Kwacha: The Violence of Money in Malawi's Politics, 1954–2004

One of the strongest limiting factors in the transition to participatory democracy in Malawi is the failure of independent and sustainable cadres of young politicians to emerge. This is caused by the role that money, generated via the informal economy, plays in Malawian politics. This money is channelled into politics via achikulire (neo-patrimonial patrons or ‘big men’), usually without party accountability. This factor may be more critical in retarding the development of participatory democracy than social structure, ethnicity, religion, donors or other aspects of political dynamics. The socio-economic impediments to achieving participatory democracy tend to be viewed through economic theories appropriate to contexts more westernised than Malawi. I will argue that some of the ‘disorder’ in Africa observed by Chabal and Daloz (1999) is actually a function of the unresolved historical dynamic between two economic sectors: the formal cash (colonial European and postcolonial black elite) sector and the ‘informal’ non-cash (rural/peasantry) sector. By controlling this dynamic, neo-patrimonial politicians can minimise ethnic, social, political and constitutional barriers to their hold on power. Successful Malawian politicians have a triple-edged relationship with the peasantry: peasants are their masters at election time, subjects at most times and business clients at harvest. This article will analyse the formation of new patron–client relationships during the 1991–1994 political transition and show how these were successfully exploited by United Democratic Front achikulire. In 2004, money sourced through achikulire enabled Bakili Muluzi to impose his designated successor on a reluctant party and nation, leading to the 2004–2005 constitutional crises. KuNyasalande Azungu achuluiche, nambo mbiya kwangali.1 Wandu agamba kwenda! (Ndiche Mwalale)[So many Europeans in Nyasaland now but there is no money. People still migrate…].2*‘Kwacha’, the name of Malawi's currency, means ‘A new day dawns!’.#Thanks to John McCracken, Patrick O'Malley, Terence Ranger, David Rubadiri, Jim Wilkie, Kings Phiri, Kenneth King, the History Department at Chancellor College, and anonymous peer reviewers and Malawians. 1 Mbiya: money, disposable/surplus cash. 2 This is an acerbic comment on 1950s Malawi by the popular musician, Ndiche Mwalale.