Kamuzu Day: Malawi remembers ruthless dictator who caused a lot of pain to many people
Ngwazi Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda clearly loved Malawi as a country. He took advantage of generous development aid projects of the 1960s to mid 1970s that was aimed at helping develop former European colonies to fulfill his vision for the country. Most of such projects are still visible today. He built the country’s only international airport; hydroelectric power stations that his successors are struggling to upgrade; he built most of the roads that connects the country’s four cities; he oversaw the most competent, organised and disciplined civil service that Malawi has ever had; he built the University of Malawi (the one his successors are failing to run) and he built the two main referral hospitals that the country has.
This is a foundation that sustained his reign of terror. Yet it is the same foundation that his successors could have easily built on when his regime finally fell in 1994.
Like many sub-Saharan Africa countries that were doing away with their dictators in the early to mid 1990s following the end of the Cold War and with the end of Apartheid, Malawians demanded social, economic and political change. External and internal pressure forced Kamuzu to call for a referendum in 1993, giving Malawians a chance to choose whether they wanted to continue with his one party authoritarian rule or to adopt multi-party democracy. 64% of Malawians chose the latter. This led to a 1994 general elections where Kamuzu lost to Bakili Muluzi. Kamuzu was gracious in defeat; he congratulated Muluzi and wished him well before the vote count was over.
Before his death November of 1997, the aged and frail Kamuzu made a public statement asking Malawians who suffered under his autocratic leadership to forgive him. It was an unprecedented and unexpected move. The once mighty “lion” had been humbled, it could no longer roar and it was now owning up to its brutal past. Malawi prides itself as a “God fearing nation”, so probably Kamuzu knew that these “God fearing people” would indeed forgive him, as their Bibles teach. Kamuzu tolerated no dissent or opposing views for the entire 30 years he was in office. If Malawi is indeed a “God fearing” nation then Kamuzu was second inline – he was a demigod to be feared and revered.
Kamuzu created an inward-looking country, where he acquired this divine status that all his people were supposed to look up to. Anyone he felt was a threat to his “life presidency” was jailed, exiled or killed (Elliot reviewed the prison memoirs of the great poet Jack Mapanje a couple of years ago). Legend has it that he would feed some of those jailed to crocodiles. This cannot be verified but the rumour itself speaks volumes of a man Malawians today celebrate as a national hero worth shutting down national business for. On Kamuzu Day there were people sitting and watching in disgust as the nation celebrated as a hero the fallen despot that made their lives hell.
This is understandable and I sympathise with the victims of Kamuzu’s dictatorship. Yet the point of celebrating Kamuzu Day is far more complex than celebrating his life. It is a leadership failure in Malawi that has created this day. It works as a kind of smokescreen, inhibiting critical engagement with our present as much as our past. Malawian politics is not about policies and there are no ideological fault-lines. It is about individuals outdoing each other. When politicians parade their attributes on a political podium, as they do, they are not only talking about themselves, they are contrasting themselves with their rivals. The formula is that of a beauty contest. In this game of personalities none of the Malawi leaders that have come after Kamuzu — Muluzi, Bingu wa Mutharika, Joyce Banda and Peter Mutharika — can outdo him. He built infrastructure and could point to it, and they have not. Simply put: these leaders have failed to build on the foundation Kamuzu built.
Consequently, these leaders have wanted to associate themselves with Kamuzu. If you cannot beat him, join him. Muluzi was slightly different probably because he was a direct successor. Yet he did his best to erase Kamuzu’s name, renaming almost everything that bore Kamuzu’s name. It was Mutharika who built Kamuzu’s lavish mausoleum at taxpayers’ expense. Yet in life Mutharika feared Kamuzu so much that he spent years in self-imposed exile during Kamuzu’s reign. After only one year in office, Joyce Banda renamed State House “Kamuzu Palace”. Banda [is meanwhile in electoral alliance with Kamuzu’s MCP] and is campaigning – wearing clothes bearing Kamuzu’s face.
It is this kind of nostalgia that has compromised transitional justice in Malawi. Malawi could well be the only country that celebrates the life of its autocratic dictator. The MCP was the party of liberation formed by a generation of freedom fighters, who were later to suffer under Kamuzu’s presidency. The founder of the MCP was the late Orton Chirwa, who together with his wife, Vera, was arrested by Kamuzu 1981. Orton died in jail in 1992; Vera was released at the turn of multiparty democracy in 1993. Until today the couple remain Africa’s longest serving prisoners of conscience.
There have been some younger Malawians aspiring for leadership positions, including presidency. Unfortunately, some of them have already joined the hero worship bandwagon. As a way of justifying that the youth can also hold leadership positions, some of these younger aspirants are arguing that Kamuzu had the youngest-ever cabinet in the history of Malawi. Referring to his first cabinet, of 1964. Yet most of these yet aspirants forget to mention what happened next.
Kamuzu got rid of all these young intellectuals and leaders, one by one, following the Cabinet Crisis of 1964. Notably Henry Masauko Chipembere and Kanyama Chiume were exiled, and Yatuta Chisiza, like his brother Dunduzu before him, was gunned down by security forces. This epitomised Kamuzu’s 30 years rule.
In 1983 there was the well documented case of Mwanza murders where four MPs were killed for simply suggesting that Kamuzu was ageing therefore there was a need to start succession plans. Of course the courts acquitted Kamuzu and John Tembo in the trial that followed multiparty democracy simply because the government was too inept. For the record, Malawi government has never won any high profile case since 1994 – and there have been quite a few.
Tossing around Kamuzu’s name and image as a political tool is making Kamuzu into a heroic saint that bears little resemblance to the historical record. He was a ruthless authoritarian that caused a lot of pain to many people whose relatives and parents languished in jails, exile and some were killed without committing any crime at all. He ran a state without a justice system. He was the sole arbiter of truth. This is the side of Kamuzu that is slowly being erased from nation history, deliberately or not, and as we blur the lines of our past, it becomes more and more difficult to understand our present. Airbrushing Kamuzu’s legacy and creating false nostalgia that is only aimed at diverting the national psyche from current leadership failures is not only injustice for those that suffered during his reign, it also stifles national progress and development.
Malawi will not develop if nostalgia and hero-worshiping are drivers of its leadership. The country needs visionary leaders ready for public service. Leaders with policies that can drive the nation forward; this has nothing to do with anybody’s age, gender or tribe. Here the electorate have a role to pay: look beyond personalities and focus on their policies instead.
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There is no doubt that Dr. Banda shall always be the most discussed politician in the history of Malawi. What I always request from us who want to write about him is to do so within the context of global, regional and national politics. Like I can read from the comments below Mr. Kainja could have done better on this topic. Of course, he tried to sound fair but I think he lost it by failing to explain what else was happening on the global, regional and national platforms.
Key features of this context are a) The Cold War b) Apartheid in South Africa c) The infiltration of Marxism into national politics (that resulted in the Cabinet Crisis of 1964). In my view, Kamuzu had a personality but, more than anything, he was also a product of his own time. He was also a creation of the people that he led. First hero-worship songs such as Zonse Zimene, for example, were composed by Kanyama Chiume and company. Orton Chirwa was behind the treason laws that later haunted his own family and people.
One small correction: Orton Chirwa did not “found” MCP. Writings of eye witnesses, such as Lewis Bandawe (a NAC member who worked as Deputy Registrar at the High Court and wrote “Memoirs of a Malawian”) are very clear that MCP was a mere continuation of the Nyasaland African Congress. It just happened that Chirwa was outside prison when NAC was banned by the colonial office in London on 3rd March, 1959. As a NAC sympathizer and its legal advisor working in Zomba, Orton “RE-registered” NAC under a different a name. Malawi Congress Party. This name had already been conceptualized. This is why when Dr Banda was released from Gweru Prison on 1st April, 1960, he continued holding the position of MCP’s “President-General” that he had assumed before going into prison although the party had changed names and was operating on a different registration.
That “Nyasaland” would change to ” Malawi” and “NAC” would change name to “MCP” (on independence day) was a decision that had already been made by congress officials during the 1958 Convention. Their original thinking was that at independence (which would come in 1964) “Nyasaland” would be renamed “Malawi” just like “Gold Coast” had already changed to “Ghana” in 1957. At that time Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) would turn into Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
Just my small contribution. Lets keep the discussion going. Its our country.
Kent Y. G. Mphepo – Blantyre
@Keny Y.G. Mphepo: Mwananyanian here.
As usual, yours is a good and relevant contribution to the discussion at hand.
And a good reminder, here, of our history too
BUT, regarding Kainja’s thesis, where do you really stand on Kamuzu’s achievements V his major Achilles? As historical as Kainja’s analysis is, it also concentrates on the deficiencies of the former dictator. In the past, you have championed Kamuzu, I know; and, you must have what you consider valid reasons. And I have never read you acknowledging the political shortfalls and human rights abuses of the MCP hero. Furthermore, Kamuzu’s dismal record on human rights can not just be explained by the major political weather and climate happening elsewhere. To wit: our neighbors in Tanzania and Zambia never had brutal regimes like Kamuzu’s.
I was, therefore, wondering if Kainja’s expose has not moved you a centimeter from your intellectual base? One cannot be a fence sitter on this matter. Sitting on the fence because “nobody is perfect” (we know that) does not do justice for political legacy.
Sitting on the fence would be minimizing the documented atrocities, and disrespecting the victims and their families.
ps. This note is not supposed to be confrontational, but promote a civilized discussion. And I know how you love intelligent discussions!
Jimmy Kainja is an educated idiot. Fools become more foolish with education. Basi unachalira kuti dpp ikudyetsapo apa. Kamuzu Banda remains the best both as a wise leader and an intelligent person not the ghost you manja lendelende ngati nkhuku or flightless bird.
Kainja casts a wide arc of Kamuzu’s legacy. And, I am glad too, that Kainja concentrates on the negative side of the ledger here. That is only is appropriate.
That is alright too; but in political history, future generations must know, in the main, the BAD things done by BAD politicians — to wit: Hitler, Mussolini et al.
The reason being to prevent or minimize the chances of the BAD history from repeating itself.
So, in that sense, some will argue that we don’t even want to know any of the good things that Kamuzu, the dictator did. (There were people who would testify that Hitler did some good things too – good grief!)
It is said one reason Kamuzu was not successfully prosecuted was because he had lost his faculties, and would not have been able to understand, fully, the legal process(es). Thus he escaped legal culpability – and he got away with serious criminality. In the same vein, it can be argued that the so-called apology, made only in his dotage, was not genuine (because of his same mental incapacity). In other words, he can’t have his cake and eat it too.
Kamuzu’s dictatorship, like all others, was pervasive. And, those among us who lived that era, even if they didn’t suffer directly, lived in absolute fear; no question here. Imagine this: students weren’t allowed to get on public transit if they didn’t have an MCP membership card – a sign of allegiance; and self described MCP police would kick you off the bus, even if you were hundreds of miles (then) from your destination. With impunity!
An important point is we must preserve our young democracy primarily, while trying to advance our economy simultaneously. Many current MCP zealots, including many “born frees”, think we should only dwell on Kamuzu’s “developments” – palaces, roads, improved Rangely (renamed Kamuzu) Stadium, QE and Lilongwe Hospitals, Ntunthama Village etc. – and they would have us say nothing about the barbaric governance by their Party, and human crimes committed on that Party’s behalf. That is simply wrong, by any human standards.
Even if Kamuzu did not personally feed any BODY to the crocks in the Shire River, or personally and directly did not tell anyone to do that, he ought to have taken responsibility. Because he was the Leader of the Party responsible. Likewise, the Party, MCP bears responsibility too. Ditto the Party leaders at that time.
Nuremberg Trials are the modern precedent.
Kamuzu’s history must be taught to every student in this country. Especially, his dictatorship and it’s appendages, like extrajudicial murders. He and MCP must be exposed for posterity. I am not picking on MCP here, because I would say the same thing regardless of the reigning Party of that time.
Winners write the history, abale inu. And democracy was the clear winner here. Thank goodness.
And, Thanks Kainja. Asa.
I won’t subscribe myself with Kamuzu because his Negative side outweigh his positive side.
U can’t compare killing innocent people with development.
My granny was prisoned at Zomba maximum prison just because he was a member of watch Tower Church ( ( Jehovah’s Witness)) As they were not subscribing to his idea of buying Cards with his personal details.
MCP YAVUTIKA. celebrate in style ndi ma pioneers. I will never vote for MCP. Voting for reverend…Kutaya nthawi Leading a nationis not like leading assemblies God Church.
Well balanced article Jimmy. Compared to all post-1994 leaders Malawi has had, Kamuzu wins with a landslide hands down. Tikuvutika in a so called democracy being misruled by know it all idiots who fought Kamuzu while they were enjoying themselves in the comfort of developed countries.
I have loved this article. Many do not know what Kamuzu Banda did to many innocent Malawians.
No one mentions all the good things Kamuzu gave to Malawians such as university, hospitals, electricity power stations. research stations, colleges of nursing and medicine and many more all of which are suffering from lack of funding from government to government; which are preoccupied with cash gate!!!
Thank you for this article Jimmy Kainja. Only those not affected will find your writing useless.
No need to comment any further, kainja or whatever u call yourself ,shame on you,with the current situation in Malawi you still hate Kamuzu, the problem with people like you is that, bola mukudya bwino kwanu ndi ndalama zakuba,it doesn’t matter kaya neba wadya, un patriotic, shame on you,mbc tv yomwe mukuthandizana nayo kunamiza anthu mukupangira my building yopanga KAMUZU,for ur information imene ija inali ” kwacha international conference center, 25 years of democracy akukanika kumanga building yoikamo tv, ntchito kutukwana KAMUZU kuchokera mu building yake kkkkkkkkkk
There is a good reason why God made us in His own image. But made us in different colours, height, intellect, stupidity, ………….I need a coffee……..
We have two international airports, don’t we?
I hope Kamuzu was a great man Malawi will ever had so too Bingu.These are great people we must respect these people.May they rest in Peace. Blessed be Malawi.
Jimmy Kainja let Almighy God curse all the days of your life. You shall see no prosperity, and let your own children remain cruise too for the sin of their parent.
Excellent article, Mr Kainja. Well-written and well-thought-out!
Kamuzu was the most intelligent leader Malawi has ever had. The country was excelling in all sectors. Came Muluzi the least educated leader, Potholes surfaced on all roads in the country, Promoted deforestation by urging villagers to cut trees as they were planted by God during his presidential campaign, Declared Tertiary (University) education a ‘Luxury’ what an insult, He could hardly mange the countrys economy. Could sign reports without even reading and analysing them. Unable compile a speech on his own instead employed Ken Lipenga to write for him since he (Ken Lipenga) was a News Paper editor for a long time with Malawi News, For the first time in history we saw Kamuzu Stadium ground drying due lack of water as his government could not pay the water bills.. The good side , he was not very tribalistic, very friendly and democratic.
So, out of all the good things that Kamuzu did, all u can write about Kamuzu, on Kamuzu day is that he was a dictator
The fact remains that he was dictator.
And he dictated economic polices in a very positive way, serve for those who fed him “lies about so and so were subversive elements”. Some of them who fed him lies are still living. Some had been in past governments where they took part in destroying without mercy the country’s economic pillars …
Kamuzu Hastings Banda’s real name was Richard Armstrong. Kamuzu Banda was his school mate in medical school. The real Kamuzu Banda died and the imposter assumed the name of the deceased Kamuzu Banda. When Richard Armstrong came to Malawi he could not speak one Chewa word and did not know any relatives.
When Chief Mwase the uncle the deceased Kamuzu Banda asked if he see and confirm a deformity the real Kamuzu Banda had on his foot chief Mwase died mysteriously.
Jimmy Kainja, is this the way you celebrate a hero by throwing insults on him? If your parents/grant parents had problems with Kamuzu leave this business to them. You have clearly indicated Kamuzu was a man who brought unprecidented development in Malawi which all his successors have and are failing to maintain. This shows how unique Kamuzu was. You are where you are today because of the high education standards that Kamuzu set in schools. What is so obvious with every human being is that they are not 100% perfect. You may not know what was behind this ruthlessness. So, it is unfortunate to call Kamuzu “ruthless” dictator. Muluzi has been a true democrat, but see where he took our education standard to. During Kamuzu time, no student would be asked to take English language test to go and study in the UK or Australia, but can you see what is happening now. Malawi is lowly ranked among all British former colonies in their levels of English language proficiency. Shame on you!!
There are some good points raised, but the article seems to be outdated. John Tembo is not a prominent figure today, and is not running for presidency. Please don’t dig up ancient articles and present them as recent material.
For as much as i would love to agree and disagree with most of the narratives of the author, then i remind myself to keep quiet as he’s is not right or wrong in some way. But one thing that is for sure without any pinch of doubt is that Kamuzu-minus-his-dictorship was far much better than these clowns w’ve been having as presidents since 1994. For crocodile feeding scheme that every Jim and Jack put on Kamuzu is like a mystery of blood-suckers which everyone claims to hear from so n’ so, no tangible evidence. But if i could choose, then i could respect Kamuzu more because he knew how to run the country, he protected us, he affordably fed us, he toralated no corruption that’s killing millions today than we physically think he did, he built the infrastructure that all the clowns combining together are failing to do in 25years, all clowns have been sleeping in houses built by the dictator they want us to despise,
all they know is to build community collages for the poor to skill them towards the jobs which doesn’t exist, yet the ministers’ kids and a Dad’s step sons srumbles for a space in a university which is 50years old built by a dictator they want us to forget. What’s wrong is wrong as much as as it is right no matter who did it, Kamuzu did alot of good things we just dream of today as much as he did the wrong things we remember everday so he deserve some respect.
Iweeee! Kamuzu used to say if you disagreed with him you would be meat for crocodiles. You think that was in vain? His red-shirted youth leaguers, aerial chairmen, regional chairmen, armed-to-the-teeth Malawi young pioneers paramilitary and all party cadres enforced Kamuzu’s aspirations.
More like the DPP cadets Mmmmmmhhhhhhh
Those red shirted youth leaguers still exist today. It is only that they have changed names. Their work is the same.
Today we remember Kamuzu. He was just human and am sure he confessed his mistakes to the nation before he died. I ask you to forgive him as am sure God forgave him
Kamuzu was a very good man, he was not a ruthless dictator as others would like us to believe. it is also not true that he ruled this country without a justice system. There was a justice system in Malawi. traditional courts, magistrate court, high court and supreme courts were all there. and to claim that people were fed to crocodiles is just a myth. Kamuzu is hated by some and is celebrated by people like me.
https://emergingactivist.wordpress.com/2018/05/15/celebrating-autocracy-what-are-we-truly-celebrating-on-kamuzu-day/
A very well-written article ending with the most important advice of all. Let us hope voters follow it.
This is s great piece but lacking and edge in trying to address the current Leadership or development which we can clearly link to the ruthlessness of Kamuzu. I believe it’s an old article that has just been resurrected from somewhere and edited a little bit. I would give the writter 5.4/10. I wish the writter would have written more than what he has here. To me this is just an introduction. But all in all thank you for your time and ideas 😀
This article has no substance whatsoever and the author just wanted to show us how good he is at writing. In the first place in any political set up there are opponents and even in churches there are opponents. As for the church, can the author tell us how the name Protestants came from? Can the author tell us how the Anglican church broke away from the Roman Catholic church? Can the author tell us why we have the Livingstonia Synod churches in the central region? This is one of the reasons why this author is stupid. Can politics have friends all the time? In Malawi we have seen such things and it shows that differences exist in any association. Can the author tell us how dpp, PP and utm came into existence? Another reason why the author is stupid. Yes most of us were not there I 1964 and we don’t know what lead to the cabinet crisis. It’s the same differences between human beings. Now if Kamuzu Banda was ruthless why did he not kill Kanyama Chiume, Orton Chirwa, Rose Chibambo, and others right here in Malawi? Again if one talks about ruthlessness what is it about. A ruthless leader kills his own people enmass. We have seen this with Pol Pot in Cambodia, Charles Taylor in Liberia, Foday Sankho in Sierra Leone, Saddam Hussein in Iraq. I am not here to back Kamuzu Banda but what I don’t like is blowing things out of proportion. Up to now we are still waiting for the names of the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed and not the three ministers. I mean the thousands. Where are the mass graves of the people. Fine people went exile. Do you know that some went there to attack Malawi with the USSR assistance? If it’s Mini za Yehova have you read about the ideologies of Jehovah Witnesses? Do you know that they oppose higher education? Do you know that they oppose blood transfusion? Coming to the definition of atrocities, does it take things like party cards or forced gifts or lack of freedom of speech? Malawi never witnessed any genocide. Yes we lived in fear of being arrested. Are people not arrested today for despising the head of state? How many people did Bingu arrest besides Sam Mossy and Bakili Muluzi? How many people have dpp cadets beaten? How many people did Young Democrats of udf beat? How many Tumbuka people or northerners are being denied places in universities of Malawi under dpp? How many people from other tribes are being denied job opportunities? How many millions of Kwachas have the likes of Bakili, Bingu, APM , Chaponda, Goodall stolen from poor Malawians? How many people are dying due to lack of medical care? Mr. John Kainja don’t cheat us for the sake of being paid. You are ruthless when you write such things. We know you have been sponsored as the dpp is about to be booted out next week.
Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’” Exodus 14:12
The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:3
This is exactly what is happening to this nation. Better the Egypt we were. Our post multiparty leaders have failed miserably that they make Kamuzu look a saint. Judgement of whether one is good or bad is relative. Our leaders have made Kamuzu their yardstick. When they want us to appreciate how good they are, they compare themselves to Kamuzu, picking the positives only. They sometimes go as far as calling themselves Ngwazi. When they are failing, they look at the negatives of Kamuzu. Some like the incumbent president going to the extent of lying that they were exiled by Kamuzu. These leaders think giving Malawians a little freedom than Kamuzu is all what we need, while they remain corrupt to the core, unleash their bloodthirsty cadets and give lucrative positions and contracts to their family members, tribesmen and cronies.
Kamuzu was a hero given the current crop of politicians
Easy.
Don’t politicize the 14th day of May when the greatest leader so far was born. I did my mkaka,primary,secondary schools and University under Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. During his reign we could not see this nyusensi zoti ana aku University akudya zotoleza ngati amasikini. We were having a very good breakfast,pa 10 a.m kumwa thiyi ndi mabampala,lunch and supper yabwino koposa,kudya shark ( nsomba ) osaphwanya mutu kuli kukhuta nkuzamwera thiyi wake. Ndiye olemba pa Nyasatimes wati unamize ana za Kamuzu Banda…onse amene chuma chawo anapitira ku school avomeleza za ubwino wa Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda..
Kunalibe ma million omwe tikupereka pano kuti ana athu aphunzire. Even Kamuzu Academy ana anzeru kuchokera mudziko lonse la Malawi ankaphunzira school yaulere.
Hear ! Hear ! Hear ! Truth pains !
Dr Ngwazi Dr. Kamuzu Banda was a very genuine leader of this country under him we had Air Malawi with direct flight to London. Air Malawi had 14 aircraft
Those were the days when the economy was ticking under wise leadership. Even the civil service was efficient.
Not sure what Nyasatimes will do next week after MCP takes over the government. Atumbuka a Nyasatimes have worked hard to demonize Kamuzu and MCP, however, true Malawian know who was behind those nkhanza. In case you are not aware, Muluzi was the head of MYP during Kamuzu. Dausi, Ntaba and Henry Musa were the ruthless leaders of MCP. Now we have evidence that some of these people have been killing Albinos. So who was the killer all along????? MCP Boma come May 22nd!!
Don’t generalise issues my friend. Sionse atumbuka amadana ndi Kamuzu. Ndipo walemba articleyi simtumbuka
Kamuzu was heroic only before independence, after that he became a ruthless dictator leading a party that prides itself on how many of its opponents it murdered or sent into exile. All the leadership failures of today are the exact fault of Kamuzu who failed to put in place any succession plans. A”Life President” how embarrassing.
He should be remembered, not celebrated.
ACHITSILU INU…. KAMUZU IS THE FARTHER AND FOUNDER OF MALAWI NATION…
Did he found Malawi really??…….was he alone when he was fighting the British colonialists?……… Just curious