Murray William Kanyama Chiume was by no means a political midget. He was a true African nationalist leader who not onlyassisted in the liberation of Nyasaland form colonial oppression, but was a friend of many African leaders who shared the same freedom aspirations to his own. 
His relationship with Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, whose parents some believe came from Nkhata Bay before settling in Kasungu, making the two vitual “homeboys” was to say the least a father and son relationship.
Chiume was born in Nkhata Bay District Nyasaland , and described his given name, Kanyama, as meaning "another piece of meat for you," a wry joke by parents who had grown wearily accustomed to death in their family.
Chiume's younger brother died at two months, and Chiume's own mother died the following day, aged 37. After the funeral, Chiume went with his uncle to his native Tanganyika (now Tanzania). He attended schools in Dar es Salaam in the mid-1940s.
At a time when this coastal city was a hotbed of African nationalist political activity. In his last year at Tabora Upper School he became Secretary of the Debating Society.
Polishing rhetorical skills which would later be much admired when he entered politics in Nyasaland (now Malawi). At Tabora Upper School he reportedly invited an alumnus, Julius Nyerere, to join him in debating against white colonial teachers and administrators on political....
subjects. According to Chiume in his autobiography (the strict veracity of which has sometimes been questioned), they were so successful in this debate that the school threatened him with expulsion. Nyerere later became the first leader of independent Tanzania.
In 1949, Chiume went to Makerere College in Kampala, Uganda, the premier university in East Africa, and in 1951 he was admitted into Makerere College's Medicine School. He later changed his major to Education.
After discovering that he "could not stand human dissection", specializing in Physics, Chemistry and Biology.He was president of the Makerere College Political Society, while Mwai Kibaki was a committee member.
Later he was joined at Makerere by other Nyasas, Vincent Gondwe, David Rubadiri (former Vice Chancellor of the University of Malawi), and Augustine Bwanausi Chiume was also chairperson of the Makerere College Education Society.
Chiume and other students formed a Nyasaland Students Association at Makerere,African Congress by doing research, and by also linking up with fellow Nyasas at Fort Hare College, where Henry Masauko Chipembere a lifelong friend and political colleague of Chiume's.
went for his own university education. Another future leader of Nyasa nationalism, Dunduzu Chisiza , was also active in the Nyasaland Students Association at this time.
In 1955, Nyasaland adopted a new constitution designed to give more representation to Africans, and in the elections which followed Chiume, along with Henry Chipembere, became one of five African representatives in the Legislative Council.
He and Chipembere electrified the native population with their vigorous speeches and combative questions in the legislature, which had until then been a somewhat sedate body. As a result, Hansard, the official record of the Council's proceedings, became a bestseller.
Kanyama Chiume (left) with Kamuzu Banda and Orton Chirwa at Lancaster House in London during the negotiations with the British government for independence of Malawi.
Although political patronage reduced Chiume to an irrelevant broken man living in exile in Tanzania for thirty years, his legacy should never be forgotten by Malawians. The master of propaganda, he propelled Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda into prominence upon his return from Ghana..
To lead the Nyasaland African Congress. His associates claim that he composed the
“ZonseZimene, ZaKamuzu Banda” song which rallied voters for the 1961 general elections.After returning fromTanzania in 1994 where he continued to espouse democratic values for Malawi ...
“ZonseZimene, ZaKamuzu Banda” song which rallied voters for the 1961 general elections.After returning fromTanzania in 1994 where he continued to espouse democratic values for Malawi ...
following his fallout with Dr. Banda in 1964, he formed a party which failed to garner any support in the country, nostalgically called Congress for the Second Republic. A hugely opinionated man, it would seem he could not bring himself to be led by Chakufwa Chihana.
Then Chihana was mere leader of the Youth League.(Chihana thread next month).In his last days, hepublished a local newspaper “From Nkhata Bay with Love,” which continued to speak out against tribalism, regional politics and corruption –
denouncing a culture of leadership that depended on the “fatness of the financial carrot dangled before individuals.a key leader in the 1964 Malawi Cabinet Crisisof 1964, after having spoken out against Dr. Banda’s plan to retain whites within the administrative hierarchy of
government and acceding to power sharing arrangements with the former colonial administration, is also believed to have convinced MasaukoChipembere, a formidable force in the Southern Region, to pull the rag under Dr. Banda’s feet.
The departure from the stage of the likes of Orton Chirwa, Kanyama Chiume, Harry Bwanausi, MasaukoChipembere, Rose Chibambo, YatutaChisiza, DunduzuChisiza, Willy Chokani etc only opened a door for others such as John Tembo, GwandaChakuamba,Mrs Margaret Mlanga, Robson Chirwaand .
Letter written by Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika to Kanyama Chiume in 1960, when the latter was exiled in London during the State of Emergency in Nyasaland. From the London office, Chiume had the task of keeping NAC party alive at international stage.
At a time when it was banned from operating in Nyasaland and some of its leaders chased out of the protectorate while others were detained after Operation Sunrise (Kamuzu along with Masauko Chipembere, Dunduzu and Yatuta Chisiza were languishing in jail in Gwelo Southern Rhodesi
The letter is yet another reminder of how Africans are interconnected. The artificial boundaries we hold on to so dearly are just that: artificial. We have come to accept them as a reality.
Nyerere and Chiume worked closely through PAFMECA/PAFMECSA, both espoused Pan Africanism as an ideology of unity and a tool for liberation. If one looks really closely at Chiume's story, you realize the foolishness of the colonial boundaries.
Kanyama Chiume led a demonstration march of about 1,000 African students through the Streets of London on March 3rd, 1959 against the state of emergency in Nyasaland. The demonstration demanded the release of Dr. Hastings Banda and other leaders..
who were rounded up during disturbances in Nyasaland in the fight for independence and separation from Central African Federation.
"The first is the road of justice which will give to the Africans - and quickly - their rightful share in Government and the economic wealth of their own countries. The second is the long and painful road to a dictatorship which will enslave not only the Africans.
but all just and honest men of all races."
- Kanyama Chiume, "Nyasaland Speaks: An Appeal to the British People". March, 1959.
Fast forward while in exile, Chiume became active with Tanzania's "The Nationalist," "Daily News and Sunday News," and "Uhuru" newspapers.
- Kanyama Chiume, "Nyasaland Speaks: An Appeal to the British People". March, 1959.
Fast forward while in exile, Chiume became active with Tanzania's "The Nationalist," "Daily News and Sunday News," and "Uhuru" newspapers.
He also became and author and publisher of numerous books. He returned to Malawi in 1994 after internal and international pressure on Dr. Banda. After his return Chiume briefly served as Chairman of Malawi National Library Service and the Malawi Book Service.
He retired from active politics and eventually moved to New York to live with family before his death on November 21, 2007.A gift from God He was an ethnic Malawian in body but spirit in mind. Speaking like an Angel sent by God. The anchors of the Malawi nation .
the name KANYAMA CHIUME sent shivers to Hastings Kamuzu Banda. He couldn't stand it that's why he always had to mention him at public meetings. He was a brave, intellectual, visionary and foresighted leader. We miss such a crop of political gurus these days.
This is Kanyama Chiume's final resting place in Lilongwe. The colors of Malawi national flag adorn the gravesite, and the tombstone is etched with inscription of one of his famous quotes, "No sacrifice is too great for Africa.
