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Paper short abstract:

This paper uses contestations surrounding the Covid-19 and its associated preventive measures in Malawi to demonstrate the country's unique democratic culture that recognizes statecraft as a fluid and contested process with diverse groups making claims and counterclaims over matters of governance.

Paper long abstract:

When on 15 April 2020, the Malawi Government announced a country-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, human rights defenders, private school owners, university students, urban dwellers, and others contested the lockdown. Meanwhile, doctors, nurses, and other public health officials celebrated it, for it would allow hospitals to cope, thereby avoiding a looming public health disaster. What do these contestations reveal about the nature of the Malawian state? This paper addresses this question by drawing on print and online media reports, government gazettes, and public and private records. It argues that the contestations and how they were allowed to flourish display a democratic culture in which citizens enjoy a political space where they can question the state and express their voice. While in other countries, including those boasting mature democracies, certain rights were suspended to contain the pandemic, the Malawian state allowed diverse interest groups to express their frustrations through open demonstrations, sit-ins, and dialogue while accepting the untenability of lockdown measures. In this way, these contestations reveal some level of maturity in Malawi’s democratic culture, where the state recognizes that statecraft is a process that is fluid and contested, with diverse groups making claims and counterclaims over matters of governance. Other than looking at the contestations as a threat to state operations and legitimacy, they, in fact, display a form of popular democracy in which the citizenry understands its rights and is prepared to defend them.