Kamuzu Day replaced Queen’s Day observed during British rule in all Commonwealth countries

* Since Malawi attained her republican status in July 1966, we now have the President of the Republic, who is the Head of State and Government

* The position of the Queen as Queen of Malawi, therefore, automatically disappears — but May 14 will remain a public holiday in Malawi

* And it will be called ‘Kamuzu Day’ after the head of State and government, H.E. the President of the Republic of Malawi (The Times, 1967)

By Duncan Mlanjira

Today, May 14, we celebrate the life of the Republic of Malawi’s founding President, late Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who died in 1997 after losing to the presidential election of 1994.

According to an article by Mwayi Lusaka published on Taylor & Francis online; ‘Kamuzu Banda’s memory and negotiation of power in Malawi’ (Cogent Arts & Humanities, 2023), May 14 used to be observed as Queen’s Day during British rule in celebration of the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II in all Commonwealth countries.

Mwayi Lusaka chronicles that three years after attaining independence from the British rule in 1964, Speaker of Parliament, Chidzanja announced to the MPs that a new public holiday had been created and it would be called Kamuzu Day — replacing Queens Day.

It was reported that Malawi Congress Party (MCP) secretary general, Albert Muwalo issued a press statement to the public that provided a background to declaring May 14 as Kamuzu Day, saying: “Since Malawi attained her republican status in July 1966, we now have the President of the Republic, who is the Head of State and Government.

“The position of the Queen as Queen of Malawi, therefore, automatically disappears — but May 14 will remain a public holiday in Malawi and it will be called ‘Kamuzu Day’ after the head of State and government, H.E. the President of the Republic of Malawi.” (The Times, 1967).

Mwayi Lusaka writes: “Ostensibly changing from Queen’s Day to Kamuzu Day was a means of jettisoning Malawi’s colonial baggage. However, I would like to contend that in essence, this was a mere repackaging of old colonial traditions to make them appear anew. 

“Kamuzu Banda’s government did not want to abandon the political rituals and festivities associated with the day. Instead, it saw how effectively the day could continue being used to praise the leadership of the country, this time not praising the Queen but Kamuzu Banda himself.”

Though Kamuzu Banda’s precise birthday was not known, May 14 become Kamuzu’s birthday that was celebrated in grandeur at Kamuzu Stadium — the Ngwazi immaculately dressed in his usual British style homburg hat, a three-piece English-style tail suit, which Malawians coined as ‘kateya’ suit.

He was given a military parade salute as Commander-in-Chief, inspected the guard of honour before going back to Sanjika Palace where there were more celebrations at the mini stadium.

The first celebration, as contained in Cogent Arts & Humanities by Mwai Lusaka (quoting Times 1967), was held in Zomba (then the capital city) that Kamuzu waved people from a bright open-top red Rolls Royce, which became the annual tradition.

After losing the 1994 presidential election, his successor, Bakili Muluzi tried to erase Kamuzu’s legacy by renaming many of the structures named after him — from Kamuzu Stadium to Chichiri Stadium; Kamuzu International Airport to Lilongwe International Airport and Kamuzu Highway to Masauko Chipembere Highway — in memory of Masauko Chipembere whom Kamuzu Banda had once designated as a ‘rebel’ during the infamous 1964 Cabinet Crisis.

Muluzi justified the decision to contest Kamuzu Banda’ public memorialisation because they mainly focused on promoting his name while excluding others. Muluzi was on a drive to efface Kamuzu’s public memory from the landscape’s structures and institutions.

Mwayi Lusaka observed that the renaming initiative was “presented to serve the democratic ideals of human rights and used to legitimize and support Muluzi’s government as a promoter of human rights in the country”.

“Muluzi’s politics of memory finds expression in Yael Zerubavel’s assertion that ‘when a society undergoes rapid developments that shatter social and political order, its need to reconstruct the past is as great as its desire to set its future agenda’.”

Another reference was made to post-apartheid South Africa, Ali Hlongwane and Sifiso Ndlovu, who argued: ‘…the advent of a memory boom is symptomatic of a society that has emerged from years of conflict and repression. The dominant meaning of such a boom relates, to a large extent, to the use of history and memorials in rationalising the foundation of new states and evolving a new identity’ (Hlowanwane & Ndlovu, 2019, p. 5).

“This process as understood by the government of Bakili Muluzi meant recasting and reinterpretation of Banda’s memory in a new democratic nation of Malawi,” observes Mwayi Lusaka. It was against the above political background that in 1994 Kamuzu Day was erased from the public calendar.

“The two terms of Bakili Muluzi, therefore, did not celebrate Kamuzu Day as Muluzi did not want the fond memory of a dictator to be promoted under his government. Instead Muluzi declared June 14 to be Freedom Day and a public holiday.

“On Freedom Day, Malawians [were] remembering how they fought against the dictatorship of Kamuzu Banda to usher in democracy. Thus, June 14 [was] used to recast the memory of Banda as a dictator and his government as repressive.“

When Bingu was Mutharika became President in 2004, he glorified Kamuzu’s legacy when he attended Kamuzu Academy’s Founder’s Day at Mtumthama in November 2004 where he addressed the young minds and dignitaries present of Kamuzu’s contribution to the education sector and to the country’s development as a whole.

Lusaka observes that this was Bingu’s “ploy to seek sympathy not — only from the wider Malawian population which began showing disillusionment of the Bakili Muluzi regime due to rampant corruption — but also specifically from Kamuzu Banda’s Central Region, which still showed strong support and sympathy with Kamuzu Banda and his Malawi Congress Party”.

“The dynamics in the parliament at that time meant that United Democratic Front (UDF) would rally against him. It was only with the Malawi Congress Party that he could reach for any form of alliance.

“Against this unstable political situation, Bingu wa Mutharika turned to Kamuzu Banda’s memory by reviving it to gain popularity from Kamuzu Banda’s sympathisers across the political spectrum for his survival.”

Thus, chronicles Lusaka, several legacy projects on Kamuzu Banda were initiated — Kamuzu International Airport was reverted as well as Kamuzu Stadium; Kamuzu Central Hospital while Freedom Day on June 14 was no longer observed as a public holiday by turning May 14 as public holiday in memory of Kamuzu Banda.

Before attending Kamuzu Academy Founder’s Day, Bingu attended the elevation of 15 Chewa chiefs in Kamuzu’s home district of Kasungu on October 6, 2004, where he attacked Muluzi for failing to recognise the founding President’s, saying “it was sad that seven years after Kamuzu Banda’s death government has not been able to build a mausoleum” (The Nation, 2004).

He pledged that he would have the mausoleum built as a matter of urgency: “I will source funding for the monument if there is no money. Whether you like it or not there was Hastings Kamuzu Banda who at one point ruled this country, and this is in history books. Even if you destroy the books facts will remain the same” (The Nation, 2004).

Lusaka’s article further reports that MCP MP for Lilongwe North West, Ishamael Chafukira delivered a motion in Parliament to reinstate Kamuzu Day, which was seconded by the Minister of Finance, late Goodall Gondwe of Mutharika’s  Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — arguing that government would place the former head of state on the same footing as other heroes such as John Chilembwe.

The erection of Kamuzu’s statue at the new parliament building that was being constructed in Lilongwe was also discussed — the motion was voted, passed and Kamuzu Day was reinstated (Republic of Malawi, 2007).

Lusaka further takes a glimpse of public reaction after the motion was carried quoting some of newspapers Letter to the Editor on May 9, 2007 towards the first reincarnated Kamuzu Day.

“One letter writer attempted to reason why 10 years after his demise, Kamuzu Banda was becoming a hero, and what had happened for him to move from a dictator in 1994 to a hero in 2007.

He offered three reasons — first, he argued that after the 1994 elections Kamuzu Banda was seen through the new administration (the Bakili Muluzi administration). Thus, people had high expectations of the new regime, and they were much disillusioned by it when it failed to meet them.

“He cited growing food insecurity in the country, which was not the case previously. The second argument was that it was now revealed to all that some of the injustices were not committed or decreed by Kamuzu Banda but by some of his henchmen.

“The third reason was that the persistent ‘torture’ by Bakili Muluzi on Kamuzu Banda, especially dragging the old and ailing Kamuzu Banda to court to answer some charges committed by his regime encouraged some sympathy from a large section of Malawians.

“He concluded that the love of Kamuzu Banda and his rise to heroism was the outcome of an understanding of his role in Africa and an expression of disillusionment with Bakili Muluzi in whose decade-solid social structures of Malawian life were falling apart.

“Perhaps it was quantifiable — drug abuse grew, corruption was almost normal, while disorder and punishment went unpunished (The Nation, 2007). For him, there was therefore public nostalgia for Kamuzu Banda amid growing disenchantment with the Bakili Muluzi government.

“Another letter writer was unhappy with this show of nostalgia. Her criticisms and arguments through her contribution blatantly exposed the fact that the day was invented to support Banda’s regime.

“She argued that according to research that she made at the national archives of Malawi, Kamuzu Day is a continuation of the British tradition that was meant to honour the Head of State.

“She further argued that ‘President’s Day’ would be better than calling it using the personal name of who so ever would be in power because of the divisive nature of personal names.

“These comments by these two contributors reveal two important things about Kamuzu Day in Malawi — first, they reveal that Kamuzu Day was a repackaging of an old colonial cultural form to prop up Kamuzu Banda’s regime. Second, the Day came to be reinstated for political expediency which was dressed up as nostalgia,” says Mwayi Lusaka’s article.

For all that has been said of Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, we at Maravi Express believe that our founding President left a legacy far more lasting than gold. Happy Kamuzu Day.

* Some highlights of Kamuzu in pictures: