The trouble with Malawi is that it is the whole nation, rather than the few in select urban or rural areas, that has lived under the culture of death, fear, lies and suspicion. Almost everyone, in villages as well as towns, has suffered at the hands of Banda. … If further proof is required, enter any village in Malawi and ask the question: “Who was forced to give up their property (eggs, goats, cows, money, businesses, etc); who was imprisoned, beaten up or beaten to death, thrown to crocodiles, exiled, accidentalised or other, in their extended family?” There will be many. Perhaps thousands. We all lived in fear of Banda and the various manifestations of his shadow, suspecting, imprisoning, killing one another on his behalf; often without the dictator's knowledge.