Politics and Geographical

Youth Week in 1980s At the peak of Dr Banda's rule, Youth rally became a tradition in the lives of students in Blantyre. One student was beaten severely on the rehearsals day for displaying a wrong card on Kamuzu's picture. The student was sat on Kamuzu's lower lip.  They immediately changed him after that episode. More at risk were those sat and displaying Kamuzu's eyes. During earlier displays days before,  those on Kamuzu's eyes, on student presented the eye upside down.  We don't know the fate of that student. The MYPs;  Magwaya, Kamanga et al sat at the VIP coordinated the displays. On the actual day, everything went well. Kamuzu's picture was done well, only one student took long to put up his board. And  he was sat on Kamuzu's nose. The official MC handled the issue well, she gave a good narration that the students doing the displays were young but well trained, they take their time.  The whole stadium was anxious while the student was flapping th...

The Bodyguard’s Banishment to Nthalire. How cruel Malawians treat each other in government departments. Working in medieval dark ages in Nyasaland. At that time at MRA Customs and Excise  Dept, you could be in trouble for mounting a DSTV dish on the roof of your house.  While at Chitipa, we heard that some officer was sent to Marka Nyathando border post in Nsanje because,,, fellow officers had reported to the old school seniors that he had a satellite tv dish at home.   The seniors didn’t even have the courtesy to ask how  he managed to purchase that television dish… they just handed him a transfer letter to Marka. Marka Nyathando border post in Nsanje was one of the worst places they could send an officer to just to punish him. And those demons who sent that officer there were commenting,,, “Yeah, we will see how he is going to watch his television at Marka Nyathando with his tv dish.”  Well to give you a picture of how Marka Nyathando was back then,,,, just ma...

The Elliot Kenan Kamwana Chirwa impact on Malawi and influence from Joseph Booth Born in 1884 in Nkhata Bay and educated at Bandawe and Livingstonia Mission.  By 1905 Kamwana had left the Livingstonia mission and went to Cape Town in South. Kamwana met Joseph Booth at Cape Town. Booth had been deported from Nyasaland by Alfred Sharpe in 1899-1902 for agitating that Nyasaland should become independent by 1921. As Booth could return to Nyasaland, he recruited and trained Kamwana to return to Nyasaland with The Watch Tower Movement[Jehovah Witnesses]. Kamwana returned to Nyasaland in 1909. He started preaching that, "In 1914 there will be armageddon.... Nyasaland will be ruled by the natives who will be making their own gunpowder, boats etc'' With this message, Kamwana managed to baptise 10,000 natives in Nkhata bay alone in 1909. He revolutionised the whole country.  Kamwana was arrested dragged to Zomba where the govt decided to deport him.  Kamwana stayed in exile at Chin...

The History of how Malawi ruled Zambia for 21 years -1891 to 1911 Most Zambians joke that Malawi is the extension of Chipata or the 11th province of Zambia little do they know that Zambia itself was actually a province under Nyasaland. The background of how Zambia was to be ruled by Malawi for 21 years started in 1870s with the brothers,  Herbert and Cecil John Rhodes. The Rhodes brothers left Oxford in England and settled in South Africa where they were cultivating cotton. The Rhodes bros became rich when they acquired stakes in the mining industry.  Herbert Rhodes was an adventurer. He abandoned his fortune and left it with his brother, Cecil John Rhodes for an adventure to come to Nyasaland with the Scottish Missionaries in 1870s. In Nyasaland, Herbert Rhodes became a solo elephant hunter. He travelled alot between Lower Shire to Mangochi area hunting elephants.  Herbert Rhodes became a close friend of Chief Katunga and had his house within Katunga's village. One sad d...

The Legend of Matewere One of the most notorious criminals in the history of  Malawi. Matewere's criminal life became one of the most fascinating stories in Malawi when it was covered by the Police Magazine in 1982-83. Four pages of the  Police Magazine covered the escapades of Matewere when he was captured by the Police. Matewere became one of the first criminals to give a full interview published by the Police - on how he conducted his criminal operations. The Police Magazine showed a picture of 6 broken hand cuffs. The handcuffs were broken by a captured suspect.  Those who were very close to the Police then revealed that it was Matewere who broke the 6 different handcuffs when the Police captured him. They said he failed to break the 7th pair of handcuffs.  Matewere was very famous in escaping from jail cells. Matewere would always escape before they Police took him to Court. This time around when he was captured the Police decided to take him to Chichiri Prison ...