{"id":315,"date":"2012-04-15T17:43:47","date_gmt":"2012-04-15T21:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/?page_id=315"},"modified":"2012-05-12T15:13:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-12T19:13:40","slug":"politics-from-independence-to-today","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/politics-from-independence-to-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics from Independence to Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Malawi gained its independence from Britain on July 6, 1964.\u00a0Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda<\/a>\u00a0became Malawi’s first president but soon passed a new\u00a0constitution in 1966\u00a0declaring the nation a single-party state. Four years later, he named himself President for Life in 1970. Banda ruled with four principles: loyalty, discipline, unity, and obedience. These attributes were drilled into Malawians and still heavily influence Malawians’ sense of nationalism and politicians’ decisions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr. Banda was replaced in 1944 by\u00a0Bakili Muluzi\u00a0<\/a>under growing pressures for political and academic freedom. President Muluzi served two-five year terms until 2004, when\u00a0Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika<\/a>\u00a0was elected on an anti-corruption platform. President Bingu had an incredibly successful first term, earning wide respect in Malawi and much\u00a0international\u00a0attention and praise. He was reelected in 2009 with his running mate,\u00a0Joyce Banda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During his second term, Dr. Mutharika lost most of his internal and\u00a0international\u00a0support as he was widely accused of\u00a0economic\u00a0mismanagement and poor governance. President Bingu and Vice President Banda\u00a0had major political differences and she was thrown out of his Democratic People’s Party. She formed her own People’s Party in 2011, but constitutionally remained Malawi’s Vice President.<\/p>\n

On April 5, 2012,\u00a0President Bingu passed away from cardiac arrest<\/a>, and\u00a0Joyce Banda was\u00a0inaugurated<\/a>\u00a0as Malawi’s president on April 7. President Banda used her new power to speak to Malawians about the need to stay unified during their tough transition and that there were to be no harsh feelings or actions for revenge on either side of the political debate. Within her first week in office, President Banda rearranged the cabinet and reopened talks with donor nations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

President Joyce Banda<\/p><\/div>\n

President Joyce Banda has been called a champion for women<\/a>\u00a0and the international\u00a0community is\u00a0anticipating a large shift in Malawian social policy under her rule.\u00a0Few deny that President Banda has a tough journey ahead<\/a>, but all are hoping to see economic growth, renewed academic freedom, and improved health equality throughout the nation.<\/p>\n

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\u2190Back<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malawi gained its independence from Britain on July 6, 1964.\u00a0Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda\u00a0became Malawi’s first president but soon passed a new\u00a0constitution in 1966\u00a0declaring the nation a single-party state. Four years later, he named himself President for Life in 1970. Banda … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1841,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1841"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":575,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/315\/revisions\/575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colbyinmalawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}