Malawi's Lost Years (1964-1994)

Doug Miller - Originally from Ottawa, Doug taught in Malawi from 1968 to 1972 and married his fellow teacher, Nellie Saka, from Kasungu. He was Country Director for Canadian University Service Overseas in Malawi from 1975-76 but fled with his family into exile because the level of oppression had become unsafe and unbearable. There, he became active in LESOMA, the Socialist League of Malawi. In the early 1990s, Doug and Nellie were deeply involved in the Malawi Action Committee and Canadian Friends of Malawi, advocating and lobbying governments and international organisations to bring about an end to the Banda dictatorship. In retirement, he has been active as Director of Makupo Development Group in Montreal, which supports education, health, water, and income generation projects in the Chilanga area near Kasungu. 

Archibald Kapote Mwakasungura was a student activist who fled Malawi for exile in Tanzania in October 1964 when Kamuzu installed his brutal dictatorship. Kapote lived and studied in Dar es Salaam and later taught at the Mzumbe Institute of Development Management in Morogoro, now the University of Mzumbe. In 1974, he, together with four Malawians, founded the Socialist League of Malawi (LESOMA) and served as its highly respected Secretary-General. In the democratic dispensation in 1992-94, he became a key player as a member of the Transitional National Consultative Council (NCC) and helped to draw up the New Malawi Constitution. Later, he served as High Commissioner to Zimbabwe from 1995 to 1998. He is now retired and still an active politician. He is the Chairman of the Uraha Foundation Malawi, which oversees the prestigious Cultural and Museum Centre Karonga. He is also the Group Village Headman in his village at Kasoba where his young brother is the Paramount Chief of Karonga and Chitipa Districts.