Malawi

June 2004 | Risk Summary

King Mswati III is Africa's last absolute monarch. There is a parliament, but opposition parties have been banned for 30 years. A new constitution has been drafted, but the final version maintains the status quo. Mswati hires and fires his cabinet at will, often for reasons that elsewhere would cause a political crisis. In March he refused to open parliament until its speaker resigned. It seems that the MPs transgression was to have chaired a commission that recommended against the purchase of an executive jet for the King's personal use.

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