Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness" in Malawi

Author(s): Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

Source: Journal of Folklore Research , Sep. - Dec., 2001, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Sep. - Dec., 2001),
pp. 205-227
Published by: Indiana University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3814901

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 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

Protesting Politics of
"Death and Darkness" in Malawi

Malawi is a small country in Africa south of the Sahara, sandwiched

between Zambia and Mozambique. In 1964, led by Dr. Hastings Ka
muzu Banda under the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the countr
attained independence from British colonial rule. Banda had returne
to Malawi in 1958 by invitation, after almost forty years of living and
working in the United States and the United Kingdom.1 When h
arrived, he was handed the leadership of the Nyasaland African Con
gress, a group that had been established in the 1940s. But almos
immediately after the country gained independence six years later,
Banda scattered into exile the very people who had organized th
independence movement and had invited him to lead it.2 In 1966
Banda banned opposition parties; he became life president in 197
and adopted the title "His Excellency, the Life President, Ngwazi Dr
H. Kamuzu Banda." (Ngwazi is a praise name from Ngoni praise po
etry; it means "conqueror.") His almost thirty-year reign?until 1994
was bolstered by new laws and legal institutions.3 But Banda also care
fully appropriated and manipulated oral traditions and history to con
solidate and legitimize his power. In response, critics also utilized thes
genres, relying on well-known stories and images to construct meta
phorical commentary. While Banda repeatedly attempted to suppres
this sort of criticism, it circulated nevertheless, perhaps because it
was veiled in traditional forms of expression.
Malawi has a rich heritage of song, poetry, and dance. Consid
ered highly expressive of feelings and opinions, songs accompan
almost all major ceremonies and functions whether they involve danc
or not. It was this song and dance tradition that was most heavi
manipulated by Banda. Traditional songs were adapted to advanc

205

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206 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

the idea that Banda was the only person t

should do so for life; they accompanied
choirs or as choruses at party meetings.
The songs were more than political p
chestrated praise and worship that deifie
God chose Banda before he was born to be the leader of Malawi and

that through him and in him Malawi came to be. For instance, one
song sung by the Women's League from Rumphi district said:

BaNgwazi wandabike
Chiuta wakawasola

Kuwa Mulongogzi withu muno m Malawi.

Before Ngwazi was born

God chose him
To be the leader in Malawi.

In these songs, Banda became the father and founder of the Malaw
nation, a God-sent Messiah much like Moses or Jesus in the Bib
Furthermore, the songs vilified all dissenters as rebels and even just
fied the harsh punishment such individuals received. Such punishme
included death, detention without trial, or mysterious disappearan
The lucky ones escaped into exile.
Compositions by choirs, popular bands, and poets were expected t
give similar homage to Banda, praising and worshipping him and/o
vilifying his opponents. It was a serious sin of ingratitude not to mentio
Banda's achievement in public speeches or songs, just as it was a mor
error to mention his mistakes. These dances and songs were perform
at almost all public engagements that involved Banda or party functi
aries. And they were not necessarily new; many times they were old son
belonging to different song and dance traditions that had been reworded
and injected with Banda's name and achievements.
For instance, the wedding chant "Zonse zimene zamatikitiki" (Ever
thing is for Matikitiki) was transformed to "Zonse zimene za Kam
Banda" (Everything is for Kamuzu Banda). Tifawas a British curren
in Malawi during colonial days; a rich person or those pretending t
be so would be called "Mr. Matiki." The chant "Everything is f
Matikitiki" comes from the fact that rich people often show off th
money at wedding celebrations. To underscore the idea that every?
thing in the country belonged to Banda as father and founder of
nation, party functionaries not only changed the chant to "Zonse zim

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Protesting Politics of 'Death and Darkness " in Malawi 207

za Kamuzu Banda" (Everything is for Kamuzu Banda), but they also

substituted an endless list for "zonse zimene, "including magalimoto onse
(all cars), mbumba zonse (all women), mitengo yonse (all trees), and
anihu onse (all people).
Banda effectively appropriated the oral traditions, using them for
his own legitimation and turning them as weapons against his en?
emies. First, the songs rewrote Malawi's history, making invisible all
other leaders and their efforts for independence before Banda. The
nation's birth was dated from Banda's return to Malawi in 1958, and
he became the nation's father. Songs, as well as speeches and history
lessons, implied that Banda fought colonial rule and achieved inde?
pendence more or less single-handedly. John Chilembwe's uprising
in 1915 and the work of Levi Mumba, Sangala, and others who formed
and led the Nyasaland African Congress in the 1940s slid into oblivion.
In addition, members of the team that worked with Banda from his
return to independence in 1964 were altogether obliterated from
history?except when they were being castigated as rebels. To speak
of them as fighters for independence was criminal. Banda himself
spoke often of how he broke what he called "the stupid federation"
of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and referred to his detention in the State
of Emergency, but he never acknowledged the compatriots detained
with him.

In fact, Banda made March 3, the day when the country was sup?
posed to honor those that died fighting for independence, the most
dreaded holiday in Malawi. By the 1970s, many people realized the
contradictions between the political ideals that were fought for in
the struggle for independence and the reality they got. Because
Banda's dictatorship had made martyrdom meaningless, the holiday
was enforced rather than celebrated. The Malawi Young Pioneers
(MYP) and party militants patrolled townships and streets on the day
to ensure "proper" observance. This meant not undertaking house?
hold chores and refraining from entertainment; for instance, clothes
could not be washed, nor cards played even inside a private home. If
an individual were arrested on this day he or she would not be charged
or tried and would be released the following year on the eve of the
holiday.4 In consequence, people spent more time worrying about
whether they would make it through the day without being arrested
than they spent reflecting on the sacrifices of the martyrs. Each indi?
vidual was a potential martyr of his own. The subdued mood across

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208 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

the nation reflected the contemporary d

that of history.
In addition to manipulating public celeb
to reinforce his power. For instance, the l
ist hero Chilembwe was dramatized on th
3 activities. While many of the details in
faithful to the known facts about Chilem
was twisted. In the drama, as Chilembwe
his last words are "Do not cry for there
country." When a woman asks him how
man, he answers, "He will say, 'Kwacha'"
This is the same word that Banda claim
arrived in the country on July 6, 1958. I
which he opened all his public speeches
dence of such a statement by Chilembwe i
The words were put in the mouth of C
coming successor, to make Banda seem
the country after Chilembwe. This story
confirmed Banda's messianic mission an
dency too. The other effect of this sup
obliterated all other leaders between Chil
could claim legitimacy of succession.
In sum, the nation of Malawi under Ban
in the words of Tiyambe Zeleza, as

[a] thirty year contraption of totalitarian po

where words were constantly monitored, m
country stalked by silence and suspicion, a
notonous story of the Ngwazi's achievemen
a state of dull uniformity that criminalize
creativity, an omniscient regime with divi
and thought, history and the popular will.
ries, stories, and words that contested or m
banishing and imprisoning numerous oppon
hunting and murdering exiled "rebels" and
the boundaries between private and public
less dreams could be dangerous. (1995:33

Within this political situation, contesta

nous story" was extremely difficult and d
traditions were heavily appropriated for

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 209

they also became the means for critical commentary on Banda. Oral
poetry and songs were especially used for these ends, not only be?
cause they may provide a poetic license to criticize,6 but also because
of the possibilities the genres provide to embed criticism in meta?
phor and thus elude censorship.
For example, Malawian poets Jack Mapanje and Steve Chimombo
both incorporated oral traditions into their poetry not just to enrich
it, but also to obscure meaning while trying to comment on the harsh
sociopolitical realities surrounding them. According to Roscoe and
Msiska, oral traditions "are plastic and malleable, readily figurative
and symbolic, sufficiently stable to be swiftly understood, and yet
unstable enough to be conveniently misconstrued" (1992:12). Thus
they present a useful mode to speak out against dictatorship and to
challenge Banda's story of reality. Nevertheless, these traditions were
recognizable by those in Banda's regime; consequently, they did not
ensure immunity. They did, however, offer a veil of protection and an
important opportunity for resistance to circulate without overt, offi?
cial suppression.
Jack Mapanje, for instance, adopted the role of an imbongi (praise
singer) to taunt and mock Banda's loss of vision and purpose, and to
underscorce his self-indulgence and ignorance. By using a rhetorical
question or statement, Mapanje engages in "subverted praise" in which
Banda is a blind paramountcy engaged in a carnival and believes he will
become a god (Mapanje 1981). Mapanje's recourse to oral poetry tradi?
tion is not incidental but deliberate, and it is anticipated in his M. Phil,
thesis (1974). Mapanje sees traditional literature and modes of thought,
particularly riddling, as a source of metaphor and inspiration. He ar?
gues that the riddle by its rebellious nature helps awaken the audience
into realizing that things are not what they appear to be. In other words,

Riddles push the audience into seeing the relationships between the
verbal world and the world behind it. [And] herein lies the role of the
riddle challenger, if taken seriously, as a poet. Riddling is an intellectual
process of creating symbols and metaphors. (Vail and White 1991:285)

In his collection Of Chameleons and Gods, Mapanje created such sym?

bols and metaphors of Banda's political bigotry. However, this criti?
cism may not have been sufficiently obscure; he was detained without
trial at Mikuyu Detention Camp from 1987 to 1991, and it is widely
believed that his detention had to do with his critical poetry.

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 210 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

Even in detention Mapanje found oral t

"psychological sustenance" and as away o
He says:

Often my torturer became the audience. And because I had not been
charged, I found it necessary to invent mechanisms by which I could
defend myself. Sometimes I created imaginary courts where I insisted
on my being acquitted. Sometimes I would stand Banda and his
henchpersons in the opposite corner of my cell and start talking to them,
often mocking and taunting them until I wore them out or they were
too exhausted to talk back! . . . Storytelling became the adopted cul?
ture in Mikuyu Prison, particularly before I was moved from isolation
cell. (Mapanje 1995:18)

Chimombo, on the other hand, adopted Napolo?a mythical snake

that leaves desolation in its wake7?as his poetic hero in order "to
address a painful modernity via the discourse, symbols, and values
[of that myth]" (Roscoe and Msiska 1992:12). This painful moder?
nity included the harsh political reality that Banda brought to Malawi.
Napolo's destructive tendencies became a metaphor for Banda's dese?
cration of the nation's values and aspirations for independence. Chi?
mombo successfully eluded detention, a freedom he gained by adapt?
ing Napolo into his poetry and life.8 This adaptation "[allowed] him
to inhabit subversively an otherwise dangerous political time and
space" (Msiska 1995). Thus, both Mapanje and Chimombo appropri?
ate oral traditions in their works to speak about Banda's political
myopia.
Wambali Mkandawire, a popular gospel musician, should also be
situated within this kind of political discourse. Mkandawire comes
from Mlowe in Rumphi District and began his singing career in 1973
with a band called Sounds Pentagon. In 1978, he became a Christian
and moved to South Africa where he worked with Youth for Christ.

His work with youth clubs in Soweto and Alexandria townships

brought him into direct contact with young people caught up in the
fight against apartheid, and his experiences there may explain th
concern for social justice that dominates his songs. In 1986 he re?
turned to Malawi and released his first album, Timtamande, in 1988.
Wambali Mkandawire performs his music for young people, mostly
students, across the country; during the 1992 and 1993 campaign
for democracy, he actively participated by means of songs and
speeches. His audience, however, is not limited to young people

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 211

Equally popular among the adult audience, his songs are still avail?
able on audiotapes sold on the streets in Malawi. Like Mapanje and
Chimombo, Mkandawire sought to narrate and comment on the
political situation around him at a time when it was extremely dan?
gerous to do so. He too finds oral traditions viable to interrogate the
political establishment and challenge its assumptions.
This paper examines two of Mkandawire's songs, "Kayuni Njuwi" and
"Ulanda Wera," released in 1988 and 1991, respectively. The context of
these songs is very much as described above by Tiyambe Zeleza; when
Mkandawire wrote them, open criticism of Banda or his regime was
impossible. However, by 1992, when Banda was close to ninety years old,
growing resentment against him led to open challenge. The church and
individuals called for democratic reforms, challenging his singular au?
thority.9 Due to his age, it was obvious that Banda himself was no longer
running the show; the powers behind the scenes were more noticeable.
It was at this time that the many songs in Banda's praise were used in?
stead to ridicule him and turn praise to pro-democracy activists. Wambali
Mkandawire's songs, then, can be said to presage the protests in popular
song that characterized the campaign for democracy.
"Kayuni Njuwi" was released in 1988 and was probably the most
popular song on the album Timtamande. Though eventually banned
from the radio, it was also performed by Wambali Mkandawire in con?
certs. In the song, Mkandawire adapts a popular folk story, Sikusinja
and Gwenembe10 and casts his story within it. In the folk story, twin
brothers, Sikusinja and Gwenembe, are returning from a far place
where they had gone to work as migrant laborers. Sikusinja has earned
a lot of wealth that he is carrying home, while Gwenembe wasted his
earnings on pleasure and therefore has nothing to carry. During the
journey Gwenembe attacks Sikusinja and picks up his wealth. Sikusinja
pleads with him simply to take the goods and spare his life, but to no
avail. After Gwenembe murders his brother, a bird that witnessed the
event follows him along the road singing a song about it. Gwenembe
is worried that this bird will reveal the murder if it gets to his village,
so he kills it. But the bird reappears and continues to sing its song.
He kills it a second and third time, but each time it reappears?even
after being ground into small pieces and thrown into a river.
Gwenembe lies to his relatives when he gets home, saying that his
brother had been killed on the way by a wild animal, and he uses
Sikusinja's clothes dipped in blood as evidence of the accident. When

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212 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

the bird arrives in his village, it sings its son

the middle of the village, challenging Gw
animal killed his brother:

Sikusinja, Sikusinja, Gwenembe, Gwenembe-e-e

Adampha mbale wache, Gwenembe-e-e
Chifukwa n 'chuma chache.

Sikusinja, Sikusinja, Gwenembe, Gwenembe-e-e

Gwenembe killed Sikusinja
Because of his wealth.

Sikusinja adampha n 'Gwenembe

Kumnjata majerejede, Gwenembe-e-e
Mbalamene' daona Gwenembe

Ndi nkhwangwa kumupha, Gwenembe-e-e

Sikusinja was killed by Gwenembe

He tied his hands at the back, Gwenembe-e-e
I, the bird, saw Gwenembe
With an axe kill him, Gwenembe-e-e11

When the villagers hear the bird's story and quiz Gwenembe, he
confesses to killing his brother. In brief, all his efforts to suppress and
destroy the truth fail. The moral lesson is that one cannot destroy the
truth; one can only suppress it for some time.
Wambali Mkandawire's "Kayuni Njuwi" makes repeated allusions
to this folktale, as excerpts in English translation reveal:

Fya Mbalame; Fya Mbalame

Apa mwakananga ?
Kachenjerekete Kachenjerekete Ka
Kuti mundakome.

Kachenjerekete Kachenjerekete Ka [5]

Nanga Kayuni ?
Kachenjerekete Kachenjerekete Ka
Kakuti UH?

Go away, bird; go away bird

Why did you deny?
Kachenjerekete Kachenjerekete Ka
Saying you have not killed.
Kachenjerekete Kachenjerekete Ka [5]
What about the bird?

Kachenjerekete Kachenjerekete Ka
What is it saying?

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 213

(Chorus)
Zachisoni,
Anzanga zimene ndaona. [10]
Kodi mwamva ?

Nkhani ija yangotheramo,

Popeza mlandu wakhuza anyakwawa.
Moti anthu sakumvetsa, zingatheke bwanji?
Ndithandizeni! [15]
Anapha amalume ndani?
Bwanji munanama kuti ad
Ndamva uthenga kuchoke
Inu amfumu tanenani ch

It is sad,
What I have seen. [10]
Have you heard?
That issue has just ended,
Because the case has involved the chief.

Such that people don't understand, how can this happen?

Help me! [15]
Who killed my unc
Why did you lie th
I've heard a messag
You, Chief, speak th

Zachisoni, [20]
Ana akufa, asanaba
Maliro osayika, aku
Ndamva mwazi kuf
Kodi mayi ukandip
Ndamva uthenga kuchokera kwa mbalame. [25]
Mwakhetsa, mwakhetsa,
Mwazi wa munthu wosalakwal

Kachenjerekete Kachenjerekete Ka (4 times)

It is sad, [20]
Children die bef
Their bodies are
I've heard their
Mother, why did
I've heard a message from the bird. [25]
You have spilled, you have spilled,
The blood of an innocent person!
Kachenjerekete Kachenjerekete Ka (4 times)

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 214 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

(Bird's whistle)

Ako papo

There it is! (Mkandawire 1988)

One particular event in Banda's reign that Wambali Mkandawire

insinuates in this song is the 1983 "Mwanza Accident." In this acci?
dent, three cabinet ministers and a member of parliament for the
Malawi Congress Party were killed.12 Though the Malawi Congress
Party and government reported the incident as a road accident, they
also imposed a hush over the whole episode so that families and the
nation grieved in silence. There were suspicions that the four men
were murdered and, in fact, a 1995 report by a Commission of In?
quiry instituted by President Bakili Muluzi confirmed the suspicions,
finding that the accident was indeed a cover-up.13
The story is that the four politicians were arrested on the evening
of May 17, 1983 after parliament sitting in Zomba. Their contribu?
tions to the debate on motions in parliament seem to have annoyed
Banda and his closest aide, John Tembo. Though Tembo was not in
the cabinet he had sufficient political power and influence in the
party as governor of the Reserve Bank, member of the Central Ex?
ecutive Committee of the party, and uncle to Cecilia Kadzamira,
Banda's lifelong confidante and official government hostess.14
The four were deposited at Mikuyu Detention Camp after their
arrests. Though in police custody, an announcement on the radio at
10 o'clock that night said that the four were missing. Police took them
from the detention camp the following morning, telling them that
they were being released but refusing to let them sign the prison books.
Later that night, policemen killed the four at Thambani in Mwanza
District on the road to the Mozambique border, a site chosen in or?
der to insinuate that they were trying to escape the country. They
were killed using sharp objects and hammers to make the injuries
consistent with a road accident, and their dead bodies were put in a
small car that was also bashed to look as if it had been involved in a

serious crash. The car was then pushed down a slope, and the scen
was abandoned. Police officers came to retrieve the bodies and the

car the following morning after being "tipped of the accident," a

that night, May 19, radio announcements alerted the country t
the four missing politicians had been found dead in a car. A postmo

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 215

tern of the bodies was done at Mwanza District Hospital, but ten years
later, in 1993, photographs of the accident were destroyed along with
the postmortem results. The car was also scrapped at Police Head?
quarters yard in Lilongwe.15
How then does this story become implied in Wambali Mkan?
dawire's song? First are the efforts to cover up the murders. "Go away
bird" (line 1) refers to these efforts, which include (a) bribing the
policemen who killed the four gentlemen as a way to buy their si?
lence ("Commission of Inquiry" 1995:45), and (b) bashing the car
used in the staged accident to make the accident theory credible.
These efforts to suppress evidence of the murder were similar to
Gwenembe's attempt to kill the bird to destroy the testimony against
him. In addition, the death of McWin Kamwana, who was Inspector
General of Police at the time of the murder, removed a key witness,
since he was the one who assembled and instructed the team that
later arrested and killed the four.16

Second, this song accuses the chief of suppressing the truth of

what happened because the issue implicated him (lines 9-14). The
death of three government ministers and a member of parliament in
an accident would normally be mourned by the nation and the presi?
dent would usually offer condolences to the families and the nation.
In fact, this was common practice for Banda?except in this case,
which was marked by hushed silence. A government statement re?
futed the rumor of what it called "reported disappearances"17 but did
not give details of the accident, an omission that gave the rumor of
government culpability more credence.
Third, the description of the killing is similar in song and narra?
tive. In the folk story, Gwenembe claimed a wild animal killed his
brother. In Wambali Mkandawire's song the chief lies that a wild ani?
mal killed his uncle (line 17). This "wild animal" refers to the acci?
dent staged by the government. The four politicians were handcuffed,
hooded, hacked with sharp objects, and hammered to death in a
manner similar to the way in which Gwenembe killed Sikusinja. In
addition, in order to substantiate his claim that the wild animal killed
his brother, Gwenembe brought home torn and blood-stained pieces
of Sikusinja's clothes. After the "Mwanza Accident" the police brought
the four mangled bodies back wrapped in torn, blood-covered prison
blankets rather than in coffins; they also produced a bashed vehicle

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216 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

as evidence of a serious road accident. Fin

ence to abortion in the song?"their bodie
thrown away" (line 22)?signifies the m
and burial. The latter resembled the disp
police refused to let the families perform
such as washing and viewing the dead b
denied the opportunity to officiate at th
the bodies were basically thrown away.
The fourth resemblance has to do with the conclusion: the com?

bination of a bird's whistle and the lines "You have spilled,/ You have
spilled/ The blood of an innocent person" (lines 29-30). In Wambali
Mkandawire's song, the narrative persona recounts a story heard from
the bird that witnessed the murder; the bird challenges the chief to
tell the truth (line 19). Thus, the birds in the traditional narrative
and in Mkandawire's song both witness a murder that they later tes?
tify to, confronting the perpetrator with the truth. Finally, the title of
the song, "Kayuni Njuwi," refers to a guilty conscience. Kayuni (bird)
represents the truth that refuses to be destroyed, and njuwi refers to
the "guilty conscience."
In addition to drawing on metaphorical narrative elements,
Mkandawire attempts to veil his criticism by using ambiguous terms.
For instance, by using the word amalume (uncle) he avoids making
the Mwanza victims direct referents. Amalume can refer to any male
relative or any male person; it avoids designating a specific relation?
ship between the song's narrative persona and the victim of the crime.
The term "chief is also ambiguous, for it is not a direct reference to
the president: any leader of a group of people can be referred to as
chief.

These strategies were important for purposes of eluding the cen?

sorship board. However, the innuendo did not entirely obscure the
meaning. Even though the song makes no direct references to events
or people in the Mwanza story, the parallels were not lost on Banda
supporters, who banned the song on the radio.19 This ban, however,
was unofficial; in Banda's Malawi, party functionaries or high-ranking
government officials, including the secret service and MYP, could stop
circulation of particular materials without giving a reason for their
action. This was particularly true for information aired on the radio:
no worker would dare contravene any order?written, verbal, or

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 217

otherwise?to keep certain material off the air. Wambali Mkan?

dawire's song disappeared from the radio in late 1988. The artist was
informed of this "ban" by a sympathizer at the station, and those of us
who closely followed the song noticed too. However, because the song
was never officially banned, it continued to circulate informally in
the country: individuals continued to play the music privately. Thus,
the coded messages in this song, though not unnoticed by those in
power, were not completely suppressed by the government. It should
be mentioned that the Mwanza murders haunted Banda's party to
the end of its reign, and even beyond it: Banda and his accomplices
eventually were tried for conspiracy to commit murder, tho.ugh ulti?
mately they were acquitted.20
In another song, "Ulanda Wera," Wambali Mkandawire turns to
history to interrogate the current political realities, particularly
Banda's own misappropriation of history and his politics of "death
and darkness."21

Wavunda Mwamlowe,
Yaliyali he iya we (2 times)
Tawana waku Mlowe,
Tikulira waPhanana.

Mwamlowe is suffering,
Yali yali he iya we (2 times)
We, the children of Mlowe,
We're crying for Phanana.

Kula ku Nkhota-kota wonga nako wanunkha, [5]

Wafumbe wamba malonda,
Wapata wanthu wawo,
Watemwa mchere na salu, mikanda ya waLuya,
WaChirwa wayowoyeko, simbi mmawoko zalira.

There in Nkhota-kota, there is war. [5]

Jumbe has started business,
He has forsaken his own people,
He has loved salt and cloth, beads from the Arabs,
When Chirwa protested, he was arrested.

Chilernbwe wali kukana, [10]

Muwaleke wanthu wane,
Wali kumlondalonda mpaka wamkola,
Kula ku Chiradzulu, Mulanje, ku Thyo
Kose ku Zomba, ninjani watiyowoyere?

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218 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

Chilembwe refused, [10]

Leave my people alone.
They hunted for him until the
In Chiradzulu, Mulanje, Thyo
Even in Zomba. Who will speak

Tawana waku Malawi lero, [15]

Tikulira a Chilembwe,
Tikulira a Dunduzu,
Tikulira Uuu uuu (4 times)
Uuu Uuu.

We, the children of Malawi today, [15]

We're crying for Chilembwe,
We're crying for Dunduzu,
We're crying for Uuu uuu
Uuu, Uuu. (Mkandawire 1991)

This song adapts history for purposes of examining the present

political realities. In the opening line, "WavundaMwamlowe," wavunda
means to suffer terribly either physically or psychologically. The suf?
fering and the reasons for it are suggested by the experiences of the
following people: Phanana (line 4),Jumbe (line 6), Chirwa (line 9),
Chilembwe (line 10), and Dunduzu (line 17).
Phanana may be an obscure name, but it refers to the often ne?
glected grassroots level of politics in Malawi. According to Mkan?
dawire, Phanana was an important political activist in Mlowe up until
the 1970s.22 Mlowe is in the Rumphi East constituency, which was rep?
resented by Kanyama Chiume in the first general elections that led to
independence in 1964. Chiume became Banda's primary enemy when
he along with others rebelled and were exiled in 1964. The party
made intensive efforts to erase Chiume's name and popularity in his
constituency following his "rebellion," but the people resisted seeing
him as a villain. In this political situation, Phanana became more or
less a spokesman of the people against party efforts to intimidate them.
Such efforts, though often not recorded in history, were important
for they show grassroots resistance to Banda's early signs of dictator?
ship. As a result of this activity, Mlowe was under strict surveillance
and suspicion: the Malawi Young Pioneers and secret service agents
closely monitored the lives and activities of the people there.23 Chiume
took refuge in Tanzania on the other side of Lake Malawi from Mlowe;
anyone traveling to or from Tanzania was suspected of possible deal-

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 219

ings with him. It is no surprise that Matchipitsa Mnthali from the

area was arrested on suspicion of trying to import firearms from Tan?
zania into the area for a possible armed rebellion. He spent twenty-
seven years in detention.
In lines 5 through 9, Mkandawire criticizes both Banda and his
lackeys. These lines allude to Jumbe the slave trader, with headquar?
ters at Nkhota-kota in the Central region of Malawi. In the nineteenth
century he trafficked in slaves and ivory from surrounding districts
and from as far away as Zambia and beyond. Slaves and ivory were
sent to the Indian Ocean coast. The song reports that Jumbe loved
cloths, beads, and salt from the Arabs more than he did his people,
so he sold them for these goods (lines 6-8). For Wambali Mkandawire,
Jumbe represents leaders, including Banda, who for personal gain or
political expediency sell away or destroy their people.
Banda's reign was a betrayal of people's trust and a destruction of
their dreams for independence; furthermore, he turned people
against each other instead of uniting them. Politics became a compe?
tition to please Banda by dealing harshly with his enemies, including
the ministers who resigned from Banda's government in 1964 and
1966. For example, when Orton Chirwa resigned and went into ex?
ile, senior politicians from the northern region hired a bulldozer and
razed Chirwa's houses at Manoro village in Nkhata-Bay. In Mangochi,
party militias destroyed Moto village because it was home to rebel
Masauko Chipembere (even though he had already fled the coun?
try). Hundreds of villagers were detained without trial. Members of
the Jehovah Witnesses had their property confiscated because they
refused to become party members. Hundreds were put in detention
while others were deported from the country, and some of them were
killed. It was not enough to disown those who got into trouble with
Banda. One had to demonstrate by participating in ridding the areas
of such individuals. Thus, within communities individuals inflicted
great harm on each other in the service of the party. Sometimes rela?
tives betrayed their relations?even spouses?to save themselves.24
Thus, when others resisted dictatorship, those who wanted to please
the dictator persecuted or killed their own people. These are the
individuals Jumbe represents in the song.
Next, Wambali Mkandawire refers to Mr. Chirwa, arrested for pro?
testing the slave trade (line 9). This reference is to Orton Chirwa, who
led the opposition party Malawi Freedom Movement (MAFREMO)

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220 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

in exile.25 Chirwa and his wife Vera were abducted from Zambia in
1981, then tried for treason and sentenced to death. The sentence
was commuted to life imprisonment following international pleas for
clemency. When Mkandawire's song was released in 1991, Chirwa was
still serving a life sentence; he died in prison in November of the
following year. In this song, Chirwa protests Jumbe's slave trade ac?
tivities at Nkhota-kota; by implication, however, he decries Banda's
enslaving of his own people by his autocratic leadership. When people
such as Orton Chirwa fought against injustice, they were arrested,
tortured, or killed. Chirwa here represents all those who stood up
against Banda.
The next part of the song refers to Chilembwe (line 10), an his?
torical figure who died in 1915, long before Banda ruled in Malawi.
Chilembwe was killed while fighting against the exploitation of
Malawians by the British government; his efforts are regarded as the
beginning of the struggle for nationalism in Malawi. This man pro?
tested the colonial government's enlisting Malawians for the First
World War and was subsequently hunted down from Chiradzulu
through Thyolo to Mulanje. His death left the people of Malawi with
no one to speak for them against British imperialism in Zomba (lines
10-14), the capital of the colonial government.
Though seeming to refer to an event in the past, however, the
hunting of Chilembwe by the colonial forces becomes a metaphor
for the hunting of Banda's enemies by secret service agents and MYP
in Malawi. For example, Attati Mphakati was sent a letter bomb in
Zimbabwe, Mkwapatira Mhango was firebombed in Lusaka, Zambia,
and Orton Chirwa was lured to Zambia where he was abducted into

Malawi, condemned to death, and died in prison. Hundreds of others

were detained without trial or disappeared mysteriously, all for
protesting against Banda's politics of enslavement. In addition,
Chilembwe is a symbol of the struggle for justice and fairness in post-
independence Malawi. In the literature after independence, Chi-
lembwe's name is invoked to suggest how leaders have completely
lost the vision of a just and fair society for which this man died fight?
ing.26 Chilembwe's death left people without a spokesman. Similarly,
Banda destroyed everyone who could speak for the people, leaving
them crying, "Who will speak for us?" (line 14).
Finally, Mkandawire invokes another set of memories and warn?
ings with his reference to Dunduzu in line 17. Dunduzu Chisiza died

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 221

in a car accident in 1962 just before independence; his death is widely

believed to have been the work of agents of Banda and the Malawi
Congress Party, one of their first implementations of a politics of
"death and darkness." Chisiza was a young politician who assisted
Orton Chirwa, Chiume, Chipembere and others in building the move?
ment for independence. Chisiza was wary of dictatorship by leaders
or parties and cautioned against investing too much power in one
man. A year before his death, in Africa: What Lies Ahead, he warned of
three things that would bring about dictatorship in Africa: too much
trust, too little trust, and neurotic ambition (1961:16). Chisiza be?
lieved people would handle the latter in the same way that people in
Europe dealt with Napoleon, Hitler, or Mussolini, for "people cannot
heave off the yoke of colonialism and then fail to pulverise under
their feet a demented individual who wants to sit on their necks"

(1961:16). However, he saw the first condition as a particularly da

gerous threat:

When too much trust is reposed in a leader (sometimes) the thing go

to his head and makes him believe that he is infallible. Such a man is

not likely to brook criticism or to welcome alternative suggestions. It is

his idea or nothing. ... [Hence] leaders need a dose of humility. The
need to remind themselves that getting to the top of the political tre
does not necessarily mean that they are more intelligent than othe
people [are]. . . . There are people in the population who, intellectu
ally, are by far the superior of political leaders. In framing policies an
designing measures, therefore, leaders must rely on the public opinion
and opinions of colleagues [rather?] than on their imagined superio
intellects. The task of leadership involves leading as well as following.
(1961:16-17)

These ideas show just how much Chisiza understood the prob
lems that would beset newly independent nations. And as Secretary
General of the MCP, his ideas clearly set him on a direct collisio
course with Banda, who had already begun to show that he wanted
be listened to but not spoken to. So when Wambali Mkandawir
alludes to Dunduzu, he calls to mind the dangers Malawi had bee
warned about and that were then manifest in Banda; he reminds lis
teners of a prophecy fulfilled in Banda's leadership.
Finally, Wambali Mkandawire indicated in an interview that the
"uuu uuu" he hums four times at the end of the song (line 18) repr
sents the four Mwanza accident victims.27 He could not mention their

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222 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

names for fear of censorship. As the so

simply hums "uuu uuu uuh!" to suggest
people that Malawians still cry for. The li
less: it includes all those who disappeare
reign of Banda, whose names and graves
sadness is also indicated in the song's titl
and "Ulanda" means being orphaned af
ents by death. Thus, "Ulanda Wera" cou
become orphans." Though the title mak
expressing the feelings of loss and helple
death of a loved one, the context in wh
and sung also suggests that the nation its
The people of Malawi had become helpless
dictator; they became orphans because Ba
speak and stand up for the people against
This song narrates a long struggle again
colonial period through independence. Mk
direct reference to the actions of Banda o
instead, he alludes to particular individ
ated with them?in order to evoke hist
bodied the nation's present experience. Sl
the hunting and killing of Chilembwe re
exploitation under the leadership of Band
of Orton Chirwa and the activities of Ph
of democracy point to the painful reality
which fulfilled warnings by people like D
The names also reconstruct the history
cal exploitation and oppression that was o
songs and stories. The use of the present
ing") more explicitly retrieves the stories
and casts them into the present. In other
not crying for the past from which Ban
them, nor do they weep only for the family
They also cry because of the present b
the efforts of martyrs and their dreams
rent political realities that are foremos
song; the names of people, the historical c
died, and the cause for which they fought
to interrogate the contemporary politica

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 223

storytelling techniques borrowed from oral traditions?particularly

from proverbs and riddles, where abuse of power or status is ridi?
culed and/or criticized without directly mentioning the subject.
In a political situation like Malawi under Banda, where the gov?
ernment violently suppressed dissent or criticism, artists like every?
one else find it extremely difficult and dangerous to express their
views and those of the many people they might wish to represent. Yet,
their commitment to the purpose makes them dare protest the op?
pression and exploitation, and their access to poetic means makes
those protests possible. The two songs discussed in detail above pro?
test the injustices that Banda and his government perpetuated in
Malawi for about thirty years. Such protest could not have been made
openly or directly without attracting the wrath of the political leader?
ship, which, more often than not, dealt with such protests by deten?
tion without trial, execution, or some form of political persecution.
But by drawing on oral tradition in the form of allusions to well-known
narratives, Wambali Mkandawire was able to articulate the social and
political reality of his time and at the same time elude the tough cen?
sorship laws. Through these resources he narrated the politically
motivated killings of opponents and the massive human rights abuses
that characterized Banda's regime, describing this politics of "death
and darkness" by innuendo rather than by direct reference.

University of Minnesota
Minneapolis-St. Paul

Notes

1. Banda's return to Malawi was by invitation of the leaders of the Nyasala

African Congress, who felt they needed someone older to lead them in th
struggle against the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and to independen
Banda then was in Ghana. He left Britain in 1953.
2. These exiled leaders included Chipembere, Bwanausi, Rose Chibambo
Chiume, and Yatuta Chisiza, among others.
3. Between 1964 and 1971, Banda created institutions and laws that enabled
him to gain absolute power. These included the Censorship Board, Life Presi?
dency inserted into the constitution, the Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP), and
the Preservation of Public Security Act. For example, Banda had power to de?
tain anyone without trial. This power was abused to the extent that individuals

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 224 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

could be punished for delaying/refusing to buy

refusing to dance for him. The Secret Service ag
from the same policies to terrorize the countr
enemies of the party and government. As for
country, the censorship board used a strict code
was publishable or could circulate in Malawi.
pression were unattainable and any call for it o
versive.

4. In 1986, while living with relatives in Nyabadwe, Blantyre, I was having tea
at four o'clock in the afternoon with a friend of the family who had come to visit
from Ndirande township. As we were chatting a young man came into the house
to report that our guest's wife had been arrested when she was seen putting
baby diapers on the laundry lines outside their house. Our guest rushed to the
Ndirande police station where there were hundreds of others arrested from the
same township. It took hours of pleading with the police to secure the release of
his wife. The primary reason she was released was because she was breast?
feeding the baby. Otherwise, she would have spent a year in jail like the rest.
5. See "Sewero la Mbiri ndi Moyo wa M'busaJohn Chilembwe" (A Play of the
Life and Work of Rev. John Chilembwe). The play was broadcast on the radio
every March 3 until 1993.
6. Leroy Vail and Landeg White explain how in sub-Saharan Africa various
forms of oral poetry (including songs) are licensed by a freedom of expression
that violates normal conventions, a license whereby leaders or people in author?
ity such as chiefs and headmen, husbands, fathers, employers, officials and poli?
ticians, and even Life Presidents could be criticized by subordinates (1991:43).
In the case of Malawi, Vail and White use songs by women to suggest a muted
criticism against Banda, where the songs would suggest that Banda is already
aware of some wrong somewhere in the country while in effect he wasn't (287).
My suggestion, however, is that such songs in most instances drew Banda's atten?
tion to situations where someone other than himself was accused of wrong?
doing; these women in effect would be reporting on lesser mortals who had
failed to serve them as expected, but not attacking Banda himself. Eventually,
women found that the surest way of asking for favors from Banda was by asking
for them in song.
7. Napolo refers to a mythical snake that is believed to inhabit the inside of
Zomba Mountain and every so often migrates down the hills to Lake Chilwa,
which lies in the valley below. This journey follows the path of a river; hence the
floods that cause destruction and desolation in their wake. Napolo is also associ?
ated with landslides and earthquakes in the country. Most recently, Napolo has
been linked to AIDS due to the destructive nature of the disease.

8. Chimombo's first volume of poetry is titled Napolo Poems (1987). His s

ond major novel is titled The Wrath of Napolo (2000). And he has named on
his sons Napolo.
9. The Catholic bishops issued a Lenten Pastoral Letter very critical of Pr
dent Banda in March 1992. When the MCP and the government reacted hars
to the letter, students of the University of Malawi (Chancellor College) dem
strated in the streets of Zomba to support the bishops. Then Chakufwa Chi

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness " in Malawi 225

made an open call for a referendum in April that would enable people to choose
between single-party rule and multi-party democracy. He was arrested and
charged with sedition. In May, labor riots turned political when striking workers
at a cloth manufacturing plant in Blantyre demanded political reforms. These
developments were a clear indication of a growing popular uprising against
Banda's dictatorship. Banda bowed to this pressure in October 1992 when he
ordered a national referendum.
10. The story of Sikusinja and Gwenembe circulates in the country as a folktale
In the Aarne-Thompson tale type index it corresponds to AT type 780, The Sing?
ing Bone, in which an instrument made from a murdered man's bones reveal
that he has been killed and secretly buried by his brother. The motif of the
repeated incarnation of the murdered bird echoes elements of AT 715A (Th
Wonderful Cock) or AT 720 (My Mother Slexv Me; My Father Ate Me. The Juniper Tre
(Hasan El-Shamy, personal communication). John W. Gwengwe published the
story as a play (1969).
11. Gwengwe 1969:44-45. Translation mine.
12. These are Dick Matenje (Minister and MP), Aaron Gadama (Minister and
MP), Twaibu Sangala (Minister and MP), and David Chiwanga (MP).
13. "Commission of Inquiry into the Mwanza Accident Report" (Blantyre,
Malawi, January 1995).
14. While the issue of who was to succeed Banda was never for public debat
or speculation, rumors at this time were rife that Banda indicated he was tire
and wanted to go back to the United Kingdom to rest. He wanted to leave Tembo
to act as president. But Matenje, being Secretary General of the Party, wanted t
act because that is what the constitution provided for in the event of a vacanc
in the president's office before elections. He is said to have opposed Tembo
nomination, supported by Gadama and Sangala. The Commission of Inquiry
did not confirm or deny this rumor.
15. By this time, the Alliance for Demoncracy (AFORD) and the United Demo
cratic Front (UDF), though only pressure groups, called on Banda's governmen
to tell the nation what happened to the four politicians. The UDF even tried t
obtain a court order to force Banda to institute an inquiry into the accident. Th
courts refused to grant the application. However, the attempt suggested that onc
AFORD or UDF took power they would institute such an inquiry. So the destruc?
tion of the remaining evidence was imperative. Indeed, President Muluzi insti
tuted an inquiry almost immediately after taking power in 1994.
16. While McWin Kamwana died from natural causes, his death prevented th
nation from ever getting definitive answers about the accident. Hence, the feel?
ing that death got rid of a key witness to the murders.
17. "Move to dispel 'false rumours, unsubstantiated speculation': Ex-Minister
?Full Government Statement," Daily Times, 25 May, 1983 (front page). The state?
ment insisted on the accident theory without elaborating what the rumors o
unsubstantiated speculations were.
18. "Report on the Mwanza Murders," The Nation, 23 August, 1993 (front page)
Also see "Commission of Inquiry" 1995.
19. Wambali Mkandawire, interview by author, Blantyre, Malawi, February 21,
1998.

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226 Reuben Makayiko Chirambo

20. Banda, John Tembo and McWilliam Lunguz

destroyed photographs, the car, and postmort
conspiracy to commit murder and destroy evi
both in the high court and in an appeals court.
that the prosecution did not press murder cha
charges because it was clear that Banda and Te
the murder but might have given the order. E
because Kamwana, who supposedly got the ord
these four, is dead. See also van Donge 1998.
21. I have borrowed the term "death and dark
Chakufwa Chihana, a pro-democracy activist an
mocracy, at Lilongwe International Airport in A
for a national referendum to get people's view
one party dictatorship under Banda or democr
years as decades of death and darkness.
22. Wambali Mkandawire, interview.
23. While the whole country suffered the wei
rebels came from received special attention and
such areas were enforced with more brutal for
resistance. It was a way of punishing them fo
example, the district or area would be given a
before the convention dates. Failure to meet the deadline would be construed

as not being patriotic enough. People were generally asked to do more to s

that they were not in sympathy with rebels.
24. In September 1973, the author was witness to a group of Jehovah
nesses, including women and children, being herded to the Zambian bor
through Rumphi from Nkhata-Bay and other parts of the northern region.
were camped in the community football ground while escorts were makin
"hand-over." Escorts denied them the opportunity to buy food or get wat
drink because they said all these belonged to Kamuzu, whose party they
rejected. Some of them were flogged as a new team of escorts took over to w
them on. It took days to get to the border but during this walk, the Witn
could not eat anything or be given water to drink. Stories of what happen
the border depict some being literally nailed in the head and then pushed ac
the border. However, these are unverified stories.
25. Wambali Mkandawire, interview.
26. Such literature includes Jack Mapanje's poem "Before Chilembwe Tree"
(1981:18) and popular music, such as Weston Mpokosa's "Kunali mabvuto"
(There Were Problems) on his album Ndidzambxvezera Chiyani (What shall I give
back [to God]).
27. Wambali Mkandawire, interview.

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Protesting Politics of "Death and Darkness" in Malawi 227

References Cited

Chisiza, Dunduzu K.
1961 Africa: What Lies Ahead. New Delhi: Indian Council for Africa.
Gwengwe, John W.
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Mapanje, Jack
1974 "The Use of Traditional Literary Forms in Modern Malawian Writi
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1981 Of Chameleons and Gods. London: Heinemann.
1995 "Orality and the Memory of Justice." Leeds African Studies Bulletin
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Mkandawire, Wambali
1988 "Kayuni Njuwi." In Timtamande. Cassette tape. Cape Town: Krakatoa
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1991 "Ulanda Wera." In Kavuluvulu. Cassette tape. Glasgow: Jump Produc?

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Msiska, Mpalive-Hangson
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Roscoe, Adrian, and Mpalive-Hangson Msiska
1992 The Quiet Chameleon: Modern Poetry from Central Africa. London: Hans Zell.
Vail, Leroy, and Landeg White
1991 Power and the Praise Poem: Southern African Voices in History. Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia; London: James Currey.
van Donge, Jan Kees
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