Riots in Malawi July 20, 2011

Hard to believe I was there just a few weeks ago! I can't say this is very surprising. We talked with lots of locals about the issues with President Bingu wa Mutharika. 


http://www.cnbc.com/id/43827469

Last week, the UK cut direct aid to Malawi after a diplomatic spat with Mr Mutharika's government.

The UK accused Malawi of mishandling the economy and failing to uphold human rights.

The government recently passed an austerity budget, raising taxes to reduce dependence on aid.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated 75% of the population living on less than $1 (60p) a day.

While I was in Malawi:

Last week the Malawian government asked the British high commissioner, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, to leave Malawi after the leaking of one of his diplomatic cables citing President Mutharika as a "combative president… autocratic and intolerant of criticism" and that "the governance situation continues to deteriorate in terms of media freedom, freedom of speech and minority rights".

Within a day, the UK government had retaliated by asking Malawi's acting high commissioner Flossie Gomile-Chidyaonga to leave her London post, and the lady was forced to miss the wedding of the year.

And so two people - one called Fergus and the other called Flossie - have become victims of President Mutharika's eccentric leadership.

All of this would mean nothing if Malawi was not so reliant on foreign aid.

The UK is his country's main donor, giving up to $153m (£93m) every year. And where one donor scrambles away, others may soon follow.

But it may not matter to the president, who seems keen to turn back the hands of time to an era of absolute dictatorship, when the country was awash with spies spilling its citizens' secrets to keep them in tow and a dictator at the helm.

As churches and newspapers and human rights bodies scream for the president to rediscover his own diplomatic manner, the universities are closed, the fuel queues remain long and there is not an oil well or diamond mine in sight to help Malawi go it alone without the donor dollars and the odd pop star in search of a child to adopt.