Tutorial and guide on supping with the devil

POLITICIANS do not come as controversial and maverick as Malawi’s founding president, Kamuzu Hastings Banda, who is believed to have been born around 1898.

Although he was named Kamuzu, he was to later adopt the name Hastings after a Scottish missionary, John Hastings, whom he admired.

As a young man growing up in an abjectly poor family in Nyasaland (or British Central Africa Protectorate, as it was known then), he was very determined to change his circumstances and fortunes.

He realised earlier on that he had to pull himself up by his own bootstraps.

After being educated at Livingstonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland, he made the journey to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to work, before joining the great trek to the mines in South Africa, where he was to work for eight years — first as a miner and subsequently as a clerk at Witwatersrand deep mine.

Rather fortuitously, he was to meet black American members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he later joined in 1922.

Impressed by the young man’s intellect, Bishop Vernor decided to sponsor Banda’s education in America, marking the beginning of an academic odyssey that was to shape his career and future political fortunes.

In 1931, he graduated with a degree in history and political science from the University of Chicago.

Six years later, he earned himself a medical degree from Meharry Medical School in Tennessee.

But after moving to England, he could not practise medicine, which forced him to study for a medical degree at the University of Edinburg, graduating in 1941.

Armed with his new qualifications, he practised in the poorest parts of Liverpool, where his charisma and reputation earned him gratuitous admiration, which was unique, particularly at a time when racism was especially rabid.

But he probably earned more administration than was good for him, as he found himself in an affair with a married woman, Merene French, who was later divorced by her husband.

This, however, did not stop her from moving in with Banda and becoming his receptionist and housekeeper.

But it was only when the colonial administration proposed the formation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland — or Central African Federation, which combined Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), our teapot-shaped Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now Malawi) — that the America- and British-educated physician became more involved in the politics of his motherland.

Disillusioned by British democracy, especially after the Colonial Office in London turned a deaf ear to his impassioned pleas against the federation, he moved to Kumasi, Ghana, where he practised from 1953 to1958.

Sensing an opportunity, the Nyasaland African Congress, which had been founded in 1944, and had earlier appointed Banda its London representative, began actively courting him to take over the reins of the party.

As fate would have it, Banda returned to his native country in 1958, plunging neck-deep into the treacherous, brass-knuckled and cloak-and-dagger world of politics.

An anglicised freedom fighter

But, for Bishop Lazi, here is where it gets interesting. The Kamuzu Banda who landed in Nyasaland in 1958 — minus Merene, who returned to the United Kingdom — is not the same Kamuzu Banda who had left in search of fortune. After chewing big book — earning himself three degrees in the process, including two medical degrees — and being exposed to life in the West for the better part of two decades, the man had become decidedly anglicised.

He would invariably wear a three-piece suit, black homburg hat and brown leather gloves. He also insisted on speaking in English, and whenever he addressed rallies, he always had an interpreter, who translated his speech to vernacular. Kikikikiki.

How ironic that this now-genteel man, who had morphed into an Englishman in everything but blood and descent, was now leading the fight against the monster that he now admired!

But he proved himself an effective leader nonetheless, whose activism prompted Governor Sir Robert Armitage to declare a state of emergency on May 3, 1959.

The Nyasaland National Congress was banned and Banda, together with the party’s leaders, was arrested and imprisoned in Gweru (then Gwelo), only to be released on April 1, 1960. He now assumed leadership of the Malawi Congress Party, a successor of the banned Nyasaland National Congress.

Things moved quickly from there after he accepted British constitutional proposals granting Africans in Nyasaland the majority in the Legislative Council.

His party won the subsequent elections in August 1961.  After serving as minister of natural resources and local government between 1961 and 1963, he became prime minister in February 1963.

He remained prime minister after Nyasaland achieved independence in 1964.

In July the same year, he became president of the new Malawi (a name he reportedly chose to commemorate the pre-colonial state of Maravi).

Supping with the devil

But Banda assumed leadership at a time similar to the current epoch of great-power rivalry. At the time, the West, led by the United States, was at loggerheads with the Soviet Union, thereby diving the world into two political tribes — the Eastern and Western blocs.

What, however, set this leader of the newly independent African state of Malawi apart — making him an outlier and maverick, especially at a time when Africa had a year earlier rallied to form the Organisation of African Union (OAU), which was meant to spearhead the fight against colonialism on the continent — was his decision to establish diplomatic relations with loathed and targeted white minority governments in the region.

Purporting to be pro-capitalism and against communism and socialism (read the Eastern bloc), he readily jumped into bed with Apartheid South Africa, US-allied Taiwan (then known as the Republic of China), as well as minority white regimes in Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) and Southern Rhodesia.

But his controversial foreign policy precipitated a revolt in his cabinet in September 1964, which forced him to fire three ostensibly dissident ministers, while the other three resigned in solidarity with their colleagues.

Undeterred, Banda pressed on regardless, and Malawi, in January 1968, became the first post-colonial African country to establish diplomatic relations with Apartheid South Africa.

Two years later, he left his peers slack-jawed after he embarked on a five-day state visit to Apartheid South Africa between August 16 and 20, becoming the first Head of State to visit the increasingly isolated regime in 24 years.

Somehow, his dalliances with the racists worked for him, as he managed to get a US$12 million loan from the South African government to build a capital in Lilongwe, which was completed in 1975.

The regime also provided a further US$11 million to fund the rail link to the Mozambican port of Nacala.

Both projects were given to a South African firm — Roberts Construction Company.

Similarly, the controversial Banda could not reconcile himself to supporting the People’s Republic of China (PRC); he supported the Republic of China (Taiwan) instead.

By 1966, he had officially formalised diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which assisted with various agricultural schemes, appointing Yeo-Yuan Chen as its first ambassador to Malawi.

This was not all.

Again, to the chagrin of the OAU and his peers, Banda went on to cosy up with the Portuguese in Mozambique, with whom he established formal diplomatic relations in 1964.

In doing this, he argued that he could not antagonise the colonial masters, as his landlocked country critically relied on ports in Nacala and Beira.

Banda had, however, spurned an offer by Tanzania’s president Julius Nyerere to use the East African country’s port of Mtwara.

Nyerere’s sin, according to Banda, was being a socialist.

What a character! Kikikiki.

Political (mis)calculation

For all his idiosyncrasies, Banda was not a fool. It was his considered view, though fallacious, that it was futile to stand up to powerful Western countries, but better to ally with them for the good of Malawi.

He also solemnly believed that it was capitalism, not socialism, that could deliver prosperity for Africa and Africans.

But by throwing in his lot with the Western bloc, he naturally came into conflict with his fellow comrades, whom he betrayed.

Some of them were in the throes of bloody conflicts to overthrow colonialism.

But, most importantly, it is critical to ask whether it was worth it for Banda to sell his soul to the devil.

Clearly, it was not.

Despite an illusion of economic stability and economic growth, which was principally sustained by aid from the UK and the US, the material circumstances of ordinary wananchi did not change for the better.

If anything, the support he got from these powerful nations only gave him the carte blanche to consolidate his power and prolong his rule.

Without censorious attention from the overweening West, Kamuzu tinkered with the constitution in 1966 and 1971 to turn Malawi into a one-party state and be declared life president, respectively.

Even when he committed the most egregious crimes and abuses, the West was more than prepared to look the other way.

And even the religious were not spared.

In 1967, for instance, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned for, among a litany of allegations, not showing enthusiasm in supporting his party.

Foreign missionaries from the sect, most of whom were from the US and Finland, were imprisoned before deportation. Kikikiki.

In all this, the West did not lift a finger.

It was only when the Cold War ended in 1991, when the West felt it no longer needed allies to fight the supposed infiltration of communism in the region, that they turned on Banda, forcing him to open up to multi-party democracy.

It was the beginning of the end for him.

In June 1993, Malawi held a referendum to accept multi-party democracy.

In elections that were held the following year, Banda was trounced by Bakili Muluzi of the United Democratic Front.

Though learned and intelligent, he failed to appreciate two cardinal rules or principles in politics — one, if you sup with the devil, use a long spoon; and two, there are no permanent friends in politics, but permanent interests.

Bishop Lazi is always amused by some of the crop of new African leaders who think that hobnobbing with the West will solve their countries’ various challenges.

It can only end in tears.

As they did during the Cold War, the West is now seeking allies to counter the influence of China in the current epoch.

Just as before, they do not care about development in this part of the world but are only interested in advancing their geopolitical interests and access to strategic minerals.

This is why we always stick to our trusted allies, like China and Russia, who stood with us shoulder to shoulder in the trenches.

It is a lesson the ANC should take to heart when dealing with the DA in the new alliance.

It is also a lesson Africa should heed as it forges alliances with various partners, particularly from the West, in the quest for mutually beneficial partnerships.

There are valuable lessons to be learnt from Kamuzu Banda’s audacious foreign policy.

Escaping “from the trap of the devil is paramount”.

According to 2 Timothy 2:23-26, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

“Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

Bishop out!