Cabinet Crisis of 1964

The cabinet crisis of 1964 in Malawi occurred in August and September 1964 shortly after independence when, after an unresolved confrontation between the Prime Minister, Hastings Banda (later Malawi's first President) and the cabinet ministers present on 26 August 1964, three ministers and a parliamentary secretary were dismissed on 7 September. These dismissals were followed by the resignations of three more cabinet ministers and another parliamentary secretary, in sympathy with those dismissed. Initially, this only left the President and one other minister in post, although one of those who had resigned rescinded his resignation within a few hours. The reasons that the ex-ministers put forward for the confrontation and subsequent resignations were the autocratic attitude of Banda, who failed to consult other ministers and kept power in his own hands, his insistence on maintaining diplomatic relations with South Africa and Portugal and a number of domestic austerity measures. It is unclear whether the former ministers intended to remove Banda entirely, to reduce his role to that of a non-executive figurehead or simply to force him to recognise collective cabinet responsibility. Banda seized the initiative, firstly, by dismissing some of the dissidents rather than negotiating, and secondly, (after the resignations) by holding a debate on a motion of confidence on 8 and 9 September 1964. As the result of the debate was an overwhelming vote of confidence, Banda declined to reinstate any of the ministers or offer them any other posts, despite the urging of the Governor-General to compromise. After some unrest, and clashes between supporters of the ex-ministers and of Banda, most of the former left Malawi in October with their families and leading supporters, for Zambia or Tanzania. One ex-minister, Henry Chipembere went into hiding inside Malawi and, in February 1965 led a small, unsuccessful armed uprising. After its failure, he was able to arrange for his transfer to the USA. Another ex-minister, Yatuta Chisiza, organised an even smaller incursion from Mozambique in 1967, in which he was killed. Several of the former ministers died in exile or, in the case of Orton Chirwa in a Malawian jail, but some survived to return to Malawi after Banda was deposed and to return to public life.

The Cabinet Crisis, sometimes referred to as the Revolt of the Ministers is one of the most important but also most controversial episodes in the history of independent Malawi. Many of the contemporary documentary sources were written by expatriate diplomats and officials who were not close to the ex-ministers, and in some cases antipathetic to them. These accounts have been contradicted by the autobiographies, often written long after the event, of the ex-ministers themselves, although these are also inconsistent with one another. The principal published works quoted rely on a mixture of documentary sources and interviews with participants, both African and expatriate, and suggest that the crisis arose in a political culture that permitted no dissent, and treated attempts to debate issues as plotting.

Nyasaland African Congress

Development of Congress

For most of the colonial period, most Africans in Nyasaland had no political voice and only a small number of chiefs had a very limited influence on the colonial government and they did not represent the interests of a growing body of African town dwellers. Most early African interest groups were local, represented only a small, mainly urban educated African elite and promoted their demands for a political voice, not independence. Only in the 1940s, with the formation of the Nyasaland African Congress, did one organisation represent the whole of Nyasaland. From 1944, various African local associations united into the Nyasaland African Congress, which demanded African representation on the Legislative Council that advised the colonial governors. From 1946, the Nyasaland African Congress received financial and political support from Hastings Banda, then living in Britain. Post-war British governments of both main parties agreed to the formation of a federation of the three British territories in Central Africa, rather than their complete amalgamation, as the Southern Rhodesian government preferred: the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was pushed through in 1953 against very strong African opposition. Federation radicalised some younger Congress members, and when in 1955 the Colonial Office agreed that the Legislative Council should include five African members nominated by Provincial Councils, they seized the opportunity. Although the Provincial Councils were largely composed of chiefs, their members were receptive to popular wishes, and they nominated Congress members or supporters to the Legislative Council. In 1956, Henry Chipembere and Kanyama Chiume, two young radical members of Congress, were nominated together with two moderate Congress members and a Congress supporter. This success led to a rapid growth in Congress membership in 1956 and 1957.

Chipembere and Chiume were members of a new generation of pan-Africanist politicians, deeply influenced by Socialist and sometimes Marxist ideas and experiences acquired outside Malawi, who realised the value of a well-organised mass movement. Chipembere was a southerner, but many others were northerners. Chiume was born in the Nkhata Bay district but educated entirely in Tanganyika and Uganda. Dunduzu Chisiza and his elder brother, Yatuta Chisiza, had been born in Karonga District before becoming a long-term residents of Uganda and Tanganyika. They were influenced both by Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda; Dunduzu had also lived in Southern Rhodesia before being deported to Nyasaland for his political activities. During the 1950s, these younger men displaced the older generation as leaders of Congress. They expressed hostility towards Europeanization, which cut them off from their cultural roots, an African middle class sympathising with Federation and the autocratic Chiefs. However, as they lacked status and knowledge of local African customs, they needed a charismatic older man as their leader. The chosen leader, Dr Banda, was sensitive to the country's political tradition. In preaching defiance of the "stupid Federation", Banda was in tune with the popular mood, but he also defended the chiefs and the rights of the older generation of educated men.

Banda's return

The younger members of the Nyasaland African Congress had little faith in its leader, T D T Banda, and wished to replace him with Dr Hastings Banda, who had by then moved to the Gold Coast. Dr Banda announced he would only return if given the presidency of Congress: after this was agreed, he returned to Nyasaland in July 1958 and T D T Banda was ousted.

When Banda returned to Nyasaland, which he had left in 1915, he was over 60. Chipembere and Chiume and most other leading Congress activists were in their late 20s or early 30s. As well as the age difference there was, from the start, a disagreement about Banda's role: the activists saw him as a figurehead, but he saw himself as the leader of Congress and expected their obedience. Banda was absolutely opposed to Federation, but otherwise more moderate in his speeches that the younger Congress members. Both Chipembere and Chiume avoided social contact with Europeans and, in their speeches, they frequently denounced Europeans as a group, in contrast to Banda's relatively cordial relations with individual Europeans.

Banda appointed Chipembere as Treasurer, Chiume as Publicity Secretary and Dunduzu Chisiza as Secretary-general of Congress. He also appointed four other young radicals to the party's Executive Committee, ignoring older moderates, but made it clear that he regarded his appointees as subordinates, not colleagues. Although these appointees had senior positions, these came with a heavy workload and tied them to the MCP headquarters in Blantyre, away from their grassroots support. In the nine months between his return and the declaration of a State of Emergency, Banda combined opposition to Federation with more popular causes, such as the African smallholders' dislike of agricultural practices imposed on them. He used these popular issues to mobilise Congress supporters into strikes, disobedience and protests that would disrupt the everyday operation of the colonial government.

The 1959 Emergency

Background

In January 1958, Banda presented Congress proposals for an African majority in the Legislative Council to the governor, Sir Robert Armitage. As this would have led to a demand for withdrawal from the Federation, Armitage refused. This breakdown in talks led to Congress demands for more violent anti-government action, and leading Congress activists made increasingly inflammatory statements. Armitage was influenced by reports from police informers, who claimed Congress planned the indiscriminate killing of Europeans and Asians, and of its African opponents, the so-called "murder plot". There is no evidence that a murder plot existed, but the refusal of Banda or other Congress leaders to condemn the violent actions of Congress members gave it some plausibility. Armitage prepared for mass arrests and, on 20 February, troops from Rhodesia were flown into Nyasaland. In the days following 20 February, both Chipembere and Yatuta Chisiza made a number of provocative speeches, many followed by disturbances, and the police or troops fired on some of these, leading to four deaths.

On 3 March 1959 Armitage declared a State of Emergency over the whole of the protectorate and arrested Banda, other members of the Congress executive committee and over a hundred local party officials. The Nyasaland African Congress was banned the next day. Those arrested were detained without trial and the total number detained finally rose to over 1,300. Rather than calming the situation immediately, in the emergency that followed fifty-one Africans were killed and many more were wounded. By the night of 3 March, most principal Congress leaders had been arrested and detained. Some were released very quickly, but 72 prominent detainees, including Banda, were flown to Southern Rhodesia. Others were detained in Nyasaland. In the immediate aftermath of arrest, 21 people were killed and many wounded.

Aftermath

Within two days of the declaration of the state of emergency, the British cabinet under Harold Macmillan decided to set up a Commission of Inquiry into the disturbances. Macmillan did not choose its chairman, Devlin, and later criticised his appointment on the basis of his Irish ancestry and Catholic upbringing. Macmillan not only broadly rejected the Devlin Report, which had taken several months to prepare, but engineered the production of the rival Armitage Report, which was prepared very quickly so it could be released on the same day as the Devlin Report.

The Devlin Commission concentrated on three areas: the State of Emergency, the murder plot and African opposition to Federation. It found that the declaration of a State of Emergency was necessary to restore order and prevent a descent into anarchy, but it criticised instances of the illegal use of force by the police and troops. It also found that the Nyasaland government's suppression of criticism and of support for Congress justified calling it a "police state". Its strongest criticism was over the "murder plot", which it said not exist, and the use made of it by both the Nyasaland and British governments in trying to justify the Emergency, which it condemned. It also declared that Banda had no knowledge of the inflammatory talk of some Congress activists about attacking Europeans. Finally, it noted the almost universal rejection of Federation by Nyasaland's African people and suggested the British government should negotiate with African leaders on the country's constitutional future.

The Nyasaland government had imprisoned Banda, not realising that he was the only African politician they could negotiate with on a credible constitution for the protectorate. At first, the British government tried to calm the situation by nominating additional African members (who were not Congress supporters) to the Legislative Council. However, it soon decided that the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland could not be maintained and that Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia should be given responsible government under majority rule. Devlin's conclusion that there was no murder plot and that Banda was not involved in promoting violence opened the way for the British government to deal with him. Banda was released in April 1960 and invited to London to discuss proposals for responsible government.

Chipembere, Dunduzu Chisiza and his brother Yatuta were arrested in the State of Emergency and imprisoned with Banda for 13 months in Gwelo in Southern Rhodesia, but Chiume, who was in London, escaped arrest. This did little to bring Banda and the others together: Banda became concerned with Chipembere's volatile temper, and Banda's increasingly authoritarian attitudes alarmed his three fellow prisoners. Chipembere and the Chisiza brothers remained in detention, first in Rhodesia and later in Nyasaland, after Banda was released. Iain Macleod, the Colonial Secretary was at first suspicious of Banda, and regarded the three others as extremists. He eventually agreed to Banda's request for their release, but they were among the last to be released in September 1960. This was after Banda had returned from constitutional talks in London, where he had been accompanied by Orton Chirwa, a lawyer and Aleke Banda, a young activist. In May 1960, Chiume returned to Nyasaland and his attempts to ingratiate himself with Banda led to his estrangement from Chipembere and the Chisiza brothers. After his release, Chipembere embarked on a series of fiery speeches: the colonial authorities considered these were sufficiently threatening to warrant his arrest, and he was again imprisoned, receiving a three-year sentence in January 1961. Chiume escaped prosecution for his speeches, as he was considered of lower importance. Chipembere was still in prison in August 1961, when Banda (who had insisted on selecting all his party's candidates) won an overwhelming electoral victory. The new Governor, Glyn Smallwood Jones was willing to discuss Chipembere's early release but despite Dunduzu Chisiza's urging, Banda allowed Chipembere to serve much of his sentence until his release in January 1963. In August 1961, Chipembere's father had been elected to the Legislative Council in place of his son, but gave up his seat on Chipembere's release.

The Malawi Congress Party

Formation

Chirwa and Aleke Banda had only been detained for a short time and in 1959 they had formed the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) to replace the banned Nyasaland African Congress, making it clear that they were acting on behalf of the imprisoned Banda. The reconstitution of Congress as the Malawi Congress Party from September 1959 marked a major shift in its character. The Nyasaland African Congress was an anti-colonial liberation movement but after the 1961 elections, the MCP was in government. There was a regional shift in support for the MCP: in both the Southern and Central Provinces, people flocked to join the party but, in the north, branches were formed only in a limited number of places. The MCP quickly emerged as a larger party, distinctly more authoritarian in its approach, than Congress had been. It became a mass party, but Chipembere and the Chisizas were unknown to many of the new members, who regarded Banda as the sole leader.

In the 1961 elections, MPC won 22 out of the 28 available Legislative Council seats, including all the "lower roll" seats, which had a predominantly African electorate. The largest group of MPC Legislative Council members was formed of eight who had received at least secondary education, mainly former students; five of the six early ministerial appointments fell to this group. They were generally under 35 (only Chirwa was over 40), and a disproportionate number of these came from the Northern Region, because several mission schools there taught to a high standard. The next group was of local MCP bosses who were generally a decade older than the first group. They were generally less well educated but had stronger local ties, and after the 1964 crisis, several of them replaced the former ministers of the first group. At first, MPC backbench members raised questions on sensitive issues and questioned ministers with relative freedom, but by late 1962, this had ceased and only the few non-MCP Legislative Council members were able to offer any criticism. Banda started to intervene in the speeches of ministers and to cut short debates, arguing that he alone made policy.

Before the elections, the Colonial Office had assumed that MPC would be entitled to three Executive Council seats through winning a majority of the "lower roll" seats. As the Lancaster House agreement provided that two Executive Council seats would go to ministers elected by the "upper roll" of largely European and Asian electors, it was thought that the mainly white United Federal Party would gain both these seats: with five officials also sitting, there would be a non-MCP majority on the Executive Council. In the event, the United Federal Party only won five Legislative Council seats, two going to MPC and one to an MCP-inclined independent, Colin Cameron. The Governor offered the United Federal Party a single Executive Council seat, which it refused. This left all five elected seats for MCP candidates. In theory, Jones, the Governor, was entitled to allocate portfolios, but he allowed Banda to make nominations. Banda decided to take two for himself, becoming both Minister of Natural Resources and Minister of Local Government. Chiume became Minister of Education and Augustine Bwanausi became Minister of Labour. The two upper roll ministers were Colin Cameron (Minister of Works) and Mikeka Mkandawire as Minister without Portfolio. Two MCP parliamentary secretaries were also appointed, but did not sit in the Executive Council. These were Dunduzu Chisiza in the Ministry of Finance and Orton Chirwa in the Ministry of Justice. Two additional appointments were made in March 1962, of John Msonthi and Willie Chokani, and Chirwa became the Minister of Justice and Attorney-general at the start of 1964.

In government

When Banda and four other MCP ministers joined five officials on the Executive Council, they formed a Responsible government accountable to the Governor. A timetable for full self-government independence was agreed at a constitutional conference in London in 1962 and the Jones allowed Banda and the MPC ministers and parliamentary secretaries, now seven in total, to initiate policies. Nyasaland achieved internal self-government with Banda as Prime Minister in February 1963. Full independence was gained (and the country's name became Malawi) on 6 July 1964, with Banda as Prime Minister. Malawi became a republic within the Commonwealth, on 6 July 1966, when Banda became its first President.

In February 1963, Banda, as Prime Minister, was able to select a cabinet of 10 members to replace the Executive Council. This included the temporary appointment of Henry Phillips the former Financial Secretary as Minister of Finance, the post Dunduzu Chisiza would have taken but for his death in 1962. Other official members left office. Chipembere joined the cabinet as Minister of Local Government, and Chiume added Social Development to his Education post. There were some changes of portfolios: Willie Chokani took over as Minister of Labour, replacing Augustine Bwanausi, who became Minister of the Interior, and John Tembo

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