"Malawian Elections"

Drummer warming up for a political rally in Nkhata Bay, Malawi.

Malawian Elections yesterday. We won't know until late today or tomorrow who will win, though it seems Bingu is going to win by a land slide. I'm not very surprised.

Almost everyone I've talked to likes Bingu, and can to point to some very simple and concrete reasons for liking him. One example is the fact that he was able to raise the price of tobacco (this story is also a great way to see what kind of leader Bingu is). Malawi's principal export is tobacco, and minor changes in the price of tobacco can have large effects on Malawi's economy, so Bingu wanted to fix a minimum price for a bail of tobacco. Due to deals with IMF and the World Bank he wasn't able to fix a legal minimum price for the crop, so he announced a "recommended" and then said that he'd deport anyone who bought tobacco for less than that. The price has gone up and I don't think anyone has been deported, everybody's happy right?

Here's another thing Binge has done, this one a little more recent. As reported by afrik.com:

Two presenters and a technician of Joy Radio, a private station owned by former Malawi president, Bakili Muluzi, were arrested Tuesday by the police. The arrests took place following a political satire in which journalists made fun of the President Bingu wa Mutharika's administration. The incident occurred during the presidential and parliamentary elections. The station has been closed. (Wednesday 20 May - 17:37)

I have no idea what that actually means, will they be spending years in jail or will they be released late next week when Bingu is satisfied he's gotten his message out?

Finally, though this isn't 100% Bingu's doing, there's the issue of campaign coverage. At dinner the sisters I eat with will often have the TV on, or they'll have a newspaper laying around, so I like to tell myself that I have gotten some exposure to Malawian media during this election season. I see Bingu everyday multiple times a day, enough that I know his face pretty well by now, and I I'll never forget his blue suit and matching cowboy hat (I have to wonder if his socks and boots are also blue), but I've only seen John Tembo once or twice, on campaign posters, on television I don't think I've ever heard his name, let alone seen a picture of him. So I was interested when, on TV last night, the head of TVM (Television Malawi) responded to the MEC's (Malawi Election Commission) announcement that TVM has acted deplorably during this election season. He said, more or less, two things: a) We're funded by the government and our funds were recently cut, so we just don't have money to cover everyone's campaign. Since the opposition cut our money we'll stop covering them and just cover Bingu. b) Our job is to ensure the stability of the government, why should we cover people who want to violently bring the government down? He may or may not have a point here (there is nothing violent, this election at least, in the opposition's actions), but either way that's not how journalists are supposed to act, not where I'm from at least. (that said where I'm from has had centuries to learn to run a democracy; Malawi has had less than a generation).

ps - The weather has gotten cold and gray and rainy...it must be Berlin telling me it's time to go back.

pps - i broke my nice lens (the 24-70mm 2.8). had it fallen off a pick-up truck (which it almost did), or been run over by a minibus (which it almost did), or gotten stuck strapped to the outside of a bus in the pouring rain (which it almost did), or fallen into a river (which it almost did), or been crushed by my body as we both fell off a bicycle taxi (which it almost did), i would have been unhappy but it would have been an honorable death. Falling out of my bag in the head mistress' office because I forgot to close the damn zipper is not an honorable death.

ppps - posted a number of entries today: Agatha Mpekesambo; Travel; Nkhata Bay.

this picture was published on thursday, may 21 2009. there is a full size version available. this picture was taken with a 24-70mm f/2.8 on a nikon d700. the settings when this was taken were: focal length: 27.0 mm; shutter speed: 1/250; iso: 100. this image has the following tags: malawi.