OF MIZWANYA AND POLITICAL EDUCATION IN MALAWI

As they educate Malawians in real issues

By: Peter Qeko Jere

One of the most popular programs on the local Television Malawi today is the program called, Mizwanya where Che Ning’anga, Sawerengera and Nawena inform Malawians on the many things that happened in the social, political and economic history of Malawi during the reign of both Dr. Banda and Dr. Muluzi. They many times tell the nation of some very sensitive issues concerning how some people died, disappeared, and on how both of these leaders administered the country. As they analyze the performance of these former leaders, they at the same time try to compare with what our current President has done during the three years he has ruled Malawi.

The main objective of this program is to inform the Malawi youth and those who possibly have no idea on what took place in Malawi when both Banda and Muluzi ruled Malawi. It is a known factor that as of today, about half of the Malawi population is composed of the youth who never saw Dr. Banda and have no idea of what he did when he was in power because not much of what he did is written down. Also these young people have no idea on who helped Dr. Banda to rule the country and who did what and why? Also our education system do not offer enough room regarding the social, political and economic history for our youth hence majority of our young people who will be voting in 2008, live in a dark as far as their own history is concern. Our young people live in very dangerous time historically as they have no idea of what took place in their own country and they also do not know as to who did what during both Dr. Banda and Dr. Muluzi’s reign.

Therefore, it is vital for the youth to know where the nation is coming from and what it went through socially and politically so that they better understand why they are witnessing what is currently happening in our country politics today and at the same time our young people shall be able to know where we are going as a nation politically. So we think these Mizwanya guys are doing a mighty job and filling in the gap that our education system could have done long time ago to education and inform our youth and others on who did what in our political history. This helps in decision making in case some of those who committed various serious crimes would want to stand as leaders. The electorate needs to be given enough information on all the leaders regarding what they are and what they have done in our history so that the best achiever could be chosen otherwise we will end up choosing someone who is not the right person to rule the country.

While these three Miswanya guys try to do this noble job for the nation, some people feel offended and think this program should be stopped. They allege that it is not good to expose and speak about the evils committed in our history. Others hate the program just because it’s in their nature to hate anything that is good for the nation.

In opposition to these views, we strongly recommend the Mizwanya guys to keep the fire burning and not give up on their noble task because they have stood on the gab providing knowledge and information to the nation and this is what we need. Malawi needs people who are constructive and innovative, the kind of people who can change things for the better. We need such creative minds so that we make Malawi a better place to live. As of now, millions of well qualified citizens of the land in Diaspora because they were once upon a time forced to leave their motherland due to the politics of the day. Now its time that such evils be exposed and let our young people know who did what in our history.

The bible says that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Now those who hate and don’t like this program do that because they are still in bondage and still affiliated to the evils of the past and feel offended once anybody reminds them of the past. They feel bad hearing somebody beginning to mention what they did in the past. Now we need to understand that the evils done in our history need to be exposed and put to the open for everybody to see and know so that lessons can be learned from. In this regard, the Mizwanya guys have taken up this challenge to stand between the gap informing the nation on every little thing so that we become aware of all the stuff that took place in our country.

Someone may think that is just politics. Now if politics can force citizens of the land to take up such a huge challenge to inform the nation on who did what in our country’s history then this kind of politics is good because it is educative. Also if this is what politics can do then its good because by the end of the day, all our young men in the country will have known our country’s history as regard to who did what hence able to make proper decisions when choosing our leaders. We have NGOs in Malawi but they don’t teach our young men the country history and they have never done that. They think this is the work of the Ministry of Education to teach our young people the history of the nation. Infact even some of those who work in the various NGOs do not know what took place in our country’s history from 1960 to1990 hence they can not take up this challenge. May be some are afraid because these are very sensitive issues that need big brains and courageous mind!.

However we need to remind those who hate this program that what Mizwanya guys are doing on TVM is not Ndale but Education. They are teachers whose classroom is the entire nation youth and those who would want to know what took place in our country’s history. So they are doing what I call educative program and not Ndale and in fact they are supposed to be paid for this huge task of informing our people those very sensitive issues on the evils that took place in our country.

In this regard, countrymen should know that a lot took place in Malawi something, which we need detailed account, written and published so that those who directly suffered can have their history preserved. Also that our young people could know who did what in our country’s history so that they know where we are going as a nation politically. We should not deny our young people information on the country history. For instance, people should be clearly told what happened during the 1964 cabinet crisis and why the likes of Kanyama Chiume, Orton Chirwa, Chipembere, Rose Chibambo and others didn’t like what had become of Dr. Banda. They should also know who suffered during this time and why they suffered this way.

Our young people also need to know that Malawi had prominent politicians who if were still alive today, the political platform could have a different story. We had people like Dunduzu Chisiza, the father of the famous Du Chisiza Junior the Drama King, Yatuta Chisiza, Augustine Bwanausi, Kanyama Chiume, Aaron Gadama, Dick Matenje, Twaibu Sangala, David Chiwanga, John Msonthi to mention but a few. Many Malawians are suffering today because some of their relatives died mysteriously during the MCP regime and this is what people need to know.

Also Malawian needs to be informed on how some of these events took place in the history of the country. For instance, why in the 1975-77, many University of Malawi lectures and some prominent students were detained and some went to exile? Who was behind this academic terrorism at the University and how do we bring to book such people to avoid repetition of such brutal events in our history. Whoever was behind this brutal academic terrorism at the University had a very evil plan because he or she robed the nation of the best crop of lecturers who are now performing well overseas and in many African countries. Malawi’s University education was regarded the best because of that crop of lecturers but the situation drastically changed because somebody messed up things at the University something the entire nation is currently paying dearly.

Also the young people who are finishing University College this time around plus all those who are in Secondary Schools in Malawi need to be told and schooled on what happened to our chiefs at the MCP convention in Mzuzu where they were brutally bitten and forced to walk long distances on foot back home just because they argued that Manowa Chirwa should be accepted to come back home. The only crime our Chiefs committed was to agree that the son of the land Manowa Chirwa be accepted to come back home. Manowa Chirwa was in exile and this time he was getting old and asked wanted to come back home and die in his motherland. Now its vital for our countrymen not to forget this history because its part of our heritage. This is because some of those who did this are still key political players in our country and since our young men do not know anything about them, it is important that they be told everything on how these politicians brutally tortured our Chiefs and why was it a crime for Manowa Chirwa to come back to his motherland?

At the same time, in 1989 some thing uncomprehendable took place. The MCP government announced that all Tumbuka secondary school teachers working in the central and the southern region be deported to the northern region where they come from. That statement meant that it was illegal for a northerner to teach in either the central or the southern region. Ironically, this only affected teachers who came from the northern region. Some of us heard this announcement on the radio and saw how teachers suffered. It was the most stressful time for the northern region teachers and this is registered in the memories of all northern region people. It’s due to such evil practice that MCP has died a natural death in the region because almost every family that year was affected. So young people in our country need to be told exactly what happened that year so that they know who was behind this tribalistic move and how much northern region teachers suffered. This is also important because some of those who played a key role to have all this wicked program done are still alive and are in politics today. Now if we don’t inform our young people about what such people did in our history, such men will take advantage of this silent and one day come back to power if we are not very careful.


When we talk of people mysteriously and brutally killed, we don’t only mean during Dr. Banda’s reign but also during the UDF’s reign. It was during the UDF’s time when the following, Evison Matafale, Kalonga Stambuli and others were brutally killed. Many things have been said about how they died but the one thing that remains is that they were mysteriously killed when the UDF was in power something, which again needs to be properly documented for our history. Also during the same reign, many were tortured and bitten by the UDF’s young democrats. Many stories are told of how many suffered during the third and open term war. All this brutality need to be properly documented because this is part of our nation history and our young people need to know all this because they are part of the country. Now the only way to do this is to make sure that we communicate to them and properly tell them who did what during their respective time when they were in power. This is important because unless such evils are exposed and those responsible brought to book, political evils will continue to occur in our political history. At the same time, when we properly communicate such assessments of what took place in every political dispensation in our country, those planning to become our political leaders will then be judged based on what they once did and not on what they think they will do or how much money they have in their respective bank account inside or outside the country. Their history and action will be the automatic judge something, which will only come if we effectively communicate such information to those who need it in our country.

With this therefore, what the Mizwanya guys are doing is a noble task to inform, educate and properly prepare our young men so that they know what took place in our history. This will guide them as they make decision today and tomorrow. So keep the fire burning guys because this is being patriotic and a clear sign that you love your country.