Malawi's Kamuzu Banda must have laughed all the way to his grave

by Felix Ngasama

I have been keeping my ear on the ground since the dictator extraordinaire officially known as Ngwazi Kamuzu Banda aka the Lion King of Malawi died hoping to hear the final truth behind him.

I was hoping that one or more Malawian journalists, scholars, academics or intellectuals would embark on an investigative mission to unearth the real truth behind the late autocrat and tell it to the people of Malawi. Surely Malawians deserve to know the truth behind a tyrant who bullied them, murdered many through unexplained disappearances or mysterious car accidents, detained thousands without trial to rot and die in jail and cold-bloodedly hunted and assassinated in exile those that he purged during the cabinet revolt barely a month after independence in 1964 but whose real life history was carefully shrouded in total secrecy and protected by his presidential cocoon.

Banda was a miserable and paranoid recluse even during his crop inspection tours and other public engagements so much that even when surrounded by his then naïve and indoctrinated praise-singing mbumba there was always a veil of secrecy around him. John Tembo his bootlicker in-chief and other sycophants that hang around him did not help matters either but instead made Banda a demigod who was completely out of touch with the people.

For starters, no one can authoritatively tell the people of Malawi exactly when Banda was born. Malawians have been officially fed lies that the eccentric dictator was born on 14 May, 1906. But his death certificate states that he died at the age of 99 automatically throwing us in a spin backwards to 1898 as his year of birth. Phillip Short, the author of Banda's biography, also claims that he was born in 1898. The Oxford University Press (UK) and Columbia University Press (USA) both show that Banda was born in 1902 while the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia says he was born in 1898. There are also claims that he was born in 1905 while the rumour factory manufactured one that he was actually 101 years old when he died suggesting that he was born in 1896.

After Banda's death, a man claiming to be Banda's family member, Elia Katola Phiri dismissed the year 1906 as Banda's year of birth saying that the age distortion was created by Banda's uncle Hanock Msokera Phiri. Mr Katola Phiri went on to spin the yarn and say that Hastings Kamuzu Banda was in fact born Kamnkhwala Banda at Mphonongo village in Kasungu in 1896. Katola said that in 1910, Kamnkhwala was baptized as Akim Kamnkhwala Mtunthama Banda. He also contradicted with the official history saying that Banda left Malawi (Nyasaland) for Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia) at the age 21 and not 13 as widely claimed. While Katola did not mention Banda's parents, some websites such as Wikipedia, claim that they were Mr Mphonongo Banda and his wife Akupingamnyama Phiri.

Katola Phiri said that Banda changed his name from Akim Kamnkhwala Mtunthama Banda to Hastings Kamuzu Banda while he was abroad but Wikipedia says he took the Christian name Hastings after being baptized into the Church of Scotland in around 1905 while he was still in Malawi. We were told Banda was born at Chiwengo village but now we are told he was in fact born at Mphonongo village.

Now here is a labyrinth of contradictions or call it a jigsaw puzzle of Banda's history. Right from the outset one can see that the task of finding the truth about Banda is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

However, daunting as the task seems, I once again challenge Malawian intellectuals, scholars or academics to take the initiative to find the missing link to Banda's true life-story for all and sundry to know. Malawians have been lied enough and it is extremely embarrassing that no son or daughter of the soil from so called academics to journalists has had an intellectual and patriotic courage to go on such an honourable mission to demystify Banda's closely guarded secrets. Banda must have gone laughing all the way to his grave with his secrets but Malawians can still dig them up and look closely for clues.

There are doubts whether Banda was really a Malawian as he claimed. If he left Malawi at the age of 13 or 21 why was he totally out of practice in Chichewa his mother tongue that he needed an interpreter, John Tembo, when he came back? Are the people that he claimed to be his relatives in Kasungu really his blood relatives? This can be proven scientifically through DNA tests.

If a group of eminent and concerned Malawians can embark on this mission and prove beyond reasonable doubt that it is a just and honourable cause, they can obtain legal powers to carry out DNA tests between Banda and his so called sister the late Chatinkha Banda. Even if the DNA test proves that Banda was indeed a Malawian, this shall have answered just one question. Legal powers can also be used to obtain information from key people like Cecilia Kadzamira, John Tembo and Guanda Chakwamba to tell us what they know about Banda that they are not telling the nation. For example it should be noted that Guanda Chakwamba is the only man to have crossed Banda's path and be pardoned after a stint in jail. There was something special about Guanda's relationship with Kamuzu that made Kamuzu grant his one and only presidential pardon to someone jailed on treason charges.

A scrutiny of Banda's life in the UK, USA and Ghana must be carried out in search of Banda's missing link. Independent experts and professionals who specialize in private investigations and have mastered the art of uncovering a person's true history should be hired and be part of the fact finding team. A few years ago, a South African newspaper reported that Banda had a white British girlfriend surnamed French on whom he allegedly performed an illegal abortion after he found out that she had fallen pregnant with his child. He allegedly fled from the UK to Ghana when the woman threatened to report him to British authorities for having performed an illegal abortion. Banda was also rumoured to have had children - two sons - who are currently living either in Ghana or the UK.

His relationship with Cecilia Kadzamira was also just as bizarre. What was going on behind closed doors at Sanjika Palace? Here is Banda "returning" to Malawi without a woman in his life and he takes a young nurse in her prime as his official live-in hostess and she is forbidden from seeing any man except attending to Banda and his whims.

Malawians don't want to know the juicy details but is it really true that Banda and Kadzamira just stayed under one roof for all those 30 years platonically? The truth is Banda was not a Catholic priest and neither was Cecilia a nun. Needless to say both of them were certainly not celibate. Banda was very allergic to the truth and it seems the allergy radiated and took control of Cecilia too. But now that he is dead, Cecilia should do the honourable thing and tell the people of Malawi the truth about their bizarre life together.

Cecilia Kadzamira, must realize that the people of Malawi deserve the truth after living under Banda's iron fisted rule for thirty years. Cecilia owes the nation the truth about Banda from the time she became Banda's official live-in hostess until his death. Unless proven otherwise, Banda and Cecilia lived in sin for all those years and I say shame on them for setting a very bad example to generations of Malawian youth. Malawians should do something now to get Cecilia to tell the truth before she also laughs all the way to her grave with Banda's secrets.

I hear someone pleading poverty or lack of funds for such a mission. The government should contribute to such a cause for the right of its citizens to be told the truth about a man who put them under ruthless dictatorship for thirty years. I don't know about the constitution of Malawi but whether the right of Malawians to be told the truth is part of the constitution or not the fact is that it is a universal ethic for people to be told the truth instead of the many lies Malawians were force-fed during Banda's regime. International organisations would be very much interested to contribute financially to such a cause if lobbied properly. The challenge is out for any honourable Malawian(s) to take it on.