Ngwazi Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda (died November 25, 1997) was the founding President and former President for Life of Malawi.
Banda's date of birth is unknown and as it took place at a time when there was no birth registration it is impossible to state a precise year. From his reported age of 101 at the time of his death, the year 1896 is often cited, but there is no proof the report of his age was accurate.
Banda studied medicine at Meharry Medical College in Tennessee, from which he graduated in 1937, but in order to practice medicine in territories of the British Empire he was required to get a second medical degree; he attended and graduated from the School of Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of Edinburgh in 1941. Between 1942 and 1945 he worked as a doctor in North Shields. He was raised as a Presbyterian, and spent many years as a general practitioner in Scotland and England. On his return to then Nyasaland, he was allegedly unable to speak his native Chichewa fluently and needed an interpreter. He campaigned against the Central African Federation, which was dissolved in 1963 and led the country to independence as Malawi.
It was Banda himself who chose the name "Malawi" for the former Nyasaland; he had seen it on an old French map as the name of a "Lake Maravi" in the land of the Bororos, and liked the sound and appearance of the word as "Malawi".
He became Prime Minister on February 1, 1963, becoming President in 1966, when Malawi was declared a one-party republic. He then declared himself president for life in 1971.
During his one-party rule, it is believed that Banda accumulated at least US$320 million in personal assets. He was also the only African ruler to establish diplomatic ties with South Africa during apartheid and only became partially rehabilitated in the eyes of other African leaders after the demise of the apartheid regime in South Africa (many southern African nations traded with South Africa, on which they were economically dependent, but Malawi was the only African nation that recognized South Africa and exchanged embassies with it).
Supposedly Banda caused some amusement to Malawians in the early 1980s, when he banned the Simon and Garfunkel song "Cecilia" from the radio. This was at a time when his relationship with his mistress, Cecilia Tamanda Kadzamira, was going through a rocky period, and he clearly did not like the lyrics of the song ("Cecilia/I'm down on my knees/I'm begging you please to come home"). Because of his conservatism, Malawi was one of the last countries to get television, in the 1990s.
He also used his presidential power to institute a dress code, which many foreign visitors found strange. For example, women were not allowed to bare their thighs or to wear trousers. Banda argued that the dress code was not instilled to oppress women but to encourage honour and respect for them. For men, long hair was a sign of dissent and thus also outlawed. Men could be seized and forced to have a haircut on the discretion of border officials or police.
Even foreigners were subjected to Banda's dress code. In the 1980s, prospective visitors to the country were met with the following requirement for obtaining visas:
- Female passengers will not be permitted to enter the country if wearing short dresses or trouser-suits, except in transit or at Lake Holiday resorts or National parks. Skirts and dresses must cover the knees to conform with Government regulations. The entry of 'hippies' and men with long hair and flared trousers is forbidden.
Nonetheless, Banda was perhaps the greatest advocate of women's rights compared to other African rulers during his reign. He founded Chitukuko Cha Amai m'Malawi (CCAM), an institution motivating women to excel both in education and government and encouraging them to play more active roles in their community, church and family.
Banda was mostly viewed externally as being a benign, albeit eccentric, leader, an image fostered by his English-style three-piece suits, matching handkerchiefs and fly-whisk. Within Malawi, views on him ranged from a cult-like devotion to fear. Banda (and his acolytes in later years as he became senile) was known to have run a repressive police state where no dissent was tolerated. Opponents were either exiled (like Kanyama Chiume) or killed (like Dick Matenje or Dr Attati Mpakati).
On the positive side, Banda did much for the country's infrastructure. This included the establishment of major roads, airports, hospitals and schools in Malawi. He founded a school modelling Eton, called Kamuzu Academy, in which Malawian children were taught Latin and Ancient Greek by expatriate Classics teachers, and disciplined if they were caught speaking Chinyanja.
Banda allowed democratic elections in 1994, and was soundly defeated by Bakili Muluzi, a Yao from the Southern Region of the country whose two terms in office were not without serious controversy. Banda died in a hospital in South Africa in 1997, aged 101 (according to rumours). The party he established, the Malawi Congress Party, continued after his death and remains a major force in Malawi politics.
References
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edition 2004 (2004). Article: Banda, Hastings Kamuzu]
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