Malawi continues to remember Dr. Attati Mpakati of Masikini Village, Chiradzulu, as one of the country’s most fearless voices against one-party rule.
He was assassinated in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 23 March 1983, in an attack widely attributed to agents of the Malawi Congress Party government under Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
Dr. Mpakati’s political journey began in the aftermath of the 1964 Cabinet Crisis, when Banda fell out with several senior ministers. Many of those ministers and their associates fled Malawi to escape arrest.
The majority came from the Northern Region, including Yatuta Chisiza, Kanyama Chiume, Orton Chirwa, and Rose Chibambo. Henry Chipembere of Mangochi also fled.
Thousands of Malawians followed them into exile in Tanzania and Zambia.
In 1974, Malawians in Tanzania and Zambia formed the Socialist League of Malawi, LESOMA, with the goal of ending Banda’s authoritarian rule and restoring democracy.
The movement’s headquarters was in Tanzania. Its founding leaders included Archbald Kapote Mwakasungula, who served as Secretary General, Mundu Mwambetanya as Treasurer General, Jando Nkhwazi, Clement Marama, George Akogo Kanyanya, and Mahoma Mwakipunda Mwaungulu.
Because most of the founding members came from the North, LESOMA deliberately chose a leader from the South to broaden its national appeal.
They selected Dr. Attati Mpakati, an economist then studying in Sweden. Under his presidency, with Mwakasungula as Secretary General and Mwambetanya as Treasurer General, LESOMA grew into the most visible opposition movement against Banda’s regime.
The league received support from several countries, including Russia, Cuba, China, Sweden, Germany, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Libya, and Ghana. Former President Peter Mutharika is said to have assisted the movement by providing free legal services and helping draft its constitution.
Abroad, LESOMA had more than 30,000 Malawian members. It also sponsored scholarships for Malawians to study in Eastern Europe.
Among those who benefited were Charles Mwambyale, James Mwanganda, and Charles Sute Mwakasungula.
Dr. Mpakati first survived an assassination attempt in 1979 in Mozambique when MCP agents sent a letter bomb that severely injured his hands. He did not relent.
On 23 March 1983, while attending a LESOMA conference in Harare, he was attacked at his hotel. MCP agents reportedly killed him and dumped his body on the road to make it look like an accident.
A native of Masikini Village in Chiradzulu, Dr. Mpakati was an economist and intellectual who chose exile and resistance over silence.
Today, he is remembered as one of Malawi’s forgotten martyrs of the struggle for multiparty democracy.
