5 Shillings 1968, Malawi
| in Krause book | Number: 1a |
| Years of issue: | 1968 |
| Edition: | 1 062 621 |
| Signatures: | Governor: Mr. D.E. Thomson (in office from 1968 till 1971), General manager: Mr. Holt |
| Serie: | 1964 - 1970 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1964 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 124 x 69 |
| Printer: | Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited, New Malden |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Black rooster - the logo of Hastings Kamuzu Banda's "Malawi Congress Party" (MCP).
The name kwacha derives from the chewa and Bemba word for "dawn", while tambala translates as "rooster" in Nyanja. The tambala was so named because a rooster announces "dawn".
Avers:
The engraving on banknote is based, presumably, on this photo. The photo made in July 1960, in London, United Kingdom.
In July 1960, he joined Dr. Banda, Orton Chirwa, Aleke Banda and other prominent Africans at the Nyasaland Constitutional Conference in London. It was here that British Government decided that Nyasaland (Malawi) should become self-governing by early 1963, and that Banda, should become Prime Minister. In 1961, Chiume was elected MP for Rumphi and was made Minister of Education.
Hastings Kamuzu Banda (c. March or April 1898 - 25 November 1997) was the leader of Malawi from 1961 to 1994 (for the first three years of his rule, until it achieved independence in 1964, Malawi was the British protectorate of Nyasaland). After receiving much of his education overseas, Banda returned to his home country (then British Nyasaland) to speak against colonialism and advocate for independence. In 1963, he was formally appointed prime minister of Nyasaland and led the country to independence as Malawi a year later. Two years later, he proclaimed Malawi a republic with himself as president. He consolidated power and later declared Malawi a one-party state under the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). In 1970, the MCP made him the party's President for Life. In 1971, he became President for Life of Malawi itself.
As a leader of the pro-Western bloc in Africa, he received support from the West during the Cold War. He generally supported women's rights, improved the country's infrastructure, and maintained a good educational system relative to other African countries, but he also presided over one of the most repressive regimes in Africa. His government regularly tortured and murdered political opponents. Human rights groups estimate that at least 6,000 people were killed, tortured and jailed without trial. According to at least one estimate, as many as 18,000 people were killed during his rule. He also faced scorn for maintaining full diplomatic relations with apartheid-era South Africa.
By 1993, he was facing international pressure and widespread protest. A referendum ended his one-party state, and a special assembly ended his life-term presidency and stripped him of most of his powers. Banda ran for president in the democratic elections which followed and was defeated.
He died in South Africa in 1997. His legacy remains controversial, with some hailing him as a national and African hero, while others denounce him as a tyrant and as a corrupt leader. 
Centered is the view of Lake Nyasa with the lake boat (Dugout) with three fishermen on it. On the background is the mountain range.
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the ninth largest lake in the world and the third largest and second deepest lake in Africa. It is home to more species of fish than any other lake, including about 1000 species of cichlids. The Mozambique portion of the lake was officially declared a reserve by the Government of Mozambique on June 10, 2011, and in Malawi a portion of the lake is included in the Lake Malawi National Park. Lake Malawi is a meromictic lake; permanent stratification and the toxic-anoxic boundary are maintained by moderately small chemical and thermal gradients.
The Portuguese trader Candido José da Costa Cardoso was the first European to visit the lake in 1846. David Livingstone reached the lake in 1859, and named it "Lake Nyasa". "Nyasa" in language of Yao people means "Lake".
A dugout or dugout canoe is a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. Monoxylon (μονόξυλον) (pl: monoxyla) is Greek - mono- (single) + ξύλον xylon (tree) - and is mostly used in classic Greek texts. In Germany they are called einbaum ("one tree" in English). Some, but not all, pirogues are also constructed in this manner.
The well-watered tropical rainforest and woodland regions of sub-Saharan Africa provide both the waterways and the trees for dugout canoes, which are commonplace from the Limpopo River basin in the south through East and Central Africa and across to West Africa. African Teak is the timber favoured for their construction, though this comprises a number of different species, and is in short supply in some areas. Dugouts are paddled across deep lakes and rivers or punted through channels in swamps (makoro) or in shallow areas, and are used for transport, fishing and hunting, including, in the past, the very dangerous hunting of hippopotamus. Dugouts are called pirogues in Francophone areas of Africa.
Denominations in numerals are in all corners. In words centered, above.
Revers:
On right side is the emblem of the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
The emblem represents the upper part of the coat of arms of the country. Depicts African Fish Eagle in natural color with spread wings down, closing three-quarters of a golden sun, arisen from the waters with golden fifteen sunbeams.
Denominations in numerals are in top corners. In words in lower left corner.
Comments:
On 6 July 1964, Nyasaland became independent from British rule and renamed itself Malaŵi. Upon becoming a republic in 1966, Malaŵi became a single-party state under the presidency of Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who remained president until 1994, when he was ousted from power. His portrait appears on the front of all notes issued during his three decades in office, with scenes on the back emphasizing agriculture’s great importance to Malaŵi’s economy. Notes during his presidency also carry watermarks (and later registration devices) of a rooster, the symbol of Banda’s Malaŵi Congress Party. The first series of notes dated 1964 and issued by the Reserve Bank of Malawi consists of the denominations 5 and 10 shillings, as well as 1 and 5 pounds.
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