Malawi has saved its democracy but not its economy

In many parts of the world democracy can feel abstract and immutable, like mountains in the distance; voting is not a triumph but a chore. But not in Msundwe, a thin strip of road lined by stalls selling beans, maize and cabbages about 40 minutes drive from Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital. Here democracy feels as fresh and real as the scars people still bear from beatings, shootings and mass rapes three years ago.

“The people in this area rose up against the previous government,” says Kondwani Mangani, a wiry 25-year-old motorcycle-taxi driver. “Then the police came and brutalised people.” Shops were ransacked and at least 18 women were gang-raped by policemen viciously trying to put down protests against the theft of a presidential election by Peter Mutharika, then the incumbent, according to an official report.