Gwanda Mourned

President Peter Mutharika yesterday led the nation in mourning veteran politician Gwandanguluwe Chakuamba who breathed his last at noon at Blantyre Adventist Hospital (BAH).

Chakuamba died aged 81 after a long battle with chronic diseases, spent almost a month receiving medical treatment in India on government expense.

Yesterday, family members said Chakuamba, widely known as Gwanda, was admitted to BAH last week  for stomach pains.

Condolences poured in from all walks of life following his death.

The President, who ordered that Chakuamba be accorded the best possible treatment in India, has directed that the long-serving politician be buried with full military honours.

In his eulogy, former president Bakili Muluzi also highlighted the late Chakuamba’s contribution to the nation.

And Mutharika, in a statement signed by presidential press secretary Mgeme Kalilani, said he had learnt of Chakuamba’s death with shock and sadness.

He said: “Gwanda was a selfless Malawian nationalist who was among the earliest to join, at a tender age, the struggle against colonial rule in Nyasaland and went on to serve the country in various high ranking public portfolios before being imprisoned for many years by the Malawi Congress Party [MCP].”

UDF founder and former president Muluzi said the history of Malawi was incomplete without mentioning the late Chakuamba and to “lose him at this time it’s really a saddest thing to the nation”.

Chakuamba was among few surviving politicians who saw Nyasaland turn into Malawi after gaining its independence in 1964 and has remained a political force to reckon with in the country, particularly homeground in the Shire Valley districts of covering Chikwawa and Nsanje districts.

Chakuamba was also the only remaining politician who served in founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s Cabinet that faced the 1966 revolt popularly known as Cabinet Crisis.

He held several Cabinet positions and head Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP).

Said Muluzi: “I have known Gwanda for many years. During the early days of our independence when some of us were still young, we found Gwanda already in politics. I have worked with him personally in various capacities including in Cabinet. He was a very great family friend and I am shocked to hear that he is gone.”

He also described Chakuamba as a selfless politician who was passionate in whatever agenda he wanted to undertake.

MCP president and leader of opposition in Parliament, Lazarus Chakwera described Chakuamba’s death as shocking.

He said after returning from India where he received treatment, the party hoped that he would be better and continue serving the nation.

Chakwera said Chakuamba will be remembered as a political giant who inspired many Malawians to join politics and serve their nation.

Politician-cum-businessperson Mohammed Sidik Mia, Chakuamba’s nephew, said it was sad that Malawi has lost a “permanent figure” in the Shire Valley.

“He was somebody who played a great role in the political arena as well as in fighting for freedom in the country together with Malawi founding president the late Kamuzu Banda.

“Gwanda was key to many aspects of developments in the country. He will greatly be missed because he touched many people’s hearts,” said Mia.

Born on April 4 1934, Chakuamba was a symbol of Malawi’s “political prostitution” and can also be remembered as both a beneficiary and a victim of Kamuzu’s dictatorship.

He held several executive positions in the first half of the one-party regime of Kamuzu Banda, including multiple Cabinet posts until around 1980 when he was jailed on accusations of sedition which he denied.

He led the MCP and has also served in Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), United Democratic Front (UDF) as well as before forming his Republican Party (RP) before retiring from active politics.

But recently, he was unveiled at a DPP rally conducted by Mutharika in Nchalo, Chikwawa.

As we went to press, family members were still deliberating on the burial arrangement of the powerful figure whose mere presence controlled political reverence. n

(Read a review of Chakuamba’s autobiography in On The Arts)