The Doctor's Dilemma
By FRANCIS CASSAVETTI
WIEN Mr. Duncan Sandys arrived in Nyasa- land to consult the Governor, Sir Glyn Jones, on the first leg of his talks with Sir Roy Welensky about the future of the Central African Federation last month, he was met at Blantyre airport by Dr. Hastings Banda. Dr. Banda, who dealt with Mr. Sandys on this visit in his capacity as life President of the Malawi Congress Party rather than as Minister of Local Government and Natural Resources in the Nyasaland Government, at once introduced him to a line-up of his fellow Ministers and members of the Malawi executive. `Ah,' said Mr. Sandys, 'these are the men who rule you, are they?' Dr. Banda swept up his team in a glance and replied, 'Who rules whom?'
In Salisbury, the view generally propounded is that Dr. Banda is more puppet or figurehead than master. The real arbiters of Malawi policy, whisper the Federation men, are figures like Ken- yama Chiume, the able and so far highly suc- cessful Minister of Education, and Dunduzu Chisiza, the Marxist Parliamentary Secretary to the Finance Ministry. Both these men are barely in their thirties, while Dr. Banda is sixty. In Blantyre or Zomba, this Salisbury assessment is flatly and universally .repudiated — by Mr. Michael Blackwood, United Federal Party leader in Nyasaland, by Colonial Office men or Malawi- minded resident journalists. Kamuzu, as the doc- tor is known in party ranks, is emphatically the boss. At a press conference in Zomba, he was in- . troduced by Mr. Chisiza as the man to whom `every one of three million Nyasas have promised to submit.' And that is probably an accurate description of his authority.
So. for the time being, Kamuzu's word is law. And when he sayS 'spit on Federation,' three million Nyasas spit. But immediately ahead is a major step towards internal self-government. In April two more official Ministers in the Nyasa- land Government are due to move out, opening the way for a seven-to-three Malawi majority in the executive council. (Chisiza is then expected to take over the Finance Ministry.) Dr. Banda has served notice on the British Government that he wants to come to London about that time. The two main topics he will want to discuss are economic aid and a target date for Nyasaland in- dependence. Mr. Butler in his new seat in charge of the Central African Office, is discouraging him from coming to Britain before Sir Roy's federal election is over on April 27. On purely political grounds, Dr. Banda's demand for independence would receive a straight tick of approval from the Colonial 01119, for it is generally acknow- ledged in the Federation that, since Malawi joined the government, Nyasaland has been the most tranquil of the three territories. But for Mr. Butler, with his blanket responsibility, to discuss a date for irdependence with Dr. Banda before entering wider discussions with Salisbury on the general future of federation, would be the very negation of his new role. If any imminent con- versation with Dr. Banda could be confined to economics, it would be a different matter. This is hardly feasible; but it would be logical. For money is the doctor's most pressing problem.
At present, Nyasaland benefits, in various forms, to the tune of about £4f million a year from Federal funds. In so far as this goes into services like Central African Airways, it is un- derstandable that the African should dismiss it as something that makes no difference to him: it k only the Europeans who for the most part fly between Blantyre, Salisbury, Lusaka and the cop- perbelt. But £41 million is hardly to be sneezed at in a country of the size and income of Nyasa- land. It could not easily be replaced; and no African could pretend that he did not derive benefit from, for instance, the health service for which it largely provides.
Yet, so strong is the political loathing of Sir Roy and his Federation in Nyasaland, that Dr. Banda can today stand up and declare that hence- forth he will take no more 'tainted Federal money.' That £41- million can be swept aside in this way is the measure of Malawi feeling on this issue. And it goes further: the doctor has taken a symbolic stand over an additional £3 millin available for the Nkula Falls dam.
Dr. Banda, as Minister of Natural Resources, declined to sign the appropriate water licence, which would have opened the way to the issue of tenders for the dam. Salisbury at once called on the Governor—who, it is not irrelevant to note, is locally known as 'Malawi' Jones—to use his power to override Ministers and put the licence through. If he did not do so, Mr. Black- wood told the Nyasaland legislative council on March 6, then it would show that the Colonial Office was opposed to federation. Both sides— Malawi and the United Federal Party—saw Nkula as the perfect case over which to stage a symbolic showdown. But it is also the sort of issue which could start eroding Dr. Banda's authority once its economic impact on ordinary life in Nyasaland began to be felt. Hence the urgency of his need to get money elsewhere, and in considerable quantity, if he is set against taking more from Salisbury.
Most interesting of all the problems facing Dr. Banda is perhaps that of the port of Beira, in Mozambique. The entire Federation, both Rhodesias and Nyasaland, arc dependent on Beira. And Sir Roy paid a visit to Lourenco Marques just before his talks with Mr. Sandys last month: his relations with the Portuguese authorities clearly present no difficulty. For Dr. Banda, however, it is no laughing matter.
For a time, there was hope that a railway line 'could be built through from Nyasaland to Tanganyika and that it would be possible to use the more politically congenial port of Dar-es- Salaam. But it was soon found that this would be prohibitive in cost (upwards of £14 million) and would take at jeast a decade to build, even if the money was available. So Dr. Banda has had to resign himself to dependence on Beira--hardly a palatable prospect in the light of the resolution passed by the Addis Ababa congress to boycott all Portuguese territories. In addition, the Portuguese authorities in Mozambique have shown no disposition to civility towards Africans of any sort visiting the territory from either Southern Rhodesia or Nyasaland. However, Dr. Banda, recently questioned on the point, talked more like a seasoned British businessman than a crusading African nationalist. 'We shall main- tain good relations with the authorities in Mozam- bique,' he said. 'We have to do business, so do the Portuguese.' There followed reports that he con- templated a visit to Lisbon to discuss the position. with Dr. Salazar. These were unofficially dis- missed, but never publicly denied. Whatever the truth here, the great Kamuzu's down-to-earth at- titude on Beira provides a fascinating study in contrast to his unbudging boycott of everything federal. Which will dictate his course?
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