The Maravi Post

Today is Hillary Clinton’s last day in office as United State’s top diplomat. Raphael Tenthani reflects on her 2012 visit to Malawi

BLANTYRE--Malawi was the 106th of the 112 countries the most-travelled US Secretary of State to visit.

Hillary Clinton's visit to Malawi in August last year came some 21 years after former Vice Pres Dan Quayle also visited the southern African country.

But the two top American politicians' visits were asymmetrically different. While Quayle, who was George Bush Snr's Vice-President, visited in 1991 in the twilight of Malawi's one-party dictatorship, Pres Obama's top diplomat came when Malawi's multiparty democracy wasn’t only 18 years old but the country had just had its first female president, the continent's only second.

But despite the usual political banter with Pres Joyce Banda, the highlight of Clinton's visit was the American most powerful woman dancing with village women just outside the capital, Lilongwe.  She donated a cow to her dancing partners for their milk project and announced a US $64m investment in Malawi's agriculture.
Reflections from Malawi, Hillary Clinton's 106th country to visit
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(c) The Maravi Post 2013

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