Statecraft & Independence
Landmark
Bakili Muluzi
born 1943
Malawi's first democratically elected president, who ended thirty years of one-party rule
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Malawi Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
He beat Hastings Banda in the 1994 election that ended the one-party state, freed the political prisoners, lifted the censorship, and left office in 2004 after failing to change the constitution to stay.
Elson Bakili Muluzi was a businessman and former secretary general of Banda's own party who broke with it and led the United Democratic Front to victory in Malawi's first multiparty election in May 1994.
He released political detainees, ended the censorship apparatus and the dress codes, opened the press, and introduced free primary education, which put well over a million more children into school. He tried and failed to have the constitution amended to allow himself a third term — the parliamentary defeat of that attempt is one of the more important moments in Malawian democracy — and handed over power in 2004.
He released political detainees, ended the censorship apparatus and the dress codes, opened the press, and introduced free primary education, which put well over a million more children into school. He tried and failed to have the constitution amended to allow himself a third term — the parliamentary defeat of that attempt is one of the more important moments in Malawian democracy — and handed over power in 2004.
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