US embassy cable - 04LILONGWE596

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LILONGWE 000596 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
DEPT FOR INR/B 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, PINR, KCOR, ECON, EFIN, MI, Political 
SUBJECT: MUNYENYEMBE ELECTED SPEAKER, MUTHARIKA OPENS 
PARLIAMENT 
 
REF: A. LILONGWE 559 
 
     B. LILONGWE 457 
     C. LILONGWE 451 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Officer Peter W. Lord, reasons 1.5 (b/d). 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
1. (SBU) With a narrow margin of victory, United Democratic 
Front (UDF) MP Rodwell Munyenyembe was elected Speaker of the 
National Assembly on June 28.  The House also elected First 
and Second Deputies, both of whom are pro-UDF.  President 
Bingu wa Mutharika, in his first address to Parliament on 
June 29, sounded his now familiar refrain of moving the 
nation "from poverty to prosperity."  Echoing themes made at 
his inaugural address, Mutharika explained how each ministry 
will play its part in his administration's goal of reforming 
the public, private, agricultural, and civil service sectors. 
 Well received by most Malawians, Mutharika's policy 
statements have invoked a "wait-and-see" attitude from 
political commentators and the donor community. (Bio 
information on Munyenyembe begins in paragraph 6.)  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
MUNYENYEMBE ELECTED SPEAKER 
--------------------------- 
2. (SBU) In a tangible demonstration of the ruling United 
Democratic Front's (UDF) slim working majority in Parliament, 
UDF MP Rodwell Munyenyembe was elected Speaker of the 
National Assembly on June 28, defeating Malawi Congress Party 
(MCP) MP Louis Chimango 99 to 83 (reftel A).  Republican 
Party (RP) MP Esther Chilenje was elected First Deputy 
Speaker, and independent MP Jones Chingola was elected Second 
Deputy Speaker.  All three support the ruling UDF's 
"government of national unity."  (NOTE: During the leadership 
elections in the 193-member house, two parliamentarians were 
absent, and eight seats were vacant pending by-elections.  In 
the vote for the Speaker, one ballot was spoiled and declared 
"null and void."  END NOTE.) 
 
MUTHARIKA'S NOW FAMILIAR REFRAIN 
-------------------------------- 
3. (SBU) On June 29 President Bingu wa Mutharika began his 
first address to Parliament by carefully listing campaign 
promises he has kept, including reduction of the size of the 
cabinet, his administration's focus on economic reform, and 
transfer of the presidency and ministries to Lilongwe (from 
Malawi's commercial capital, Blantyre).  In addition to 
reminding the nation that he is keeping his campaign 
promises, Mutharika reprised familiar themes from his 
inaugural address (reftel C) and his first meeting with the 
donor heads-of-mission (reftel B).  Highlighting his 
administration's self-dubbed tag-line  "from poverty to 
prosperity," Mutharika focused his remarks on how the 
ministries will fulfill his goal of reforming the public, 
private, agricultural, and civil service sectors. 
 
4. (SBU) The only comment to elicit applause from the 
assembled government officials was a reiteration of his 
"zero-tolerance policy" against corruption. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
5. (C) Mutharika has gotten good mileage out of his current 
message, and it is generally well received by Malawians. 
Political commentators and the donor community, who remember 
similar promises by newly-elected President Bakili Muluzi in 
1994, have adopted a "wait-and-see" attitude toward 
Mutharika's policies.  Mutharika's reforms come with a price, 
and his administration will have to balance implementation of 
those reforms with a need for strict fiscal discipline.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
------------------------------------ 
BIO INFORMATION: Rodwell Munyenyembe 
------------------------------------ 
6. (C) Originally an educator, Munyenyembe has had a long 
political career, serving in several ministerial positions 
both before and after Malawi's transition to multi-party 
democracy.  Once among the most active, intelligent, and 
hardworking ministers, Munyenyembe's influence and drive have 
diminished significantly with age.  Munyenyembe re-gained his 
parliamentary constituency in the 2004 elections and was 
elected Speaker of the National Assembly on June 28, 2004. 
He is largely perceived to be a loyalist of former President 
(and current chair of the ruling United Democratic Front) 
Bakili Muluzi, which is likely the reason the party selected 
him for the Speakership. 
 
Munyenyembe in Multiparty Democracy 
----------------------------------- 
7. (C) Munyenyembe was a founding member of the Alliance for 
Democracy (AFORD) opposition party and was elected to 
Parliament in Malawi's first multiparty elections in 1994. 
He was unanimously elected Speaker when Parliament met for 
the first time in late June 1994.  He has since distanced 
himself from AFORD and ran as an independent candidate in 
June 1999 and was defeated. 
 
8. (C) After losing his parliamentary constituency, 
then-President Muluzi appointed him Minister of State for 
Presidential Affairs.  He was later appointed Minister of 
Defense, where he remained through the end of Muluzi's second 
and final term as President.  He was not very active as 
Minister of Defense and had little engagement with the Malawi 
Defense Force. 
 
9. (SBU) At the UDF convention in August 2003, Munyenyembe, 
the convention's organizer, was defeated in his bid for the 
Second Vice Presidency of the party.  In the 2004 
parliamentary elections, he contested and re-won his Chitipia 
parliamentary constituency. 
 
Under the Banda Regime 
---------------------- 
10. (C) Munyenyembe headed several ministries in Banda's 
government from 1963 to 1977 and represented Malawi at the UN 
General Assembly in 1975 and at the OAU in 1976.  His 
political banishment occurred in 1977 when he was first 
"transferred" from his position as Malawi Congress Party 
(MCP) Secretary General and Administrative Secretary to serve 
as Minister of Education, and then later he was odd-man-out 
in a cabinet reshuffle which, according to some, was staged 
to facilitate his exit from Government.  Republican Party 
president Gwanda Chakuamba and Malawi Congress Party 
president John Tembo were allegedly involved in Munyenyembe's 
ouster. 
 
Personal Data 
------------- 
11. (C) A northerner from Chitipa District, Munyenyembe was 
born in 1936.  He studied at Livingstonia and then at Domasi 
Teacher Training College, before beginning his career as a 
primary school teacher.  He earned a certificate for teaching 
the deaf from Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK in 
1966 and a technical certificate in audiometrics from the 
University of London in 1967.  Munyenyembe retains his 
interest in education for the deaf. He is a devout Roman 
Catholic, is married, and has 12 children. 
RASPOLIC