SAM MPASU

A concern for Mpasu; lest we forget All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. – Albert Einstein. …But do we need to sit back and appreciate the fact that reason and honest good have little influence in the political field? Can’t we still do something? Who knows, maybe the bits of our reason and honest good will finally produce a bunch that will exert some influence in the political field. But whatever the case, this is just a concern for Sam, Samuel, Samson, Sameer Mpasu; Mpasu the writer and Mpasu the politician…Mpasu the forsaken voice. 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 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. 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. He was once a member of the cabinet and a Speaker of the National Assembly. He also served in different capacities in the 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 been president for two consecutive terms. Mpasu could not mince words. He had no time to play bootlicking politics. To him, the very truth had to be disclosed 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 his involvement in the British firm Fieldyork International notebook scandal. Nobody’s Friend is believed to be the reason he was imprisoned from January 1975 to February 1977. The then 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 Dr. Banda got offended by his Nobody’s Friend because he interpreted the book out of context by concentrating only on the title which might have been taken to refer to South Africa which was being rejected by the whole of Africa. However, this was the time when Dr. Banda was establishing a relationship with this rejected country. He believes Dr. Banda was interpreting the book to mean that he was taken to be nobody’s friend by befriending a country which was no other country’s friend. When he came out of prison he was stamped by government 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. That is 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. His second book which was published soon after the UDF wrestled power from Dr. Banda mostly narrates his experience while 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. 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. When he was UDF spokesperson, he made it clear that Malawi’s constitution barred Muluzi from standing as a presidential candidate since he had already served two terms in office. 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 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 podium where different individuals and organisations thought they would make some analysis. 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.” 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! 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 body done enough to ensure there is transparency in the handling of corruption cases? 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? 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.