Jumani’s DNA matches Kamuzu’s, SA’s backstreet tests reveal
By Nyasa Times
Published: September 6, 2010
The long-awaited preliminary DNA paternity tests have revealed that Jim Jumani Johansson is the biological son of the late tin pot tyrant Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. If the revelation is anything to go by, then the dreaded Pandora’s Box has been opened.
The overnight celebrity Johansson is entangled in a cobweb of a legal tussle to change his surname to Kamuzu Banda, the Malawi’s founding president. The backstreet preliminary DNA paternity tests indicate Jumani is the son of Kamuzu, as he was fondly called, Nyasa Times understands.
According to a source close to Jumani, the 37-year-old Kamuzu lookalike, who is also demanding a DNA test for his paternity to Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda had his DNA and Kamuzu’s DNA matched in South Africa private test which was facilitated by a local unnamed medical expert.
“Jumani’s DNA with Kamuzu matched. Kamuzu’s DNA was secretly taken from the College of Medicine for the purpose of preliminary tests. Jumani has a strong case,” said the source, whose identity shall remain anonymous in line with the known strict adherence to the Nyasa Times editorial policy of respecting our sources.
Members of the Kamuzu family obtained the injunction against Johansson after he reportedly visited Lilongwe offices of the Blantyre Newspapers Limited, one of business empires of the late Malawi’s tyrant ruler who ruled Malawi with an iron fist for 31 years.
Apparently, the High Court has ordered that Jumani can visit the business empire of the founder president for business purposes only not as Kamuzu’s son.
Jumani, as he is popuraly known, was also granted freedom by the same court earlier to use Kamuzu’s name.
According to the ruling by Mzuzu High Court Judge Lovemore Chikopa merely using the name Kamuzu Banda would not cause any damage to the ‘genuine’ Ngwazi dubbed Father and Founder of the Malawi nation.
“People should be free to call themselves whatever they want unless by so doing, they are causing damage to the person. No such damage has been shown to have been caused in this matter,” reads Justice Lovemore Chikopa’s ruling on miscellaneous Civil Cause No 15.
“An order restraining him calling himself Dr Banda’s son would save no useful purpose as many other persons and/or institutions are referring to him in that regard,” Justice Chikopa ruled.
Kamuzu’s most feared intelligence chief (at the notorious Police Special Branch) Martin Focus Gwede revealed that Jumani was a true son of the former dictator thereby adding salt to Jumani’s claims.
Gwede claimed he first saw Jumani and two other Kamuzu sons in the United Kingdom in 1975 when he accompanied Kamuzu and Mama Cecilia Kadzamira. The entourage, according to Gwede included John Tembo, Kamuzu’s right hand man.
“One day Dr. Banda invited me to follow him somewhere and he said Tembo should not come…We went to his house in London and while we were there l saw three boys, and one of them is this one,” Gwede told in the Weekend Nation recently.
He alleged in an interview with the paper that the late Dr. Banda confided in him that the three children including Jumani were his and that he was visiting them to give them money for their upkeep.
The frail and heavily-bearded ex-top police spy singled out John Tembo who was seen as Kamuzu’s closest ally as as the person not even to be told (in confidence) about the fatherhood of Kamuzu, according to the weekend paper.
Published sources give the following account of Kamuzu and his children.
During Kamuzu’s rule, it is believed that he accumulated at least US$320 million in personal assets, believed to be invested in everything from agriculture to mining interests in South Africa.
The most controversial part of this is the suspicion that his two grandchildren, who currently reside in the US and South Africa, are the heirs to the Banda fortune.
One of the grandchildren graduated from law school and left for the US, while the other remains in South Africa.
They may now learn about the existence of these anonymous grandchildren, but most importantly; ‘who and where are Banda’s children?’, most Malawians would like to know. Equally important is the identity and the whereabouts of their mother.
Labels: HASTINGS KAMUZU BANDA, JIM JUMANI JOHANSSON, MALAWI
Read more...
Who is the devil?
By The Post Editor
Fri 23 Apr. 2010, 04:00 CAT
TO lead a people one has to know them.
And it seems Rupiah Banda does not know the type of people he is leading. Rupiah doesn’t realise that today’s Zambia is very different from the Malawi of Kamuzu Banda. Kamuzu ruled Malawi through intimidation, harassment and sometimes even naked brutality.
No one dared to question what he did. Once, Kamuzu remarked that “those who oppose us do meet with accidents” in response to the death of a prominent political opponent who had perished in a road accident.
Like Kamuzu, Rupiah is forgetting that those who are evil also do meet disastrous ends; those who rely on brutality to keep themselves in power are bound to come to grief at one point or another. This is why it is also said that the mark of great leaders is the ability to understand the context in which they are operating and act accordingly. It is folly for anyone to think that today’s Zambia can be successfully governed through intimidation and brutality.
This is a different breed of Zambians that will not be silenced into submission. Free speech and other democratic practices are starting to take root in the lives and hearts of our people. This is not because of people like Rupiah and his corrupt, crooked and thieving friend Frederick Chiluba. It is despite their attempts to silence everyone who opposes them, including the free press. Who doesn’t know what Chiluba did to those he thought were a threat to his hold on power? Kenneth Kaunda, Rodger Chongwe and many others who did not submit to Chiluba’s corrupt ways are today very lucky to be among the living.
Six months after Kamuzu came to power, all hell broke loose. Some of his closest compatriots had to flee at short notice and take refuge in neighbouring countries like Zambia. A despot was born.
It is interesting that not long after Rupiah came to power, the country has been fed on a continuous diet of threats, intimidation and blackmail. Anyone who opposes Rupiah is threatened with one form of judicial or extrajudicial action of one form or another.
The people around Rupiah are not helping him. They are reinforcing Rupiah’s propensity towards intimidation and victimisation of his opponents. The likes of George Kunda, Lameck Mangani, Ronnie Shikapwasha and William Banda are moulding Rupiah into a type of Kamuzu. If you disagree with Rupiah, you are in danger; you are a devil.
But it would be wrong to say that Rupiah is behaving in the way that he is because of the people around him. Rupiah is a grown man who makes his own choices. And he has made it very clear that he does not tolerate dissenting views. Anybody who dissents is punished. This is Rupiah’s mode of operation.
The other day when he addressed a press conference on the Copperbelt, he decided to shamelessly, blatantly and brazenly intimidate all those who work with him. His words were not the words of a democrat. What he said was not consistent with what obtains in a democratic country governed in accordance with the rule of law.
Rupiah should not accuse us of distorting what he said. He is what he said with his own mouth: “Let me warn that government officers no matter how senior they may be, they do not have the authority to challenge my directive.
The civil servants’ role is meant to implement government decisions generally and presidential orders specifically, just as they are given, whether one agrees with them or not. Unfortunately that is how life is. If you are given a directive and you are the employee of government and don’t fulfil, you will be removed. It doesn’t matter what political party you come from and those leaders who are telling you to oppose will not be there to give you a job. You will just make your family suffer.”
This is what Rupiah said in Kitwe this week.
Rupiah was telling public officers that they should obey every instruction that he gives them or risk being fired. By saying what he said, Rupiah is forgetting one simple but very fundamental prerequisite to obeying any instruction, that is, such an instruction should in all circumstances be lawful. This is probably what Rupiah is grappling with. He expects people to obey him even when his instructions raise legal problems.
We say this because in the time that Rupiah has been President, so many things have happened which have put pressure on public officials. Rupiah has wanted to ensure that things are done which are not always straightforward. This seems to be the reason he is now resorting to threats. To him, professional advice from civil servants and other public officers is tantamount to political opposition and his reaction is to threaten dismissal in order to force capitulation.
We should not forget that since Rupiah came to power, there have been so many scandals that if the civil servants and other public officers are obeying him in all his wishes, they may end up in trouble themselves. Soon after coming to power, there was the Selex radar controversy at the airport which was associated with Rupiah’s family.
There is also the RP Capital and Zamtel privatisation controversy which is linked to his family as well. These are not the only controversial procurements that seem to interest Rupiah. It is now beyond question that Rupiah has been pushing for the acquisition of the impractical mobile hospitals at exorbitant prices. What about the boreholes that they want to sink at K40 million per borehole? The list seems endless. The procurement of oil is another area where rotten things have been going on. Rupiah’s government tried to collude with one of the bidders. They only changed direction after they were exposed.
No one is obliged to obey directives that are unlawful and those who do should know that they are doing it at their own peril. People who like giving directives that they know to be unlawful or illegal do not have the courage to put their requests in writing. They like to give verbal directives. Those who are working in government today should know that they will only have themselves to blame if they take illegal verbal instructions.
When the day comes to explain why they did what they did, they will have no way of explaining. It is unfortunate that Rupiah could go on a public platform and threaten public officers in the manner that he did. If the instructions and directives that he has been giving are in the best interest of the country, then indeed no one should have any problems implementing them.
The civil service exists to translate the policies of government into lawful activities. But if directives are of an operational nature and not founded in law, then the technocrats, the civil servants and other public officers are going to have difficulties implementing them.
Rupiah’s threat to the public servants and his demand that his directives must be followed has raised a fundamental question: how is Rupiah running government? What are these directives that he is giving that are not being followed that he is now annoyed and resorting to threats? We say this because the function of the president is not supposed to be the micro-managing of every detail, of every contract or tender – he shouldn’t be a tenderprenuer.
Rupiah’s rantings on the Copperbelt gave the impression that some of his petty projects are being frustrated by civil service professionalism and procedures. This is why he saw it fit to tell the civil servants that if they don’t obey his directives, he will fire them and their families will suffer. How can a President sink so low? How can the President be so devilish, so brutish and vindictive?
This is truly the incarnation of the devil himself. He called us devils for simply pointing out the shortcomings of his management style of our national affairs but his actions and threats are showing us who the true devil is. Or if not, who has befriended the devil. It’s no wonder that Rupiah today sees everything damn good in the little devil that robbed our poor people of billions of kwacha or millions of dollars to buy designer clothes in Europe and to pay for the services of girlfriends.
All in all, it can be said that Rupiah has problems respecting the law and its dictates. To him being President has placed him above the law. He has deluded himself into believing that he is omnipotent and that his orders are law itself and should be obeyed. But we are reminded that “a group of people who have no respect for the law is like a pile of kindling; they will meet a fiery end. Every lawless act lives an incurable wound, like one left by a double edged sword” (Sirach 21).
If Rupiah wants to lead well and aspire to any form of greatness, he needs to learn to do the simple things of life that constitute goodness. Respect for the law is one of them. Telling the truth and listening to the people that he leads whether he likes them or thinks they are devils may just help him. Rupiah must stop his threats. And those working with him must tell him that you cannot govern by threats and intimidation. Praising thieves will do him no good.
Labels: HASTINGS KAMUZU BANDA, LEADERSHIP, RUPIAH BANDA
Read more...
Where is Malawi’s Freedom Day?
By Nyasa Times
Published: February 9, 2010
It is official!! Freedom Day has been removed – a public holiday in Malawi to mark and commemorate the second emancipation of the people of Malawi. It was a day on which we should desire to reflect and ponder upon the noble achievement of our heroes and all those we venerate; most specifically for ending 31 atrocious, repressive and oppressive years under the one party system of government led by the late Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda and the Malawi Congress Party.
Our first emancipation is commemorated as we celebrate the attainment of our Republican status on July 6, every year. On this day we also commemorate the arrival of Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda from Ghana on July 6, 1958. In the same vein we would write correct history if we capture events as they unfolded.
This day and Holiday should be restored and dedicated to the advent of multiparty politics. It also marked the unleashing of the various God given freedoms and rights. This noble accomplishment has no chronological support for June 14. We need to rethink this matter and urgently put issues into perspective.
This day, event and its observance would not express satisfactorily its deserved appropriateness, relevance, and significance without taking note of or reviewing the works of particular individuals and institutions that initiated and consummated this noble task and when.
We are all aware of when the Catholic Bishops in Malawi raised the initial alarm with their pastoral letter in which they high lighted what they deemed immoral in the process and system of governance in Malawi. The contents of this letter were endorsed by the majority of Malawians as absolute truth and pertinent. The University of Malawi also added their voice in support of the same; and to condemn the death threats that were issued against the clergy by the Malawi Congress Party cadres for authoring the candid scroll.
However, the context of the matter as it evolved became substantively political, and there was none at that material moment from the political fraternity who could brave to move the public opinion caused by the pastoral letter further, even though the masses were adequately sensitized and converted enough to act.
The nation was at cross roads. To the governing elite and a majority of party cadres in the then “mighty” MCP, it was unimaginable that an individual would rise and raise a voice against the Ngwazi. The general atmosphere was that of “shock and awe”, especially about what was to befall the Catholic clergy.
In this moment of unease and tension it was abundantly clear that the nation needed some one, who had had youthful years and mature accomplishments, one who had the courageous commitment to venture into uncharted career waters, with a commitment to intellectual excellence. And as the events of April 6, 1992 made it clear, we had found one; none other than late Chakufwa Tom Chihana (pictured).
In the power of the Almighty God, Chakufwa spoke and we all heard him challenge the one party system of government and call for political pluralism and democracy in Malawi. That is the Freedom Day for Malawi- April 6.
He did not individualize the fight; it was he and the Alliance for Democracy AFORD that epitomized the process of democratization in Malawi.
It was AFORD and Chihana that drew the chronological agenda which the MCP government eventually implemented: Namely, holding a national Referendum for Malawians to choose between the one party political system and the multi party political system, followed by the declaration of general amnesty to allow exiles to return to their homeland and participate in further events to follow – holding a general election for Malawians to elect a government of their choice. This chronological agenda was duly adopted and implemented by the Ngwazi and the Malawi government.
It is therefore our considered view in the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), that as a liberation movement in the 90s, we delivered the initial goal. We further acknowledge and greatly appreciate the unprecedented and tremendous support the party enjoyed from Malawians of all walks of life, young and old, male and female.
We also in a special way acknowledge the support of the international community without which the process of the second emancipation would have been slower and more painful than it was accomplished. It should also be anticipated that our National Assembly will take interest in the matter and discern serendipity of it in the name of genuine democracy and nationhood
In the same breath, we humbly call upon all that subscribe to this reality, AFORD members and other support groups, friends of AFORD locally and abroad, our trusted friends in the Diplomatic circles, the Faith community, to relive and recall the events of 1992 to 1994, and revalidate the role AFORD played, in the hope that we may find cause not to abandon AFORD merely due to the flippant and frivolous misunderstandings that recently inhibited the party’s activities and progress.
Good news is, all that intra-party bickering was sheer delinquency which the party has competently resolved. That makes it imperative for the lovers and defenders of democracy to engage and examine this party to encourage, reinvigorate and redirect it in the way of progress.
We call upon the Forum for New Direction (FOND), Public Affairs Committee (PAC), and GTZ Forum for Dialogue and Peace, Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and all those civil society organizations that feel concerned about the plight of this historically significant liberation movement to speedily harness a consortium to restore form in AFORD.
This should include, helping to plan, conduct and coordinate the party’s next convention where new and able leadership shall be selected and elected, tidy up its constitution to remove all manner of ambiguity and perfect its ideology as well as educate/train its cadres accordingly.
*The author is the National Elections Director of Alliance for Democracy (Aford)
Labels: FREEDOM DAY (MALAWI), HASTINGS KAMUZU BANDA
Read more...
Dear Kamuzu Banda
By Nyasa Times
Published: November 28, 2009
Sir, sorry that I have to write you at this time of the year, and at a time when your soul is peacefully Resting In eternal Peace. But, I am sure that wherever you are, as the founder of the nation, and one who was booted out of power on reasons of dictatorship, to pave way for multiparty democracy, you could be more concerned about the plight of Malawians, fifteen years down the line, since your tragic fall from echelons of power, and about a decade ago since your demise.
I write you because I think we have derailed and need peaceful intervention of saints to pray for our country. Knowing that you are closer to canonised saints up there, I thought you would confide in them. We have not gone too far the bad way, but certainly political leaders are taking us too far there.
We refuse this.
Sir, in my beautiful country, I never knew I had to come from a particular region until a while ago. I never knew I had to search for my tribe till days ago. I never knew my parents come from two different tribes and regions till a week ago. I am now left wondering, figuring out my tribe. My surname is not enough, where I am presently staying matters even more.
You may think I am the only one in this predicament, nay, there are several others experiencing it this way.
You see, it is now important that one knows where s/he comes from. It will soon be a basis for one’s selection into the university. It may also give one an advantage or two over others to get somewhere in this society… so on and so forth.
Leaders, fifteen years after you were dethroned, are publicly uttering divisive and tribalist speeches. They are openly referring to Malawians as Southerners, Central(lers), Northerners and Easterners. And, they go as far as referring to one region as only being a friend to the rest, for instance, “anzathu a [ku chagawo chakuti].
In fact, statistics have been worked out to demonstrate how much more people of particular regions contribute to the country’s GDP. How this can be calculated in a country where each region has people from any other, is a puzzle for your thought.
Sir, how best do you explain it when appointments are being made based on political, tribal and regional belonging? You may frown, but that is some reality.
Well, it could be coincidence that those who qualify and please the appointing authority every time there is a vacancy for top positions are only those from one system of thought. However, should it still read as coincidence when it goes beyond three times? I know you have the best answer, you equally have experienced power in abundance, not so?
After all, it is also claimed you are the first architect of this unwritten policy.
Sometimes one would want to blame you. You know what? The whole breed of national leaders, enjoying in the perfumed gardens of power, wealth, corruption, and sycophancy, are products of your mentorship, directly or indirectly.
They have recycled over and over again. Some have lost taste, but still hold on to the stage, even when the show is over and curtains have been drawn.
This breed of politicians still practices the type you taught them. Political threats, unilateral decisions, bootlicking, political arrests, a culture of political and party ‘henchmen’ (though gender insensitive) and arrogance. It is not a surprise that most leave the stage, one by one, through an embarrassing vote of no confidence. Ask JZU and Muluzi.
The country has been rocked with issues of third term, open term, bouncing back, section 65, intraparty democracy, lack of party conventions so on and so forth. There is no better explanation than to reveal that these leaders have read the concepts of democracy but can not practice them, they can not upgrade their mental operating systems.
I assure you, a medical doctor working on their brains would recommend a complete overhaul and formatting of their grey matter. It is gone past its usefulness. It should not even get closer to the younger generation for fear of contamination. It is contagious, unfortunately.
Aaah! It is the second time I am writing you. The first time was through The Nation, in 2004. Yes, I was a varsity student then. I could not cope with academic pressure and at the same time writing you from time to time. Hence, the break. I do not promise, but once in a while, I will be writing you.
Rest in eternal Peace.
Labels: HASTINGS KAMUZU BANDA, MALAWI
Read more...
