Title: Republic of Malawi, July 4-7 1966, Souvenir Programme

Description

This 1966 souvenir program celebrates the declaration of Malawi as a republic. Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) became an independent member of the British Commonwealth on July 6, 1964, and adopted a republican constitution two years later. The move to the republican form of government was primarily the work of Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1896?-1997), who served as prime minister in 1964-66 and as the country’s first president from 1966 until 1994. Banda was trained as a doctor in the United States and the United Kingdom and practiced medicine in London and Ghana before returning to Malawi to enter politics. In addition to the list of celebratory events, the souvenir program includes a biography of Banda, a statement by him to the people of Malawi, biographies of the country’s ministers, a description of the national museum, and photographs of local people. The cover features a lion holding the new flag of Malawi, in which the rising sun represents the dawn, or independence, black symbolizes the country's African heritage, red the struggle for freedom, and green the land.