LILONGWE, Malawi – 17 January 2015 (MaraviPost): President of the Republic of Malawi H.E. Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika says It was a huge blessing and honour for him to be part of a historic and important event at the Providence Industrial Mission (PIM) to celebrate 100 years of Rev. John Chilembwe’s uprising against the colonial rule in 1915.
The President said, Rev. John Chilembwe is one of the great heroes of the nation and one of the great sons of Africa. As we celebrate his life, let us also remember those that stood with him, and equally died in the course of fighting for the freedom that Malawians enjoy today.
President mutharika called on fellow citizens to safe guard the freedoms we enjoy today as others lost their lives fighting for it. As called by the theme of the event “Building Malawi Nation together” , we should remain united and concentrate on national building and development of our country.
H.E. Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika continued, these fallen heroes put aside their self-interest and put the country first on their agenda. This is the spirit we need to emulate as Malawians. We need to love our country beside everything else. Let us unite in sprucing up the image of Malawi, the unique cultures that we have and the hard-working people in the country.
I believe that there are a lot of things that we can learn from the life of this national hero that can today help us to transform the way we look at things and transform our beautiful country.
From the Chilembwe’s story we learn, that he was a strong advocate for human rights, which showed that no race was above another, and that all are equal before God. We learn of his sacrificial life and that educated as he was he could easily have decided to stay on in the United States but he decided to come back and help his countrymen.
We also learn from his hardworking spirit; that out of the meagre resources, he mobilised people to build a church at his mission headquarters which was demolished by the colonial forces. He built schools he encouraged unity for all the people of Nyasaland and Africa. And last but not least John Chilembwe is a symbol of courage as he courageously fought for his countrymen without sophisticated weaponry.
President Mutharika said, he was indeed a great man that needs to be remembered as we have done today. Remember that together, we can build a better Malawi. May God bless you all and bless our nation.
