Diary of
a politician
Sometimes
the end of the
Parliamentary week has a
feeling about it which
has an echo of
catharsis. After the
high drama of the
debates and the strained
emotions of questions
and the tensions of the
votes showering the
frenzy out of the
chamber and into the
offices of the political
press corps the empty
chamber seems more empty
than it was at the start
of the week, drained of
all its energy, emptied
of the passion and the
spark.
At the
close of business on a
Thursday evening MSPs
make off in different
directions. Some head
straight from the
chamber to the train
station, some stop for a
coffee and a chat, some
are off to do media
interviews, some go into
meetings, and some head
back to their offices to
do a bit more work
before heading home.
Me? I
head up to a meeting on
education, making sure
members of the SNP group
are aware of issues
we’re finding and
raising any concerns we
have from the week as
well as discussing
what’s coming up. Then
I’m back to my office to
do a bit of work, write
this diary, and check
I’ve got everything I’m
going to need for my
appointments over the
weekend. About nine
o’clock I’ll be heading
home, driving back
through the central belt
to Glasgow.
Looking
back at this week is a
bit strange, though. On
Monday I got the news
that Aleke Banda is to
retire from frontline
politics in Malawi.
He’s been involved with
the work we’ve been
doing through the
Westminster Foundation
for Democracy and he was
one of the people I
spend some time with on
my recent visit to
Malawi. I submitted
this motion in
Parliament:
S3M-02620 Christina
McKelvie (Central
Scotland) (Scottish
National Party): Aleke
Banda—
That the Parliament
notes the decision of
Aleke Banda to retire
from frontline politics
in Malawi at the next
election; recognises the
role that he played in
the campaign for
independence for Malawi,
helping to build a new
country, and his 55
years in active
politics; congratulates
him on his achievements
during his career, and
wishes him well in his
retirement, hoping that
he will, in his own
words, “find the time to
read some bedtime
stories, to learn to
kick a football or fly a
kite”.
While
MSPs might take time on
a Thursday evening to
think back over the week
and consider what’s gone
well and what didn’t
quite work, to mull over
small triumphs and
little defeats (or to
relish great days or
lick the wounds
inflicted, I suppose),
Aleke must be looking
back over his 55 years
in active politics and
doing the same thing on
a much larger scale.
This is a
man whose career spanned
the retaking of his
country’s independence,
who helped guide his
country through some
hard times, who has been
responsible recently for
the efforts to
restructure his nation’s
finances, and who has
always made sure that he
made friends abroad for
his country.
Aleke
Banda has been in the
deep desponds of a
seemingly impossible
struggle and has had the
chance to stand on the
sunny heights of great
success. He has been
through historic times
for his country and with
his country, and he has
come out the other side
still with his sense of
humour and his sense of
humility intact.
The
catharsis he’ll be
feeling at the end of
his career will be
immense and his memories
incredible – almost like
a who’s who from Kwame
Nkhurumah and Jomo
Kenyatta through Dr
Azikiwe and Julius
Nyerere to Nelson
Mandela and Haile
Sellase. He turned down
a scholarship to Harvard
University in order to
serve his country in its
time of need in the
1960s, turning down that
golden chance for
himself so that he could
remain part of the
liberation movement for
Malawi.
A founder
member of the Malawi
Congress Party in 1959,
he was expelled from
that party in 1973 when
Kamuzu thought Aleke
would become a threat to
his own position. He
was detained in prison
for twelve and a half
years during the reign
of Hastings Banda (no
relation to Aleke) and
house arrest for another
couple of years under a
‘preventive detention
clause’ in the Malawian
constitution. Aleke,
though, doesn’t appear
to have any bitterness
about this – a truly
remarkable man.
After
time in Government with
the UDF Aleke joined the
People’s Progressive
Movement and became
President of that
party. He’ll be leaving
the PPM in fine fettle,
a party dedicated to
accountability,
transparency and
integrity in public
life. He’ll be looking
back at his career and
smiling at the fond
memories.
I hope
his retirement is just
as pleasant as his
career has been.
