Muluzi recalls fight for democracy
Last week marked 25 years since Malawians voted for multiparty democracy in the June 14, 1993 referendum. Has the democratic Malawi lived up to people’s expectations?
Malawi’s first democratic president Bakili Muluzi answers in the affirmative: “Yes. In fact, there is nothing that can replace democracy in the modern world.”
In an interview at his BCA residence in Blantyre Tuesday, the former president said democracy is the best system as it gives people freedom.
He said: “When I hear some people say we have achieved nothing with democracy, it saddens me. Many institutions such as Malawi Human Rights Commission, Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Malawi Law Commission, the Ombudsman’s Office and the Malawi Electoral Commission and Judiciary came about after we gallantly fought for democracy.”
Muluzi, who governed from 1994 to 2004, recounts the high price for democracy.
“I remember that immediately after 63 percent of Malawians voted in favour of multiparty during the 1993 referendum, over 500 000 people who had fled the country, including Kanyama Chiume, returned to Malawi. Others who had been detained without trial were released,” he explained.
The former Malawi leader recalled how the underground movement started around 1983 after the death of three Cabinet ministers Aaron Gadama, Dick Matenje, Twaibu Sangala and a parliamentarian David Chiwanga.
“They died two years after I left Cabinet. Patrick Mbewe, the late Dumbo Lemani, Brown Mpinganjira and myself met and asked ourselves; ‘should we really allow this to continue?’
“Our group later grew to 17 people. We were approaching one person at a time.
“We later started producing pamphlets denouncing the system and calling for change which we would distribute across the country,” he explained.
The former president said the late Chakufwa Chihana, who later became leader of Alliance for Democracy (Aford), had also started his agenda for change and challenging the president under the one-party dictatorship, Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
He recalled: “On two occasions police came to my residence in Naperi, which now houses Joy Radio, and told me they had information that I was rising against Banda.
“I denied the accusations. I was wearing a Kamuzu badge and I told them, how can I do that? They left and I immediately went around and alerted my friends.
“Kamuzu later announced during a public rally in Balaka that if anyone sees me they should arrest me. That time we were at Harry Thomson’s office at Ginnery Corner, holding one of our meetings.
“Lemani tipped us off and we verified it to be true. There was British High Commissioner’s residence in Blantyre, apart from the one in Lilongwe, and we agreed I should seek refuge there. That was the only safest place.”
He said police went to his house, searched everywhere, and went to his Kapoloma home village in Machinga without success. Muluzi said they took his son, young Atupele then and his mother to police station where they pressed them to disclose where he was, but they told police they had no idea and were let go.
“I spent three days at the British High Commissioner’s residence, the commissioner was not there. My friends late Collins Chizumira and Wenham Nakanga were lawyers, and they knew where I was hiding. So they came and asked: ‘Why don’t you surrender to police?’ and I accepted,” he said.
Muluzi said Nakanga drove him to Southern Region Police Headquarters and without charge, he was locked at Chichiri Prison where he spent five nights.
Muluzi said the 1992 pastoral letter issued by Catholic bishops titled Living Our Faith, hit the nail on the head as it was considered a remarkable support to what they had been demanding.
He said the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) was born around that time, acting as a link between those calling for change and government.
“We were very happy that Malawians finally voted for referendum. We knew that would be the beginning of human dignity,” he said.
But Muluzi does not credit himself and his cronies for the change in Malawi politics.
He said: “It was all God’s grace. Sometimes I ask myself, how did it happen? It was almost impossible. Many people were killed and arrested. We had the support of people. People were yearning for change.”
In a separate interview, Ziliro Chibambo, acknowledged he was approached by Muluzi to join the fight for democracy.
He said their fight was motivated by the desire to see Malawians enjoy freedom of speech, freedom to do business and unity.
Said Chibambo: “We wanted to give people of this country freedom to criticise leadership, analyse how their government is being run.”
But 25 years down the line, he said the nation has not fully achieved its dream.
According to Chibambo, the undeground group envisaged a Malawi that would have people-centred leadership.
“The country’s leadership has focused on enriching themselves,” he said.
Chibambo, who served in various Cabinet portfolios and as a diplomat in Muluzi’s administration, said the party did well in the first five years, but lost track when it started losing key people that were in the forefront in the fight for democracy.
He said: “The new people that were coming in started fearing the leadership. We needed people that could stand up to the leadership, but people started looking at individuals other than ideologies or what the party stood for, it’s aims and objectives.”
Chibambo said Muluzi approached him to join the fight because his father, Qabaniso Yesaya Chibambo, served in Kamuzu’s Cabinet as minister up to late 1970s.
“I used to question my father about the tortures people were going through, the bullying of people by Malawi Young Pioneer, and when Muluzi approached me, I did not hesitate to help the fight,” he said.
He said it took a lot of courage to get involved because people would end up in prison or disappear. He said his father, after he retired from politics, also encouraged him to join the fight.
Chibambo said his appeal to the young generation is to take up leadership roles, saying it saddens him when young men approach him today, when he is 75, asking him fight for a better Malawi.
