Word: banda
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...quarrel between Prime Minister H. Kamuzu Banda and his six dissident ex-Cabinet members exploded in violence last week. In the capital town of Zomba, mobs of toughs supporting Banda clashed with civil servants backing the sacked Cabinet ministers in pitched battles employing pick handles, fence rails, steel bars, and pandas (long hacking knives). At least two died, and the hospitals were jammed with injured. The Mercedes car of ex-Justice Minister Ortona Chirwa was burned by Banda men, and Chirwa himself escaped into the bush. The home of Chief Chokawi, a Banda supporter, was sacked and razed...
When he finally returned home in 1958, the dedicated young nationalists made him a gift of the leadership of the independence movement. They built him up as the Lion of Malawi, Ngwazi (Supreme Chief), and called him Messiah. For his part, Banda dropped the Hastings and became H. Kamuzu Banda, a name more appealing to Africans. But what stunned Banda's ministerial "sons" was the discovery, after independence, that Banda believed his press notices and was hypnotized by his own carefully fabricated image as savior of his people. He took complete charge of the fledgling Cabinet, reserving for himself...
...Malawi crisis dismayed Western observers for, as one diplomat put it, Banda's "are the most realistic, sensible and encouragingly pro-Western policies in Africa today." Banda stood firm against recognizing Red China, even though Peking is reported ready to extend credits of up to $50 million in return for recognition. Another trigger of the revolt was Banda's negotiation of a trade pact with Portugal, whose policies in Angola and Mozambique are anathema to African nationalists...
...Jellyfish. When Parliament adjourned, the rebel Ministers took their case to the people, defying Banda's ban on public meetings. Banda defended himself by charging that the rebels "tried to hire a witch doctor" to murder him. Snorted Banda: "I am a Prime Minister with a spine, not a jellyfish kind of Prime Minister who is afraid of his subordinates - so now they have to kill...
...rebels' revolt struck a sympathetic chord among many Malawans who revere the Lion but wish he would soften his autocratic ways. Nevertheless, bustling little Prime Minister Banda was still hale and hearty last week and so confident of winning that he refused to attend a peace conference with the rebels arranged by the British Governor General...