Malawi: Female Candidates and the Politics of Regionalism · Global Voices
With two months to go before Malawians vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on May 19th, 2009, the soup du jour has evolved around two developments, the recent arrest and release on bail, on embezzlement charges, of former president Dr. <PERSON>, and the visits of an African Union delegation of two former African presidents. These developments have overshadowed a major breakthrough that has changed the political landscape for women candidates in Malawi politics.
In the first development, Dr. <PERSON> already served two terms from 1994 to 2004, but he claims the constitution allows him to run again, a claim that has received mixed reactions in the country. In the second, former presidents of Ghana and Mozambique, <PERSON> and <PERSON>, are attempting, unjustifiably, according to the blog Chingweshole, to prevent what they fear might be a potential violent conflict in the run up to the elections and possibly in the aftermath.
However, eclipsed behind all this drama are two breakthroughs that in early February everyone was talking about as two Malawian firsts: a woman running mate on a major presidential ticket, and another woman as a presidential candidate in her own right. The two women are Hon. <PERSON>, currently serving as Malawi's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Hon. <PERSON>, a member of parliament and president of the newly formed, break-away New Rainbow Coalition Party.
While Hon. <PERSON>'s candidacy had been speculated about and expected, it was the choice of Hon. <PERSON> that shook the country when the incumbent president Dr <PERSON> presented his nomination papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission on February 6th, and it became known that the Hon. <PERSON> would be Dr. <PERSON>'s running mate. This was after names of running mates for the main contenders had become a much-discussed guessing game in which it appeared each of the candidates was unsure who to choose, waiting to see who the other would pick first. It was a “stage-managed” and “secretive” process, according to blogger <PERSON>.
Much of the speculation on who was going to be Dr. <PERSON>'s running mate centered around Malawi's Minister of Finance, Hon. <PERSON>, a highly respected economist and former International Monetary Fund (IMF) official widely regarded as the brains behind Malawi's economic and agricultural turn-around since 2004, alongside Dr. 830
<PERSON> himself. Hon. <PERSON> was recently awarded a prize as the best performing finance minister in Africa in 2008. Adding to the anticipation was the fact that Hon. <PERSON> comes from the northern region of Malawi, seen as historically marginalized given its relatively smaller population compared to Malawi's two other regions, the center and the south.
Malawi's first president, Dr. <PERSON>, came from the central region, where political power was concentrated throughout his 30 year rule. From 1994 to 2004 the center for power shifted to the southern region, where erstwhile president Dr. <PERSON>, hails from. Current president <PERSON>, who comes from the southern region, is seen as having given the northern region a much-denied political boost, with <PERSON> finance portfolio being seen as one such example. It was therefore a point of much debated anticipation as to whether <PERSON> was going to select a northerner as his running mate.
Hon. Joyce Banda–Hunger Project Photo
Reactions to the news created a heated debate especially on Internet forums, where it was quickly observed that Dr. <PERSON>'s choice of Hon. <PERSON> was a departure from the norm in which the vice president since 2004 has always been from a region other than the president's. Some also saw it as a betrayal of the northern region, a loyal constituency. Blogger-Journalist <PERSON> observed:
Its no longer a secret. The Livingstonia Synod of the CCAP has finally come out in the open expressing disappointment over President <PERSON>’s choice of <PERSON> as his running mate instead of Finance Minister <PERSON>, whose name was at the centre of debate as the likely person to pair up with the DPP leader.
Some claimed the president had played a “regionalistic” card”, while others suggested that the president was being pragmatic as well as promoting gender equality, noting that in fact Hon. <PERSON>'s husband, former Chief Justice <PERSON>, is himself a northerner.
Other reactions focused on her achievements and rise to influence, observing that she was the 1997 recipient, together with then Mozambican president <PERSON>, of the Africa Leadership Prize, awarded by the New York-based Hunger Project. 830