t, and 1 k. Since the early 1980s, Malawi has experienced nearly yearly currency devaluations in order to become more compet.i.tive in the export market and to obtain additional a.s.sistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Each time the kwacha was devalued 12, 15, and even 20 percent. The average exchange rate of 198991 was MK2.75 per U.S. dollar, in 1993 MK4.4 per U.S. dollar, in 1997 MK18.28 per U.S. dollar, in 1999 MK43 per U.S. dollar, and toward the end of 2000, MK77.00 per U.S. dollar. It continued to lose value. In 2009, it was at MK140 per U.S. dollar, and in September 2011, it was MK160 per U.S. dollar. See also ECONOMY.

D.

DANCE. See MUSIC AND DANCE.

DEEP BAY. See CHILUMBA.

DELANY, EMMA BERTHA (18711922). Born in Florida, Emma DeLany was educated at Spelman Seminary (now Spelman College) in Atlanta, Georgia, and, after working as a matron at the Florida Inst.i.tute in Live Oak, the National Baptist Convention sponsored her as a missionary to the Lake Malawi region. She arrived in the Shire Highlands in 1902 and began work at John Chilembwe's Providence Industrial Mission (PIM). With help from Ida Chilembwe, DeLany developed programs including sewing cla.s.ses for women. She was popular with the PIM congregation and, when she left in 1905, one of her devotees, Daniel Malekebu, followed her back to America. DeLany, with Landon Cheek, helped Chilembwe to organize his mission more efficiently. In 1906, she wanted to return to Nyasaland, but the colonial government denied her request. She remained in the United States raising money for African missions, and in 1912, she went to Liberia where she worked for the next eight years before retiring to America. She died on 7 October 1922, from "hermaturic" fever.

DELEZA, WADSON BINI (1935?1998). Born in Chiradzulu and educated at Zomba Catholic Secondary School, Deleza became interested in politics while at school. Between 1958 and 1959, he was a prominent member of the Youth League, organizing support for the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) and its successor, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), among the youth of the country. In the early 1960s, Deleza went to the Haille Sela.s.sie University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and received an MSc degree in crop science from the University of Southern Illinois in the United States. From 1965 to 1971, he worked as a research officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and, in the latter year, he became a nominated member of Parliament for Chiradzulu and minister of labor. Two years later, he transferred to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, a post vacated by the dismissed Aleke Banda. Subsequently, he also served as minister of trade, industry and tourism but he later returned to the Ministry of Labour. By the mid-1980s, Deleza had become a senior cabinet minister and one of the more influential politicians in Malawi; he had Dr. Hastings K. Banda's confidence, and was even appointed administrative secretary of the MCP. Considered a hawk in matters concerning the democratization of Malawi, Deleza lost his seat in the 1994 elections, and he retired from politics to become a full-time businessman.

DEMOCRAT, THE. The Democrat or the Malawi Democrat was originally a pro-democracy newsletter published by advocates of change based in Lusaka, Zambia, and secretly transported to Malawi. Behind the newspaper were O'Brien Mapopa Chipeta and Mayinga Mkandawire both of whom were a.s.sociated with the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD). When the two moved to Malawi to campaign for multiparty democracy, they took with them the newspaper, which came to be identified with AFORD. A popular and hard-hitting publication, it became a tabloid but ceased operations in 1996.

DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE PARTY (DPP). Formed in February 2005 shortly after its leader, Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika, left the United Democratic Party (UDF) on which platform he had won the presidential elections of May 2006. The DPP proclaimed that it would stand for, among others, freedom of expression and a.s.sociation, accountability in public service, human rights, and social and economic development. In the May 2009 general and presidential elections, the DPP won the majority of National a.s.sembly seats, and Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika was returned to the presidency. See also POLITICAL PARTIES.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES. This branch of government was created in 1967. The department is responsible for the preservation of local monuments, for researching local history, and for establishing site museums. It is particularly active in publishing the results of archaeological excavations, especially those of late Stone Age and Iron Age sites. The director of antiquities is an ex-officio member and secretary of the National Monuments Commission. Manned by highly trained local personnel, the department has on its staff archaeologists, paleontologists, and historians and is considered to be one of the most professionally organized and effective in Africa. Since 1987, the Department of Antiquities falls under a wider department headed by the commissioner of culture; the three sections of the latter department-Archives, Cultural Affairs, and Museums-are each headed by a director.

DEVLIN COMMISSION. Chaired by Sir Patrick Devlin, this commission was appointed to examine the incidents following the declaration of a State of Emergency in March 1959. In its report, made public in July 1959, the colonial government in Nyasaland was discredited for its autocratic behavior toward Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) members, some of whom, the commission admitted, had pursued violent actions. Although the commissioners stated that they had no evidence of a plot to ma.s.sacre Europeans in the colony, apparently there was informal talk among a few Congress members to murder some European officials if Dr. Hastings K. Banda was killed. The commission found that no formal plan existed and that Banda was not aware of any such plot. The Devlin Report was particularly embarra.s.sing for the government as it detailed instances of illegal force and unnecessary brutality. After interviewing Banda, the commissioners not only absolved him of any responsibility for the violence, but declared him an outstanding and dedicated leader of his people. Many members of the Conservative Party in Great Britain were not impressed by the report, and it is said that it may have cost Sir Patrick Devlin, a senior and highly respected judge, promotion to higher office.

DHARAP, M. G. This leading Indian general trader, founding member of the Nyasaland Indian Traders a.s.sociation and the Indian Chamber of Commerce, was originally a wholesaler but, by the 1950s, had established retail shops in almost every district of Malawi.

DIET. Most Malawian diets are based on the subsistence crops that they grow. A warm to hot thick maize flour (in some areas, ca.s.sava flour) porridge (nsima), usually served with a spicy relish, is common at a village meal, which, because of expenses, rarely includes any meat. In urban centers, the traditional diet is often supplemented with eggs, milk, bread, and meat. In the lakesh.o.r.e areas and other places with established markets, fish-dry and fresh-is a regular companion of nsima. Beer, often made from finger millet, is popular in both rural and urban areas. The necessity of balanced diets and good nutrition is being promoted in government educational programs, especially the radio broadcasts of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation. Nsima, in all its varieties, is also the main diet in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Rice is also eaten by many Malawians, especially in areas such as Karonga and Nkhotakota where it is grown. Sorghum and millet, once the staples, are now insignificant in the diet of the Lake Malawi region.

DISEASE. The disease pattern found in Malawi is common to many African countries, which have limited health services. Pneumonia, malaria, gastroenteritis, anemia, measles, and tuberculosis are the leading causes of death in Malawi, where average life expectancy at birth is 47 years. AIDS is also prevalent. Sanitation conditions are not always good: waste disposal tends to be unsatisfactory and water supplies are often contaminated. The Ministry of Health's program to teach principles of sound nutrition and good hygiene is frequently hampered by widespread illiteracy and poverty. Additional constraints include population growth (3.2 percent annually) and budgetary limits on the part of the Malawi government. In the past, Malawi has allocated 92 percent of its health expenditure to urban hospitals; it is hoped that the new emphasis on primary health care will enable more people to be served.

Through multilateral and bilateral aid and the a.s.sistance of nongovernmental organizations, such as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief and the Christian Service Committee of the Churches in Malawi, Banja La Msongolo, and the Christian Healtha.s.sociation of Malawi (CHAM), more attention is being paid to family planning services and child health as well as training Malawi health personnel in the prevention of common diseases. Particularly emphasized are childhood immunization, diarrhea control, malaria prevention, and nutrition monitoring. See also CHOLERA; JIGGERS; LEPROSY RELIEF a.s.sOCIATION.

DISTRICT COMMISSIONER (DC). From the 1930s, the princ.i.p.al administrators were called district commissioners and, besides ensuring the maintenance of law and order and presiding over the collection of taxes, they were also the magistrates of their divisions. District commissioners had to learn, and pa.s.s a test in, a designated Malawian language, usually ciNyanja (chiChewa). The DC's house would be the largest at the boma and, as the senior government official in his area and therefore also representative of the British Crown, a flag would be hoisted on his car whenever he was on official duty. The term district commissioner and the prestige a.s.sociated with it continued into the postcolonial era. See also COLLECTOR.

DIXON, ALAN. Leading European politician and sisal producer, Alan Dixon was also the general manager of the British Central Africa Company (BCAC) and chairman of the European Land Owners a.s.sociation. Dixon's BCAC had shares in the Nyasaland Railways, and Dixon was a notable member of the Chamber of Commerce. In 1953, he replaced Malcolm Barrow as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council (LEGCO) and, four years later, became an unofficial member of the Executive Council of the Nyasaland government, effectively making him the princ.i.p.al spokesman of the European settler community in Nyasaland. Dixon strongly opposed decolonization and supported Sir Robert Armitage's declaration of the State of Emergency in 1959. As a director of the Blantyre Printing and Publishing Company, he used the Nyasaland Times to publicize his views and to reflect the opinion of the European settlers in Nyasaland. He and Michael Blackwood represented European settler interests at the const.i.tutional talks in London; as the transfer of power to Africans approached, Dixon left the country for South Africa.

DOIG, REV. ANDREW BEVERIDGE (1914?). Educated at Glasgow University and the Union Theological Seminary, New York, Doig, a missionary in the Church of Scotland, served in the Blantyre synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) from 1938 to 1962. During World War II, he was chaplain to the Nyasaland King's African Rifles (KAR) in East Africa and Burma. A sympathizer of African nationalist aspirations, in 1951, he was nominated to the Nyasaland Legislative Council (LEGCO) to represent African interests and, although opposed to the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Nyasaland's governor appointed him to represent the same interests in the Federal Parliament. There he became a member of the African Affairs Board but, in 1958, resigned from it and from the Federal Parliament. He returned to Blantyre Mission where he became secretary general of the synod until 1962, when he switched positions with Rev. Jonathan Sangaya, who had been his deputy. Doig was one of the people who persuaded Dr. Hastings K. Banda to return to Malawi sooner than he had planned, arguing that his age and experience qualified him for the leadership the people of Nyasaland required at that crucial stage of their political history. Back in Scotland in 1962, he became, first, a parish minister and then secretary of the National Bible Society. In 1981, he was moderator of the general a.s.sembly of the Church of Scotland.

DOKOWE, BAZA. Of the Nyirongo clan, Baza Dokowe was a minor chief in Tumbuka country around Mount Hora, an area that had come under the authority of the M'mbelwa Ngoni. Sometime between 1877 and 1878, Baza led an uprising against the Ngoni. Some historians argue that Baza's action was prompted by the success 15 months earlier of the Tonga rebellion against the Ngoni; others contend that the reason was economic in the sense that Baza refused to surrender the ivory the new rulers demanded. The Ngoni besieged Mount Hora, where many of the indigenous people had gathered, attacking and killing many of them. Baza and his wife were narrowly saved by escaping at dawn and took refuge in Mwase Kasungu's area farther south. Baza Dokowe died in Kasungu in 1924. Dokowe has become a hero in Tumbuka folklore and is immortalized in numerous songs.

DOMASI. Located 10 miles north of Zomba town, Domasi is the seat of Malemia, the Yao ruler who in the late 1860s conquered the indigenous Mang'anja and established authority over them. Within two years of its establishment in the Shire Highlands, the Blantyre Mission set up a major substation in western Domasi where the initial missionaries included R. S. Hynde, who would become an influential European businessman in Nyasaland. Domasi became particularly famous after 1929 when the government opened the Jeanes Training Centre in the central section of the area. The center trained community workers, chiefs, government clerks, and teachers. Domasi continues to be a.s.sociated with education and is the home of the Malawi Inst.i.tute of Education and a modern secondary school teacher's college.

DOMINGO, CHARLES (c. 1875?). Domingo was born in Quilimane in Mozambique and was brought to Malawi by William Koyi in 1881. He worked as a servant for Dr. Robert Laws, who in 1891 sent him to Lovedale (see LOVEDALE MISSIONARY INSt.i.tUTE) for further education. He returned in 1894 and, when the theological college started at the new Livingstonia Mission at Khondowe, Domingo became one of its first students, completing the course in 1900. A very talented and effective teacher, Domingo became increasingly frustrated by the delay in his ordination. In 1903, he became a "licentiate," a status that allowed him "to preach the Gospel" but not entirely fulfill the duties of a church minister. Although normally a licentiate would have expected ordination within six months, Domingo continued to wait for his. In the same year, he was sent to Chinyera in Ngoni country, and in 1907 he was transferred to Loudon Mission, also in a Ngoni-dominated area. Although the Kirk at Loudon were impressed by him and made it known to officials that they wanted him to be one of their full ministers, Domingo's position did not change. Frustrated by the length of his probation, he resigned in 1909. He had already been in touch with Eliot Kamwana Chirwa, John Chilembwe, and Joseph Booth, and he came to be identified with the latter, who at this time was in South Africa as a representative of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church.

From 1910 to 1916, Domingo was the princ.i.p.al organizer of the African Seventh-Day Baptists in Mzimba district, acquiring several thousand adherents by 1912. He also edited the Malawi version of the African Sabbath Recorder while Booth remained its chief editor in the Cape Town area. Funded by Booth and the home church in the United States, Domingo set up his base near Mzimba boma and, from there, preached and disseminated literature, some of which came from Eliot Kamwana Chirwa's Watch Tower Society. Furthermore, he established numerous village schools where, as in many of his unpretentious mud churches, political and other issues were discussed. He talked about fairness, equality of human beings, and the autocracy of the colonial government.

Although there was no evidence to directly implicate Domingo in the 1915 Chilembwe uprising, his views and message were similar to those of Chilembwe, Booth, and Chirwa. He was not arrested, but, in 1916, he was deported from Nyasaland after the authorities intercepted a letter to Booth in which he stated, among other things, that "the world should have equality of representation in the respective Legislative a.s.semblies or councils and should be fully eligible to all sorts of loveliness in the commencement of the New Heaven [on] Earth" (quoted in R. Rotberg, 1965:72).

DUPONT, BISHOP JOSEPH, SM (18501930). Head of the White Fathers order of the Catholic Church in the Bemba country, Northern Rhodesia, in the 1890s and early 1900s, and first vicar apostolic of Nyasa, Bishop Dupont was born in France on 23 July 1850, and was ordained in December 1878. Dupont was responsible for establishing the Catholic presence in the Lake Nyasa region. In 1889, he directed other White Fathers to set up a mission station at Mponda at the southern end of Lake Malawi and, later, he also recommended to the Montfort Fathers that they found their own stations in the region. He continued to be vicar apostolic of Nyasa until 1911 when he consecrated Louis Auneau as vicar apostolic of Shire. That year, he returned to France, and after a time he was posted to Tunisa where he died on 9 March 1930. In 1997, his remains were reburied in Kasama, Zambia.

DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA MISSION (DRC). Following the formation in 1886 of the Minister's Missionary Society by some pastors of the Dutch Reformed Church of Cape Town, a decision was made to send a mission to the Lake Malawi region. In 1888, Rev. Andrew C. Murray became the first missionary of the Dutch Reformed Church, the initial plan being to establish stations among the Ngonde and the Nyakyusa. However, discouraged by the instability in the area because of the conflicts between the Swahili-Arabs and the British, Murray moved south to work with Rev. Walter Angus Elmslie among the M'mbelwa Ngoni for some months before finally deciding to set up stations among the Chewa farther south.

In 1889, Murray and Rev. T. C. B. Vlok, who had joined him earlier, established their first mission station at Mvera in Chief Chiwere Ndhlovu's area, midway between Lilongwe and Salima. Other missionaries, including Robert Blake, William Murray, Martha Murray, and Koos du Toit, joined the DRC mission, establishing newer centers at, among other locations, Kongwe, Nkhoma, and Mlanda. Between 1895 and 1900, the Livingstonia Mission handed their stations at Livulezi and Cape Maclear over to the DRC; in 1924, a similar transfer took place in Kasungu. Further expansion took place in the Ngoni and Chewa areas of Portuguese territory in Mozambique and the southern Luangwa area in Mpezeni country. By the beginning of World War I, the DRC was the dominant Protestant sect operating in the central province of Nyasaland.

In 1926, the DRC Mission, under the umbrella of the Nkhoma synod, joined the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP). The mission was active in training a local laity and, in 1924, it ordained its first ministers, Namon Katengeza and Andreya Namk.u.mba. Compared to the Blantyre and Livingstonia missions, the other partners in the CCAP, the DRC's educational policy tended to be less active in promoting Western education among Africans, preferring to emphasize agriculture and artisan work. It was also more reluctant than the other two in handing over authority to the local clergy.

Dw.a.n.gWA. The Dw.a.n.gwa River drains from the Lilongwe plain and Rift Valley into Lake Malawi, and it was the northern limit of the Maravi confederation. The river delta is the site of an irrigated rice project begun in 1972 and, in 1979, the Dw.a.n.gwa Sugar Corporation began producing sugar and ethanol in the area. As part of the privatization process the corporation was sold to the Illovo in 1997. Dw.a.n.gwa is also the location of the Dw.a.n.gwa Cane Growers Ltd., which supplies a small percentage of sugarcane to Dw.a.n.gwa mill, and it is also the site of the Ethanol Company Ltd.

E.

ECONOMY. From independence in 1964 to the late 1970s, Malawi pursued prudent economic policies that facilitated the maintenance of stable economic conditions and the realization of strong economic growth. In the decade that ended in 1978, economic growth averaged over 5 percent per annum. However, beginning in 1979, the economy weakened markedly, weighed down by a number of economic shocks, including a sharp deterioration in the terms of trade, major disruptions in key transportation routes to the Indian Ocean, and poor climatic conditions. Structural weaknesses in the economy, such as a narrow predominantly agricultural export base, poor domestic infrastructure, technological and marketing handicaps to increasing smallholder agricultural production, and dependence on imported energy inputs exacerbated the situation. Moreover, increasing weaknesses in economic management, including those of agricultural pricing, price controls, budget control, and inefficiencies in the parastatal sector contributed to the slowdown in activity.

To address the unfavorable economic conditions, Malawi embarked on a stabilization and structural adjustment program, with the support of the multilateral financial inst.i.tutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other donors, designed to put the economy on a sustainable growth path. From the early 1980s the authorities began to implement several activities. First, the incentives provided to smallholder export farmers were enhanced. Second, a major transformation in the machinery for providing key agricultural services-extension, technical, and research-was inst.i.tuted that involved the decentralization of these services to a project based system. Third, initial steps were taken to begin to reduce the role of the state in the provision of goods and services that involved the concessioning of some public services to the private sector and a streamlining of government ministries and departments. Fourth, programs were drawn up aimed at improving the corporate governance, operational efficiency, and profitability of key state bodies, including the Malawi Development Corporation and Press Corporation Ltd. Fifth, to improve incentives and reduce distortions, the government announced the move to more frequent adjustments of key factors such as the prices of petroleum products and the exchange rate. Finally, public expenditure would be reallocated to agriculture and other economic services.

The overall macroeconomic response to these reforms was mixed. Although gross domestic product (GDP) growth picked up from an average annual decline of 0.8 in its less than profitable years 197980 to an annual average growth of about 3 percent in 198285, gross investment fell and public revenue registered no growth. This mixed performance together with renewed macroeconomic tensions in the mid-1980s, which were partly due to the deteriorating finances of the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC), convinced the authorities of the need for a reorientation of the adjustment program to focus on underlying structural issues. Accordingly, from the end of the 1980s, the government broadened and deepened its adjustment efforts. The adjustment rested on policies to restructure the growth of domestic demand and on structural measures to augment supply through an improved allocation of reserves and steps to tackle the deep-seated impediments to increased agricultural output. The reforms aimed at opening up the economy and promoting its reliance on market signals and consisted of, among other actions, trade liberalization, opening the exchange and payments system, financial sector reforms, and tax reform.

The achievement of the program was undermined by a series of adverse shocks in the early 1990s, including the influx of Mozambican refugees, drought, and the suspension of donor aid that was effected to impose a move to democratic governance. The government that took power following the May 1994 elections sought to broaden and accelerate the reforms. Early in its life, it introduced free primary education, liberalized exchange rate and interest determination, and freed burley tobacco production. After these initial positive steps, the Bakili Muluzi administration was largely characterized by financial instability, economic stagnation, rising inflation, and frequent food shortages. These developments were mainly the result of gross mismanagement of public resources, fiscal indiscipline, weak inst.i.tutional support, and widespread corruption.

The Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika administration that a.s.sumed power following the May 2004 elections took notable steps to strengthen expenditure management. In addition, increased attention was given to rehabilitating key infrastructure and to promoting smallholder agriculture, involving the provision of fertilizer subsidies to farmers. These actions together with the return of substantial donor a.s.sistance helped to promote a strong resurgence on economic growth. However, the expansion of monetary aggregates in the second half of the decade against the background of a fixed exchange rate has contributed to a marked drawdown in foreign reserves. The GDP growth averaged 8 percent per year in the 20049 period, and Malawi managed to restore global food sufficiency. This boded well for the economy's ability to address the food security problems arising from the expanding population. Official sources projected GDP growth at 6 percent in 2010 and into 2011.

The structure of the economy changed moderately in the 30 years that ended in 2009, with the contribution of agriculture to GDP falling from 40 percent in 1979 to 30 percent in 2008. The contribution of the manufacturing sector also fell to 9 percent in 2009 from 12 percent in 2008. The 30-year period saw diversification in exports take place, with the share of agricultural exports to total exports declining to about 75 percent from 90 percent in 1979. A recurring problem in 2010 was a shortage of foreign exchange, adversely affecting Malawi's ability to import goods, including petroleum products.

The deterioration in political relations between the Malawi and British governments following the expulsion in April 2011 of the British high commissioner to Malawi is expected to adversely affect aid flows to Malawi. In response to the expulsion, the British government, the largest bilateral donor, has announced a review of its bilateral relations with Malawi, including budget support. It is expected that the European Union and other bilateral donors would follow the British lead. See also CURRENCY; FISHING; FOREIGN AID; FORESTRY; MINING.

EDINGENI. Located between Mzimba boma and Loudon Mission, Edingeni is the headquarters of the northern Ngoni and the residence of their ruler, Inkosi ya makosi M'mbelwa. This was the home of the M'mbelwa African Administrative Council and is the main base of the M'mbelwa District Council.

EDUCATION. In precolonial times, formal and informal education took different forms, depending on individual societies. Western education was introduced in Malawi by Christian missionaries in the last quarter of the 19th century, as an essential part of proselytizing. Christian organizations that were responsible for Western education included the Livingstonia Mission, Blantyre Mission, the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa (DRC), the White Fathers, and Montfort Missionaries, Baptists, Church of Christ, the Zambezi Industrial Mission, and the Seventh-Day Missions. Through its Quranic schools, Islam also played a role in education in Malawi and, although in areas of Islamic influence Western education went hand in hand with that of Muslims, generally, the former took some time to take root.

After World War I, government involvement in education increased. In 1923, the British government established the Advisory Committee on African Education in Tropical Africa, which, in conjunction with the Phelps Stokes Committee of the United States, visited Malawi in 1924 to look into the colony's education. The latter committee, supported by other commissions, urged, among other things, setting up a local advisory board on African education. In 1926, the colonial government appointed the first director of education; the Advisory Committee on African Education was also formed, and two Africans, Levi Mumba and Charles Matinga, became members in 1933 and 1937, respectively.

In 1929, a government college to train teacher supervisors was opened at Domasi. Christened the Jeanes Training Centre, in honor of U.S. philanthropist and educationist Anna T. Jeanes, and funded by the government and the Carnegie Corporation, the college's purpose was to train teachers whose main duty was to supervise teachers in rural or village schools and thus to ensure good standards of education. From 1934 onward, selected chiefs would complete a four-month course at the Jeanes Center, concentrating on community and rural development. After World War II, the center expanded its mission to include training teachers at higher levels, that is, students who had received some secondary school education. In 1937, Protestant missions started a secondary school in Blantyre, which duly opened its doors to students in 194041. Blantyre Secondary School was followed a year later by Zomba Catholic Secondary School. Although after World War II a few more secondary schools were to open at places such as Dedza, Livingstonia, Mtendere, Mzedi, Nkhata Bay, Kongwe, and Mzuzu, further development in this field was generally slow. In 1961, there were only four secondary schools that enrolled students up to the school certificate (O level) grade. Access to secondary schools had remained restrictive because of slow expansion attributable partly to inadequate financial a.s.sistance to Christian missions, which had continued to dominate education at this level. The same applied to teacher training colleges.

In the early 1960s, two commissions were appointed to review the matter. The Phillips Commission, which reported in 1962, recommended a major expansion of primary and secondary education; it also recommended that there be a limited involvement of voluntary agencies in primary education and a greater control of such education by local government. In addition, it recommended that, as primary schools became the responsibility of local communities, government's spending on secondary education needed to increase. In 1963, the second commission, under the auspices of the American Council on Education, concentrated on professional and tertiary education. In 1964, it submitted its findings, the Johnston Report, which, while agreeing with the Phillips Commission on the importance of primary and secondary education, recommended, among other things, the establishment of the University of Malawi, which was duly founded in that same year. Four inst.i.tutions not directly part of the University of Malawi were established in the 1980s. They are the Kamuzu Academy in Kasungu district, the Malawi College of Accountancy in Blantyre, the Inst.i.tute of Education at Domasi, and the Malawi Inst.i.tute of Management (MIMS) in Lilongwe.

Complementing the formal school system are vocational training and nonformal education programs. For instance, six technical schools offer vocational training for carpenters, welders, mechanics, and bricklayers. The Malawi Correspondence College (MCC) was established in 1965 essentially to absorb those primary school graduates who could not find openings in the secondary schools. In conjunction with the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, MCC has provided radio programs to primary and secondary schools. Many such centers were later turned into distance education centers, each accommodated in modern facilities and headed by properly trained high school teachers.

In 1994, the United Democratic Front (UDF) government introduced free primary education as pledged in the party manifesto. Although the shortage of trained teachers forced the government to hire untrained teachers and to introduce a crash course in teaching, the studentteacher ratio remained very high. Whereas in 1983, only 53 percent of primary school age pupils actually attended school, over 85 percent did so in 1995. The actual number of children attending primary schools jumped from 1.9 million to 3.2 million in response to the offer of free education, and the number of primary schools jumped from 3,216 in 1994 to 5,159 in 2005. This led to, among other developments, the problems of cla.s.sroom s.p.a.ce, lack of textbooks, and the low teachers' salaries. The enlargement of primary education has meant a greater demand for s.p.a.ce in secondary schools, which have increasingly faced the same problems as those of the lower tier. One result of this has been the proliferation of private schools at all levels; many such schools have been established as business enterprises.

For its part, the Malawi government transformed 315 of the distance education centers into community day secondary schools. It is also building more regular secondary schools, besides those the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the j.a.panese International Cooperation Agency are sponsoring. Boarding schools are being phased out and replaced with day inst.i.tutions. Furthermore, teacher training colleges, including the Domasi Secondary Teacher Training College, will increase their intake so that the pupilteacher ratio can be reduced from 1:200 to 1:60 by 2015.

According to a World Bank report of 2009, access to primary education continued to be inequitable in Malawi. Although statistics showed that nearly all students were able to enter Standard 1, many in rural Malawi would not reach Standard 8, and this represented a 34 percent ruralurban difference. Similarly, although admission to secondary schools grew by 0.7 percent annually between 2001 and 2004, and 5.3 percent annually since 2004, the gross enrollment rate remained at 17 percent during the same period. Related to this was the disparity in the ratio of entry into secondary education between girls and boys, respectively, 47 percent and 53 percent. Other problems that were highlighted were the very poor pupilbook ratio, the pupilcla.s.sroom ratio, and the pupildesk ratio.

The report also showed that although many secondary schools had major problems such as underfunding, lack of teaching resources, and teacher qualifications, they varied, depending on the type of school. In post-Banda Malawi, secondary schools can be cla.s.sified as follows: community day secondary schools (CDSS), which, according to 2007 statistics, enrolled 47 percent of students; conventional secondary schools (CSS), 20 percent of students; open schools, 3 percent; grant-aided schools, 6 percent; and private schools, 23 percent. According to the report, despite their central role in Malawi's secondary educational system, 81 percent of teachers in CDSS were underqualified, and the 107:1 student to qualified teacher ratio was very high. The ratios for other types of schools were not given, although the report states that 27 percent of teachers in conventional secondary schools were unqualified.

Through, among other approaches, the Education Sector Implementation Plan, the government aims to solve these problems by concentrating on a program of achieving more fair (equal) access to education and of bettering the quality and administration of education. The initial stage of this program, designed by many interested parties, including civil society and the development partners, was to last from 2009 to 2013. This program is part of the broader Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) goal, and it hopes to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The Malawi educational system is based on an 8:4:4, that is, eight years of primary school and four years of secondary school, after which students may qualify for tertiary education. The duration of a college or university degree program at bachelor level is four years. There are two public universities, the University of Malawi and Mzuzu University, Bunda University, and in 2010, the government began to construct a university of science and technology in Thyolo district. Since the mid-1990s, private externally funded postsecondary inst.i.tutions, mainly a.s.sociated with religious organizations, have mushroomed in the country, and they include the Bible College in Lilongwe, the Catholic University near Limbe, Livingstonia University, which has campuses at Khondowe and Ekwendeni, and the Seventh-Day Adventist University in Ntcheu district.

The Ministry of Education is the government department that administers the educational system in Malawi. Students write national exams at the end of Standard 8 in order to qualify for secondary school; they write another examination two years into the secondary school (Form 2); and to compete for tertiary education they take the last national examination in the fourth year of secondary school. The administration of national examinations is the responsibility of the Malawi National Examination Board, an independent statutory body, with the a.s.sistance of the Ministry of Education.

Education contended with some unusual problems at the end of 2010 and into 2011, the most widespread of which was the irregular payment of teachers' salaries. Many secondary schoolteachers received pay two to three months late, causing financial hardship, lowering their morale, and adversely affecting their work. Although the Ministry of Education's explanation was that the new methods of paying their salaries into bank accounts rather than by checks sent to individual teachers was the cause for this, some suggested that cash flow problems accounted for the situation.

Another problem was the closure in April 2011 of Chancellor College and the Polytechnic, both const.i.tuent colleges of the University of Malawi, following the boycott of cla.s.ses for two months, first by the faculty and then by students. In May, Mzuzu University also closed because of financial problems and was to reopen as soon they were resolved. See also QUOTA SYSTEM.

EKWENDENI. Located 14 miles from Mzuzu on the MzuzuRumpi road, Ekwendeni is one of the princ.i.p.al bases of the Livingstonia synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP). Opened in 1889 after Inkosi Mtwalo I approached Rev. Walter Elmslie with the request for missionary activity in his domain, it became the second important Livingstonia Mission station in Ngoni country after Njuyu. Elmslie supervised its development from his Njuyu post, but it was Peter McCallum and his wife who oversaw its initial growth into a major educational and health training center, producing some of the leading people in Nyasaland, including Mtwalo II (Amon Jere), Yesaya M. Chibambo, Hezekiah M. Tweya, Levi Z. Mumba, Isaiah Mopho Jere, Edward K. Gondwe, and former Chief Justice Richard Banda. Today, Ekwendeni has the biggest CCAP hospital in northern Malawi, a major girls boarding high school, and a facility to train lay church workers. It also has the colleges of commerce, theology, and nursing at the University of Livingstonia.

The London & Blantyre Supply Company had its northern headquarters at Ekwendeni until the late 1950s when it was moved to Mzuzu and, before the Africanization of Asian businesses in many parts of Malawi, Ekwendeni was a major Asian trading center.

ELECTIONS. The first elections in which Africans partic.i.p.ated took place in 1956 under the 1955 Const.i.tution according to which the provincial councils, consisting mainly of chiefs, were to elect members of the Legislative Council (LEGCO). The southern and central provinces were each to elect two members, and the northern province one member. However, the first general elections based on free adult suffrage took place in August 1961 following the const.i.tutional talks at Lancaster House the year before. The majority of the voters (107,076) registered on the lower roll (African) seats, and 4,401 voters, of which 471 were Africans, registered for the more selective higher roll. The total poll was 95.1 percent, and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) won all 20 seats on the lower roll; there were eight seats on the upper roll: the MCP won two, an independent with African and Asian support won the third, and the rest went to the United Federal Party (UFP).

The next general elections were set for May 1964, but they did not take place because all 53 nominated candidates were returned unopposed. Of these, 50 belonged to the MCP, which were to contest the 50 general roll seats; the Nyasaland Const.i.tutional Party (formerly the UFP) took the three special roll seats reserved for Europeans. In 1966, the MCP ran an unopposed slate of candidates; they were up for reelection in 1971, but Dr. Hastings Banda called off the elections and chose 60 members of Parliament (MPs) nominated at MCP conferences. The next election was held in June 1978, when registered Malawi voters did go to the polls to cast ballots for MPs. Thirty-three candidates were returned unopposed based on earlier nominations. Write-in ballots were disallowed with only designated candidates accepted for balloting. Registered voters were required to show age and residence certificates. Seven const.i.tuencies were left vacant in this 1978 election as 80 MPs were sworn in. A new feature of this election was that candidates without high school certificates had to pa.s.s an English competency test before they could qualify. The test had to be set and administered by the vice chancellor of the University of Malawi.

In the June 1983 general elections, the membership of the National a.s.sembly was increased to 101 elective seats; 11 were presidential appointments; of the 101 seats, 75 were contested within the one party system, the rest being returned unopposed. Five had failed the English competency test.

The elections of May 1987 were for 112 seats in the National a.s.sembly. However, more than 200 stood for election, 38 were returned unopposed and 53 lost their seats. With 11 appointed by the president, there were a total of 123 parliamentarians. There was a high turnout at the 1987 elections, which occurred without incidents. In June 1992, 675 candidates contested for 141 seats, of which 45 were returned unopposed and 5 were not filled because of the disqualification of candidates. The turnout was low.

The May 1994 elections were the first in which political parties other than the MCP fielded candidates. Also, for the first time, there were presidential candidates as well as those for Parliament. Bakili Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF) won the presidential contest as follows: Muluzi of the UDF, 47.3 percent; H. K. Banda of the MCP, 33 percent; Chakufwa Chihana of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), 18.6 percent; Kamlepo Kalua of the Malawi Democratic Party (MDP) 0.5 percent. The results of the parliamentary elections were: UDF, 85 seats; MCP, 56; AFORD, 36. The following parties did not win seats: the Malawi Democratic Party (MDP), the Congress for the Second Republic (CSR); the United Party for Mu