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The Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) was an organisation that evolved into a political party in Nyasaland during the colonial period. The NAC was suppressed in 1959,but was succeeded in 1960 by the Malawi Congress Party,which went to on decisively win the first universal suffrage elections in 1961,and to lead the country to independence as Malawi in 1964.
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The Devlin Commission,officially the Nyasaland Commission of Inquiry,was a Commission of Inquiry set up in 1959 under the chairmanship of Mr.Justice Devlin,later Lord Devlin,after African opposition to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland,particularly its farming and rural conservation policies,and demands for progress towards majority rule promoted by the Nyasaland African Congress under its leader Dr Hastings Banda led to widespread disturbances in Nyasaland and some deaths. A state of emergency was declared in March 1959;about 1,300 people,many of whom were members of the Nyasaland African Congress party,were detained without trial,over were 2,000 imprisoned for offences related to the emergency and the Congress itself was banned. During the State of Emergency and the week preceding it,a total of 51 people were killed by troops or the police. Although the four members of the Commission were members of The British Establishment,its findings were highly unfavourable to the Nyasaland Government.
The cabinet crisis of 1964 in Malawi occurred in August and September 1964 shortly after independence when,after an unresolved confrontation between the Prime Minister,Hastings Banda and the cabinet ministers present on 26 August 1964,three ministers and a parliamentary secretary were dismissed on 7 September. These dismissals were followed by the resignations of three more cabinet ministers and another parliamentary secretary,in sympathy with those dismissed. Initially,this only left the President and one other minister in post,although one of those who had resigned rescinded his resignation within a few hours. The reasons that the ex-ministers put forward for the confrontation and subsequent resignations were the autocratic attitude of Banda,who failed to consult other ministers and kept power in his own hands,his insistence on maintaining diplomatic relations with South Africa and Portugal and a number of domestic austerity measures. It is unclear whether the former ministers intended to remove Banda entirely,to reduce his role to that of a non-executive figurehead or simply to force him to recognise collective cabinet responsibility. Banda seized the initiative,firstly,by dismissing some of the dissidents rather than negotiating,and secondly,by holding a debate on a motion of confidence on 8 and 9 September 1964. As the result of the debate was an overwhelming vote of confidence,Banda declined to reinstate any of the ministers or offer them any other posts,despite the urging of the Governor-General to compromise. After some unrest,and clashes between supporters of the ex-ministers and of Banda,most of the former left Malawi in October with their families and leading supporters,for Zambia or Tanzania. One ex-minister,Henry Chipembere went into hiding inside Malawi and,in February 1965 led a small,unsuccessful armed uprising. After its failure,he was able to arrange for his transfer to the USA. Another ex-minister,Yatuta Chisiza,organised an even smaller incursion from Mozambique in 1967,in which he was killed. Several of the former ministers died in exile or,in the case of Orton Chirwa in a Malawian jail,but some survived to return to Malawi after Banda was deposed and to return to public life.
Augustine Bwanausi was born in Malawi,then called Nyasaland,in 1930 and trained as a science teacher,but was also politically active in the Nyasaland African Congress,campaigning for the end of colonial rule. In March 1959,a State of Emergency was declared,and Bwanausi was arrested as a leading Congress member and detained until 1960. On his release,he joined the Malawi Congress Party and in 1961 was elected to the Legislative Council,becoming Minister of Internal Affairs and Development in the same year. In 1963,he became Minister of Works. In 1964,there was a confrontation between Banda and most of his ministers,which led to the sacking of Bwanausi and two of his cabinet colleagues in September 1964. Three other cabinet ministers resigned in sympathy,and although Banda was willingness to re-instate Bwanausi and one or two other ministers,their insistence on all be reinstated ended any hope of a reconciliation. In October 1964,Bwanausi left Malawi for Zambia,where he resumed teaching,and was active in Malawian exile politics until his death in a car accident in 1973.
Willie Chokani,who was born in Malawi,then called Nyasaland,in 1930,and had a variety of careers;as a teacher,a politician and a diplomat. He has also spent time in prison and was exiled from Malawi for almost 30 years after a confrontation with Hastings Banda,the first Prime Minister of the independent Malawi,in 1964. Chokani received a secondary education,which enabled him to attend university in Delhi and obtain teaching qualifications. He returned to Nyasaland in 1957 to become the first African headmaster in the protectorate,and was also politically active in the Nyasaland African Congress,campaigning for the end of colonial rule. In March 1959,a State of emergency was declared,and Chokani was arrested as a leading Congress member and detained until 1960. On his release,he joined the Malawi Congress Party and in 1961 was elected to the Legislative Council,becoming Minister of Labour in 1962. In 1964,there was a confrontation between Banda and most of his ministers,which led to the sacking of three cabinet members in September 1964. Chokani and two other cabinet ministers resigned in sympathy,and although Banda was willingness to re-instate Chokani and one or two other ministers,their insistence on all be reinstated ended any hope of a reconciliation. Chokani left Malawi for Zambia,where he resumed teaching,and was active in Malawian exile politics. He returned to Malawi in 1993,and in 1994 became Malawi's ambassador to the USA,later holding other diplomatic posts until his retirement. .
Albert Andrew Muwalo Gandale Nqumayo was a prominent politician in Malawi from the 1960s until he was sacked in 1976 and was executed in 1977. He entered politics in the mid 1950s through involvement in a hospital worker's trade union and membership of the Nyasaland African Congress,where his activities led to his detention without trial during the 1959 State of Emergency in Nyasaland. After his release,he joined the Malawi Congress Party (MCP),and became locally prominent in Ntcheu District as district MCP chairman and from 1962 as Member of Parliament for Ntcheu South. In 1963,he became Administrative Secretary of the MCP,and he was a prominent supporter of the then-Prime Minister,Hastings Banda during the Cabinet Crisis of 1964. Muwalo was rewarded for his loyalty with the cabinet post of Minister of Information in 1964,and in 1966 he became Minister of State in the President's Office. His close contact with Banda,both as minister in Banda's office and in the MCP gave him great power and,during the first half of the 1970s he and his relative,the Head of the Police Special Branch Focus Gwede,were heavily involved in the political repression of actual or suspected opponents of the Banda regime. In 1976 he and Gwede were arrested:the reasons for their arrests were unclear,but may have resulted from a power struggle among those around the ageing president or simply because he became too powerful and may have been seen by Banda as a threat. In 1977,the two were tried before a Traditional Court and after a trial whose fairness was in serious doubt,were both sentenced to death. Gwede was reprieved,but Muwalo was hanged on 3 September 1977.
The Nyasaland Emergency 1959 was a state of emergency in the protectorate of Nyasaland,which was declared by its governor,Sir Robert Armitage on 3 March 1959 and which ended on 16 June 1960. Under the emergency powers that operated during the Emergency,over 1,300 members or supporters of the Nyasaland African Congress (Congress) were detained without trial,and most of the party's leaders including its president,Dr. Hastings Banda,were imprisoned in Southern Rhodesia after being arrested on 3 March. Many other Africans were jailed for offences related to the Emergency,including rioting and criminal damage. In the week before the Emergency was declared and during its first month,over 50 Africans were killed and many more wounded by the colonial security forces,which included many European troops from Southern Rhodesia. Others were beaten by troops or armed police or had their huts destroyed and their property seized during punitive operations undertaken during the Emergency.
Michael Hill Blackwood CBE was a lawyer and politician who spent most of his working life in colonial Nyasaland and in Malawi in the early years of its independence. Although he represented the interests of European settlers before independence and opposed both the transfer of power to the African majority and the break-up of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland,he remained in the country as a member of its legislature after Malawi’s independence and until his retirement on 1983.
References
- ↑ Kenneth R Ross (2013) Malawi and Scotland Together in the Talking Place Since 1859, African Books Collective, p178
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Colin Cameron Collection of Nyasaland / Malawi Government Documents Archives Hub
- 1 2 3 Owen J. M. Kalinga (2012) Historical Dictionary of Malawi, Rowman & Littlefield, p73
- ↑ Andrew C Ross (2009) Colonialism to Cabinet Crisis: A Political History of Malawi, African Books Collective, p196
- ↑ Colin Baker (2001) Revolt of the Ministers: The Malawi Cabinet Crisis 1964-1965, I.B.Tauris, p9
- ↑ Billy Kay (2011) The Scottish World: A Journey Into the Scottish Diaspora, Random House
- ↑ Andrew C Ross, p7
- ↑ Baker, p103
- ↑ Baker, p101
- ↑ Baker, p138
- ↑ Baker, p355