Members of Parliament, Mr Speaker, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you very much High Commissioner for that charming introduction. I thought I heard some of the people, and some of the people who were singing and dancing, welcoming us at the airport and along our route saying: “Mama Thatcher, Mama Thatcher” and I thought that was every bit as lovely as your description which I shall cherish, “The Prime Prime Minister” .
What I shall do when I get to the next Commonwealth Assembly and say: “According to Malawi this is the Prime Prime Minister” , I am not quite certain. [end p1]
I have long wanted to come to Malawi. You celebrate your 25th anniversary of Independence this year. But you see I have been a Member of Parliament for thirty years this year, Prime Minister for only ten so far, but Member of Parliament for thirty years and therefore I was a kind of midwife to the birth of Malawi and I remember so very well the many debates, the many other systems we tried, the argument that you know northern Rhodesia had both marvellous soil and natural products, southern Rhodesia had wonderful soil and many natural products, but the Nyasaland, as it then was, only had not such good soil and no natural products, therefore we had in fact to have a central federation.
It is to our great credit that when it did not work we had to set to and start again. And absolutely right to have said: “No, if people do not want a Central African Federation and it will not work then it must be disbanded” .
You must always, when you are doing major constitutional change, go with the grain of human nature. Go against it and you will be a bad politician. Go with it and you will be in power for many a long year.
I think that has been the lesson learned with Malawi which I remember when she came to Independence and I remember how you set about making your country a stable, good economy, a united country with a great future. [end p2]
And when people look at a country in which to invest from the outside world, and I know that you will need and want more inward investment for your rising population, what do they look for? They will look for a government which runs its finances soundly—Malawi does. They will look for a government which has political stability, believe you me that is very very important when you are thinking in which country to invest money—Malawi does have great political stability. And they will look for a country which has a certain wisdom with regard to the affairs of other countries and always takes a constructive approach.
I have had the privilege of sitting now for ten years at international conferences with your Hastings BandaLife President. He always takes a constructive role and always it is humanity and mankind which comes first.
I have had occasion to see that, especially since I arrived. And I must thank you all for the most wonderful welcome I think we have ever had, not only at the airport but wherever we have gone, it has been marvellous. And so I begin to believe that the signs that I see on some of the posters—Malawi and Great Britain are one—you know that is not really very far wrong, it has been so warm and very good indeed. [end p3]
But this morning we went in a helicopter that gave us a chance to see the remarkable agriculture you have built in this country, it is absolutely wonderful, but also to see the devastation of the floods, and I know too that you had an earthquake which must have caused great havoc and great problems within your country.
But we were on our way to what is another enormous tribute to Malawi, to the refugee camp on the border which has some 220,000 people of those who have had to come across from the terrorist movement in Mozambique.
May I say how much regard the whole world has for you for receiving those people, refugees in greater proportion to the size of your population than has ever been received by any other country.
I must say I am very proud to have been in at the birth of a country like that who said: “Well, we may have problems but over the border they are infinitely worse and when people have to come across the border because of atrocities the other side, they need help, they need food, they need some hope for a new life, therefore we must give them hospitality here in these camps and hope the rest of the world will help us.” There are very few countries who would have been so generous. Yes of course the world is helping, and so it should.
I would hope that there is a new spirit affecting some of the old problems in this part of the world, further south than Malawi. I would hope that the spirit which has helped to get Cuban troops out of Angola, and South African troops out of Angola, which has [end p4] helped to get a settlement for Namibia, I would hope that that spirit of solving things by negotiation, because the gun settles nothing, I would hope that the spirit of solving things by negotiation will spread throughout southern Africa, that it will soon sort out the problems in South Africa itself and that apartheid will be a thing of no more and all races will take their full and rightful part in governing South Africa.
I believe there is a chance for that by negotiation and I would hope that one day, not too far distant, the problems of Mozambique will too be solved by some sort of negotiation. Because I believe that those who take part in these terrorist movements must one day get thoroughly disillusioned and say: “What future is there in this? If this is what life is about, only to attack others, there is no possible future for ourselves.”
Negotiation is, I think, the message that we are beginning to see in the current period in which we live and it owes a very great deal to the way countries like Malawi have shown the way, have shown that if you develop peaceably, giving opportunity and chances to all people, have shown what you can do, indeed that you can sometimes do far better than other countries which had a richer soil and natural resources.
Many congratulations. [end p5]
May I say just two other things briefly? It has been our pride to be able to help such a country and I am very happy to say that I have been able to offer another £10 million in overseas aid, in addition to the £30 million provided in 1987.
I know that every penny of it will be spent extremely well and of course we are offering a little help, extra help, with training your doctors. I know you think very highly of our training and medicine in London, so you should, your Hastings BandaLife President knows a very great deal about it.
And also, the second thing, that we shall be giving a little more help with military training, which I know you value highly. It is always my pride to say that the excellent services and training of the British Armed Forces are in demand and are in by request some thirty countries in the world. So good is our position, so good our training, so good our professionalism, so generous and kind-hearted are those who serve in our Forces that that is our record and we are very proud to be able to help Malawi. And we are also training some people in Zimbabwe and also training people to help win the battle against Renamo.
So those are some things we are doing together. But it is important that we have the same approach to these problems; go with the grain of human nature, always encourage the best, use the talent and abilities of your people to the full, that way you will succeed and see an even greater future in your second twenty-five years than in your first. [end p6]
For me it is a wonderful experience to be with you and I wish you well in all your endeavours.