5 Kwacha 1976, Malawi
| in Krause book | Number: 15a |
| Years of issue: | 31.01.1976 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Governor: Mr. John Zenus Ungapake Tembo (in office 1971 - 1984) |
| Serie: | 1976 - 1984 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 31.01.1976 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 152 x 82 |
| 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 and getting up, at dawn, sun.
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.
Centered, above, is the branch of African oil palm.
The Elaeis guineensis Jacq. (1763) is native to tropical Africa (Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire), where it grows at the margins of the pluvial forests and along the courses of water.
The name of the genus comes from the Greek “élaion”= oil, the name of the species refers to one of its countries of origin.
The most used common names are: “palma da olio” (Italian); “African oil palm”, “macaw fat”, “oil palm”, “palm kernel oil” (English); “palmier à huile”, “palmier à huile d’Afrique” (French); Afrikanische Ölpalme”, “Ölpalme” (German); “corojo de Guinea”, “palmera de aceite” (Spanish); “caiaué”, “dendezeiro”, “palmeira dendém”, “palmeira andim” (Portuguese); “mchikichi”, “miwesi”, “mjen- ga” (Swahili).
It shows a solitary trunk tall up to 20 metres and with a diameter of about 40 cm, with the foliar bases persisting for long time on the younger part. The crown, thick and impressive, is formed by pinnate leaves, curved on the terminal part, four metres long, which persist for long time; the pinnulae, of a glossy green colour, are long up to about 70 cm and are inserted with various angles on the rachis; the petiole, thickly fibrous on the base, is provided with short triangular thorns on the margins.
Monoecious plant, it develops separate, but on the same plant, male and female inflorescences between the leaves, compact and long up to about 30 cm. The fructification is abundant and continuous all over the year; the fruits are ovoid, long about 4 cm, usually of a blackish colour, and orange-red at the base. It reproduces by seed, which germinates in 6-8 months, if opportunely previously treated and and with bottom heat.
The cultivation of this plant for the oil production, has had during the very last years a remarkable increase, such as to overcome any other vegetable source. This is due to the copious and uninterrupted fructification and the high percentage of oil present in the pulp (up to the 65%) and in the endosperm (up to the 50%). The refined oil palm and its by-products are widely utilized not only in the alimentary field and in the making of products for the personal hygiene (soaps, cleansing agents, etc.), but also in countless and varied industrial products. Finally, it is already utilized, and a further increase is expected, as fuel (biodiesel).
The plant has also a moderate utilization as ornament, limited to the tropical and warm-humid subtropical climate, as they do not bear temperatures even if just close to 0 °C. (Dr. Giuseppe MAZZA)
Denominations in numerals are in all corners. In words centered, above.
Revers:
Two workers at tobacco plantation.
Tobacco production in Malawi is one of the nation's largest sources of income. As of 2005, Malawi was the 12th largest producer of tobacco leaves and the 7th largest global supporter of tobacco leaves. As of 2010, Malawi was the world's leading producer of burley leaf tobacco. With the decline of tobacco farms in the West, interest in Malawi's low-grade, high-nicotine tobacco has increased. Today, Malawian tobacco is found in blends of nearly every cigarette smoked in industrialized nations including the popular and ubiquitous Camel and Marlboro brands. It is the world's most tobacco dependent economy.
Malawi began exporting tobacco in 1893, just two years after the British set up a colonial government in the landlocked territory known then as Nyasaland. Malawi gained independence in 1964 and Hastings Banda took control of the nation as President in 1966 and President for Life in 1970 until international pressures lead to the 1994 election that Banda lost. Banda was directly responsible for the creation of the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) in 1971 with the new power to assist any public or private organization with capital, credit or other resources in any projects relating to the economic development of Malawi. ADMARC, gave priority to a policy of the development of estates growing Burley tobacco, many controlled by Banda and senior officials and politicians. Smallholders had to support ADMARC’s high operating costs and much of its profits came from underpaying them. It only re-invested 5% of funds in smallholder farms but subsidised estates: by the mid-1980s, ADMARC diverted two-thirds of its income into estates.
During Banda's presidency, Malawi was one of the poorest nations in Africa. During the 1970s, tobacco production shifted globally from the developed world to the developing world. The volatile economic state in Malawi made the government look favorably to the intensification of tobacco production. In Malawi, tobacco cultivation garnered 15,000 tons in 1961-1963. By the early 1970s, this number was up 90 percent to 29,000 tons.
The 1970s marked several changes for the tobacco industry in Malawi that would have a lasting effect on the industry today. International tobacco manufacturing companies identified Malawi in the 1970s as possible ally for fighting against tobacco control. In 1972, the government enacted the Special Crops Act that limited the production of tobacco, tea, and sugarcane to estate owners with no exceptions for small landholders. This restriction remained in effect until 1990.
Starting in 1989, labor and human rights activists began calling attention to the use of children in Malawian tobacco production. The Malawian Constitution, adopted in 1994, has provisions protecting children from interference with their education and economic exploitation. Malawi's Employment Act of 2000 states that the minimum age of employment is 14 years of age. British American Tobacco and Philip Morris, two of the largest purchasers of Malawian tobacco, issued labor policy statements in the early 2000s which stated their position against child labor. However, violations still occur in the country due to the lack of infrastructure and ability to enforce these regulations in the rural areas.
In 2002, Malawi experienced heavy flooding, causing President Bakili Muluzi to declare a state of national emergency. The agricultural sector was devastated including cash crops and food crops. Since a large amount of Malawi's agricultural sector is devoted to producing tobacco, the country experienced extreme food shortages resulting in famine and starvation. In 2010, the rainfall patterns were not favorable to tobacco growing. While the quality of tobacco leaves improved, the quantity of Malawian crop dropped 6.5 percent in 2010.
Denominations in numerals are in lower left and top right corners. In words in lower right corner.
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