Malawi’s Lost Years (1964-1994)

by Doug Miller, Kapote Mwakasungura

Malawi is a small and poorly known country, but the crimes
committed against its people by the brutal dictatorship of Dr Hastings
Kamuzu Banda are a part of our shared human history. It is about what
happens when governments turn state violence on their own people with
impunity. The book gives voice to Malawians who were arbitrarily
imprisoned, who fled for their lives into exile, or who suffered
silently under the regime’s state-sponsored terror from 1964 to 1994.
These are not easy stories for the victims to tell and people in power
do not want them to be made public. To add to the indignity endured by
the regime’s victims, Malawi’s current leadership has been
rehabilitating Banda’s image and honouring him, despite well-documented
reports of atrocities and abuse of human rights. Nevertheless, even
unpleasant history must be openly faced, discussed and acknowledged to
provide lessons for the future. The book helps redress this one-sided
revision of Malawian history. Fifty years after independence, the Malawi
people continue to suffer in absolute poverty and in greater numbers
than ever, because the lessons of history from Malawi’s lost years have
not been learned.

£38.00

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Paperback

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About the author

Doug Miller

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.

Kapote Mwakasungura

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.