Chapter 13
Political parties in Malawi:An accountability analysis
Nandini Patel
1. Introduction
It has been observed that the dawn o multiparty politics that occurred in the1990s in sub-Saharan Arica has led to the emergence o dominant politicalparties (Van de Walle 2003; Bogaards 2004). In some countries, multiparty elections did not bring about a change in government as ormer ruling partiescontinued to cling to power. In countries where change did occur, the newincumbents proceeded to stay in power, thereby extending the relevance o theone-party dominant model. Te case o Malawi is markedly dierent rom thisprevalent scenario. In 1994, the winds o change ushered in a new governmentunder a new party, the United Democratic Front (UDF). However, since comingto power, the UDF has been reduced to a small entity. Instead o consolidatingits political position, it was relegated to the position o third largest party in the2009 parliamentary elections.However, since the election o President Dr Bingu wa Mutharika in 2004and the subsequent ormation o his own party, the Democratic ProgressiveParty (DPP), there are signs o emerging one-party dominance in the Malawianpolitical landscape, although it remains to be seen whether the DPP willmaintain this dominance in the long-term. Te DPP lacks internal democracy and accountability which are the main actors that contributed to the all o theUDF. Moreover, the party revolves almost completely around its leader Binguwa Mutharika.Te accountability role o political parties in Malawi, both within and outsidethe National Assembly, has varied rom 1994 to the present. In the early yearsaer the democratic transition, the opposition parties in Parliament, althoughnot always consistent and eective, attempted to perorm their oversight roleby holding the party in power to account. However, this important role becamediluted as opposition party leaders, without consultation or due process,switched sides in return or avours rom the ruling party. Furthermore, as time
217Political parties in Malawi
passed, parties developed actions and ragmented due to a lack o intra-party democracy, thereby urther reducing the eectiveness o their oversight role.Te lack o adherence to democratic practices and norms within political partiesexerted a weakening inuence not only on the parties themselves but also onstate institutions o governance.
2. Political parties and accountability
Accountability has two dimensions.
1
Horizontal accountability reers to theprocess whereby state institutions hold other state institutions, organs andagencies to account or their perormance, actions and omissions. Verticalaccountability relates to the means whereby ordinary citizens, mass media andcivil society actors seek to enorce standards o good behaviour and perormanceupon public ocials and state institutions (McNeil & Mumvuma 2006). Politicalparties play a crucial role in ensuring both dimensions o accountability.Teoretically, democratic accountability is closely linked to the concept o political representation which ocuses on whether elected representatives shouldact as delegates or as trustees o the people they represent. Representatives who aredelegates simply ollow the expressed preerences o their constituents, whereastrustees are representatives who ollow their own understanding o the best actionto pursue. Both viewpoints fnd support in the writings o eminent scholars likeJames Madison and Edmund Burke. In emerging democracies in Arica, wherethere is anxiety and deep ervour to saeguard the hard-won democracy, theelectorate is keen to exact accountability upon elected representatives and thuspreer mechanisms through which they can directly hold their Members o Parliament (MPs) to account. Te common understanding o accountability hereis one related to the ‘delegate’ interpretation o representation. However, moderndemocracies require that representatives not only act in ways that saeguardthe capacity o the represented to hold their representatives accountable butalso to uphold the capacity o the representative to act independently o thewishes o the represented (Pitkin 1967). Te complex and conicting standardso representation make it dicult to bind all representatives to a fxed set o guidelines and prohibit a single understanding o what representatives must do.In the Arican context, the diculty o identiying representational roles thatenhance accountability is urther compounded by the behaviour o party leadersand their inner circle who, in a classic maniestation o neopatrimonialism, bindboth elected representatives and the party rank and fle in tightly controlledpatronage networks. More oen than not, party leadership can be equated withthe wishes o one powerul individual within the party. Political parties in Arica
1 For a urther discussion, see chapters 1, 15 and 16.
Accountable Government in Africa218
thus do not provide ertile grounds or inculcating principles o representationand accountability into their members.In theory, political parties in multiparty democracies are important vehiclesor political representation, political competition and democratic accountability.Teir contributions range rom linking the state and civil society, ormulatingpublic policy, engaging in political recruitment, structuring electoral choicesand acilitating coalitions. Unortunately, in most Arican democracies, politicalparties remain weak and poorly institutionalised despite having embraced andsupposedly practised multiparty democracy or over two decades.Lawson & Rakner (2005) have analysed how certain institutions o accountability operate in anzania and the extent to which they inuence thequality and eectiveness o public policy. Amongst a range o institutions — suchas local associations, traditional authorities, NGOs and religious bodies —opposition parties ranked lower on the list, whereas religious bodies emerged asthe most eective. Tis pattern would not dier greatly in Malawi.Generally in Arica, opposition parties are severely discredited, suer romnegative public opinion and are not seen as a viable alternative by the electorate(Olukoshi 1998). Ruling parties oen resort to strategies o obstruction,harassment and division in order to weaken the opposition and are highly reluctant and resistant to accommodate dissent and diversity. Tis is true notonly where the transition to multiparty democracy ailed to bring about a changeo government, but also in other transition scenarios. Generally, there is no levelplaying feld in Arican politics and opposition parties lack unding, knowledgeand skills, which tends to weaken them to the point o ineectiveness.In the Arican context generally and in Malawi in particular, both horizontaland vertical accountability mechanisms are weak due to a political culture thatis characterised by an overwhelmingly powerul State President. Oppositionparties have only limited space in which to perorm their rightul role o holdingthe government to account. Teir role is urther weakened by a lack o intra-party democracy and leadership tussles. Weak vertical accountability relationships inturn undermine the level o public trust in elected ocials. Against this generalbackground, Malawian party politics since 1994 has ollowed an interestingtrajectory, rom relative stability to ragmentation and signs o emerging one-party dominance. Tis chapter describes this trajectory and analyses how it hasinuenced accountable governance in Malawi.
3. 1994–2004: From relative stability to fragmentation
3.1. The emergence of opposition parties in Malawi
Until 1993, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) was the only ocially registeredpolitical party in Malawi. Te national reerendum held on 14 June 1993
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Extract from Accountable Government in Africa edited by Danwood Mzikenge Chirwa and Lia Nijzink
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