My Turn

Malawi’s lost years—forsaken heroes

By Ceciwa Bwanausi Khonje

It was a delight to read the recent interview with Douglas Miller in The Nation, about the book Malawi’s Lost Years: The Forsaken Heroes.

Miller, a Canadian who sacrificed so much and joined Malawians to fight for freedom and democracy, is a unique, inspiring individual from whom we could draw many lessons. He reminds me of Collin Cameron from Scotland, the first Cabinet minister to resign from the Kamuzu regime in protest against abusive human rights violating preventive detention bill l; intended to give government the right to lock up any opponent, even including members of their family, without trial.

Westerners such as Miller, Cameron, American lawyers, Jay and Pat Jacobson, show us that they are not only devoted to democracy in their own countries but believe in it where ever humans exist. They also believe in human rights. In short, they could have left us and gone back to their countries when signs of dictatorship started appearing before our independence, but they stayed on to assist and ensure Malawians would get the freedom and independence they fought for.

Things worked against many of Malawi’s Western friends. For example, Miller went into exile, Cameron resigned his Cabinet post and the Jacobsons were deported after Jay refused to work with these dictatorial bills. I know I am not the only Malawian who is proud of and grateful to these foreign friends.

One of the things we have to learn from them is unity. They came to work in Malawi and got themselves fully integrated in our country. They became part of us. As Malawians, we must stick to being one nation. Kamuzu introduced divisions with the North, barring northerners from the South. The question is, for which nation was he president if Malawi was divided?

Personally, I do not agree with the recent suggestion I read about the Northern Region seceding from Malawi to be independent or self-governing. We are such a small country! If you look at London’s population, you will find that it is not only the English. The Scots, Irish, Welsh are all there. I was born in Blantyre and if I were to decide to establish my home in Mzuzu, nobody should stop me because Mzuzu is in Malawi and I am a Malawian.

Likewise, when mentioning Malawian freedom fighters and political activists, give the correct picture for young Malawians who do not know the early part of our history. Remember, under the Kamuzu dictatorship, even the history of this country was deliberately distorted or obliterated. Of course, you cannot mention all heroes in an interview, but anyone talking about them must give a cross section of the heroes; not just northerners or southerners. Otherwise,people will think the freedom of this country was fought for only by one region, which is incorrect.

To the almost only northern heroes Kapote Mwakasungula mentioned in the interview in question; Yatuta Chisiza, David Rubadiri, Rose Chibambo (correction: she was deputy minister), Justin Malewezi, he should rather have listed heroes from across the country to show Malawians from all regions fought for our freedom. There are heroes from the Southern Region such as Gilbert Pondeponde, who protested Kamuzu’s being appointed life president and as a result was murdered in 1963. There is Che Silombela who was hanged in public, Dr Atati Ku Mpakati who was sent a letter bomb while in exile in Mozambique that blew his fingers off and was finally shot down a couple of years later in Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately, none of the efforts to achieve freedom, independence and democracy worked that far. So, Cameron preferred to resign than be part of the brutal and cruel preventive bill, Miller left Malawi and went into exile and Jacobson was fired from the Ministry of Justice and deported back to the United States of America.

Of course, these were not the only westerners who supported Malawians in the fight against colonialism and the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

Many others will appear in the book Malawi’s Lost Years: The Forsaken Heroes. The book will also bring out the true history of this country which had been deliberately distorted or deleted. It will wipe out lies such as who created the Malawi Congress Party. The truth that it was Shadrack Grey Khonje and his friend Augustine Mnthambala who started the party, will be in the book. The book will also reveal such facts as in whose house the party was formed.

Fortunately, Cameron, in whose house the party was created and launched, is alive and is aware it will be in this book. He is the principal witness in the wiping out of the lies on this issue by false claimers.  Outside Malawi, people are already expressing interest in this book. I think Malawians, especially in tertiary institutions, should take the lead in reading this book.

**The author is a jewellery designer

 

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