By Sylvester Ayuba James
Levi Ziliro Mumba was the first President of the Nyasaland African Congress founded in 1944. He was from Mzimba. Although he died in January 1945, the NAC lived on and served as the first black Malawian political party to agitate for independence from colonial rule.
Kamuzu Banda was not the founding member of NAC, nor was he anywhere near the idea of its leadership at the beginning. He was invited later because, among others, the leadership needed someone more mature and more exposed than them.
When Kamuzu Banda arrived in 1958, he held the first national convention of the Nyasaland African Congress in Nkhotakota, at Kombo village, Traditional Authority Malengachanzi, under mkungu tree, the place currently used by Muslims for Eid prayers.
There is a reason why Kamuzu chose Nkhotakota people as the first ones to meet and discuss politics with. A very good reason. Nkhotakota was the first center of modern civilization in Malawi because of its early contact with the Swahili Arabs and later David Livingstone due to the slave trade. The people of Nkhotakota had already had contact with the outer world and were, thus, more progressive than the rest of Malawi. He knew he needed to convince them first before convincing anyone.
Following the arrest of Kamuzu Banda, his imprisonment at Gweru in Zimbabwe and the banning of the Nyasaland African Congress, Counsel Orton Chirwa from Nkhatabay opined that, since it’s just the brand of NAC that has been banned but not the politics activities of black Malawians, the same people should continue their activities under a new name: the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
Kamuzu Banda was not party to this genius of idea as he was still at Gweru prison. But when he came out, the leadership gave him space, realising that the interests were not personal and the objectives were the same.
Nde inu lero zakuti MCP ndi chipani cha aChewa komanso Central Region mumazitenga kuti? Mphamvu zomathamangitsira munthu oti surname yake ikuonetseratu kuti founder wachipani atha kukhala agogo ake mumazitenga kuti? Kungokhala kagulu kadyera kosalolera anthu osiyanananu maganizo basi, and you think anthu adzakukhulupiraninso ndi kukupatsaninso Boma ndi kamtima ka nkhwidzi chomchi?
Mudzilingalire. Sindinu oyamba kutsogolera MCP ndipo sindinunso omaliza. Musamamve kunyerenyesa thupi lonse mukakhala ndi mphamvu za utsogoleri. Every political power is like an orgasm. It lasts very quickly. Chikoka chake cha maboma maboma six a kumtunda kwa chigawo cha pakati basi mpakana muzithamangitsanacho anzanu? That’s why Lakeshore unakutulukani. Anthu ozindikira anaona kuti ndinu adyera lopusa.
Fotseki.
Ubwino wake mavote amawerenga adziko lonse. Mudzakhalabe mukudikira ma vote a Lilongwe Rural in 2030 anzanu akukalumbira ngati simusintha thamo lanu limeneri.
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