MPASU - THE FORSAKEN VOICE

A concern for Mpasu; lest we forget BY ANANIYA ALICK PONJE He was known to many as a very influential politician who never minced words where he thought some truth that needed to be divulged was being trumped beneath some unscrupulous desires of some individuals. He started politics way back during his days at Chancellor College, a constituent college of the University of Malawi where he once served as president of the students union. The former president, father and founder of Malawi, the late Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda saw him to be a threat, and subsequently bayed for his blood. He was deemed to be a very defiant student who had the guts to openly criticize the then political system. And he has two well-written books to his credit; the books which are written with so much creativity that the reader is once forced to read them more. The titles of the books are Nobody’s Friend published in 1975 and Political Prisoner 3/75 published after the introduction of multiparty politics. They are fictitious, but they were intended to convey a deeper actual message which could not be expressed in ‘normal’ literature. He used fiction to present reality. His first writings were published when academicians were taken to be enemies of government because they could not hesitate to put onto paper what they deemed to be anomalies in government but could not divulge them. He is just one of the many academicians who hid behind fiction when they wanted to disseminate politically-sensitive information. At least they were safe in fiction because they would easily claim that it had no any resemblance to any person whether living or dead. But he said he wrote because he just felt like writing, not as a profession. Such is the authority of literature, especially fiction. After leaving the University, he served in a number of top political positions. He was once a member of the cabinet and as a Speaker of the National Assembly. He has also served in different capacities in the United Democratic Front (UDF). After serving as the party’s spokesman, a position which he last held before being sent into the jaws of agony, he attracted the centre of public attention when he was the first to point out that Muluzi’s chances of winning in the last general elections were very slim. This was a time when the former head of state was craving for another go despite having already served this country as the first citizen for the constitutional maximum period of two consecutive terms. He could not mince words. He had no time to play bootlicking politics. To him, the very truth had to be articulated the moment it was needful, without caring much about whether it would cost him any benefits or not. Such is a man who is now languishing behind the bars of Chichiri Maximum Prison, serving a 6-year jail term for him involvement in the British firm Fieldyork International notebook scandal. Nobody’s Friend is believed to be the reason he was incarcerated for two years from January 1975 to February 1977. Head of Special Branch Focus Gwede asked in one of his questions what the book was all about, and was mostly concerned with the part in the book which talked about a president being assassinated. This was taken as the author’s desire to topple Dr. Banda’s government. Mpasu realized that the people who got offended by his Nobody’s Friend interpreted the book out of context by concentrating only on the title which appeared to refer to South Africa which was being condemned by the whole of Africa including the west. However, this was the time when Dr. Banda was establishing a conducive relationship with this rejected country. He believes Dr. Banda was interpreting the book to mean that he (Dr. Banda) was taken to be nobody’s friend by befriending a country which was no other country’s friend. Mpasu was once thrown into Zomba Prison and Mikuyu Prison because of his writings and when he came out of prison in 1977 he was stamped by government authorities not to work anywhere in Malawi, not even to operate any legitimate business. Obviously that meant he was not wanted in Malawi anymore; a country where he was born, where his family was, where his life was and where his roots were. He was offered a job by a certain company but government blocked it. He was offered a job by IndeBank, but it was blocked as well. It was when he was offered a job by Lever Brothers when he was not blocked. That it what this man toiling with life in prison went through just because he had written a novel; a novel that is enjoyed by many and can be read over and over again. Mpasu also at some point worked with the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI). In 1991, he was involved in the UDF’s secret meetings with some other individuals. By then the group was operating as an undergoing movement because Dr. Banda would not allow any party to operate in the country. Mpasu’s second book which was published soon after the UDF wrestled power from the first head of state mostly narrates his experience while he was in prison. The book basically recounts what he went through during the MCP era which he never wanted to be wiped from the history of Malawi. This is typical of what Jack Mapanje advocates for in his poem Scrubbing The Furious Walls of Mikuyu. They both fight for the truth to always reign so that history is not twisted. They both don’t want the truth to be wiped out of human memory. There is something odd about Mpasu’s Fieldyork conviction and subsequent sentencing. Only a few people appeared to sympathize with the former legislator. Even the party which he had been its spokesperson before he was stripped of the position, seemed not to commiserate with his welfare, perhaps because he had somehow turned against it in his pursuit for truth, justice and genuine democracy in the party. His former boss Bakili Muluzi did not express any sorrow at Mpasu’s conviction and he seemed to rejoice because of the same. When he was the spokesperson of the UDF, Mpasu made it clear that Malawi’s constitution barred the former president from standing as a presidential candidate since he had already served two terms in office. “The constitution, specifically in Section 83, Subsection three, says that a president or a vice president will serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. There is no dispute about that because he serves a maximum of two consecutive terms, but the legal minds seem to have different interpretations of that,” Mpasu was quoted as saying by Voice of America. That was obviously some sort of peculiar confidence, because it was a time when almost every top member of the UDF could not get the guts to utter anything that would displease the former head of state, because the party was being taken as his personal estate. Mpasu noted that Malawi might be plunged into legal battles if the former president decided to stand again as a presidential candidate of the UDF and wins the elections. But then afterwards, no one seemed to sense anything in Mpasu’s sentiments and his conviction became a social podium where different individuals and organisations thought they would articulate something. Even The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) through its Executive Director Undule Mwakasungula announced that it was “pleased that at last the truth surrounding the long-standing high profile corruption case involving former Minister of Education Sam Mpasu has prevailed.” In their polite view Mpasu’s conviction was yet another evidence of government’s commitment towards fighting corruption. The CHRR agreed with the view of the Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Chifundo Kachale, who convicted Mpasu on all three counts of abuse of office. But perhaps the question that needs to be thoroughly addressed is whether or not Mpasu was the only one involved in corrupt practices during the Muluzi era. Are all those high-profile politicians occupying high positions in different capacities coming clean as long as corruption in the Muluzi era was concerned? It is pathetic to note that even though corruption was said to be very rampant in the Muluzi administration, only a few ‘unlucky’ individuals have been brought to book. Are a few convicted individuals the only ones who were corrupt? Or are others’ cases being staved off because they are in government now? Whatever the truth is, only time will tell! In the CHRR’s press release, it was emphasized that Mpasu’s conviction should serve as a warning to others in government and even the opposition that in the current dispensation there is no way anyone can get away with theft or corruption. Yet complaints have been made for times without number that government is only probing those in opposition while shielding those in government. Whatever might be the basis of the complaints, there is never smoke without fire. To another extent, the CHRR has to be applauded for reminding government that it should not only probe those in opposition, but even those in government too. But has the rights organization done enough to ensure there is transparency in the handling of corruption cases? There were corruption allegations leveled against the then Information Minister, Patricia Kaliati, but they were concluded in a very suspicious way. Or are they still being pursued? Now having said all this, is there anything that can be done for Mpasu other than that he should finish his jail term? Can’t the president do something about this jailed politician? Does Mpasu no longer matter in Malawi politics? Is he just a victim of political retaliation? And finally, is Mpasu the only one from the Muluzi administration who was eligible of being convicted? A stream of questions may follow, but the fact remains that Mpasu has contributed a lot to Malawi politics and education. Through his pen, he fought against the former head of state Dr. Banda. Through his voice, he said the truth about a number of things that would not have been revealed by many. He might have indeed erred somewhere, but were things supposed to be like that for him; for him alone and no one else? Is he paying a price for something? Now his name has almost been completely thrust into the mist of history. Does he deserve this end? This is just a concern for Mpasu. A concern for this besieged politician living within the walls of Chichiri Prison. Maybe even now, his pen is his only weapon; a weapon that consoles him in the kind of agony he is undergoing.