MUCKRAKING ON SUNDAY: Too late a hero?
By RAPHAEL TENTHANI - Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 13:35:24

WHEN William Murray Kanyama Chiume, who died in the US last Wednesday at the ripe age of 78, came back from exile with his rag-tag political party ambitiously called Congress for the Second Republic (CSR), The Democrat newspaper branded him ‘too late a hero’.

The paper argued that Kanyama Chiume, an orator extraordinaire who was branded ‘cunning’ by no less a personage than Hastings Kamuzu Banda himself, had squandered his chance to reclaim his hero status by taking too long to join the fight against the Banda dictatorship.

The paper observed that the veteran politician’s dilly-dallying to join the fray in agitating for change gave the limelight to latter-day heroes like Chakufwa Tom Chihana and Bakili Muluzi.

I had a long drive with Kanyama Chiume to Nkhata Bay and Karonga the other day. The old man was taking me and the late colleague Bentry Mdhluli to the two districts where he performed a simple but significant rite to honour those people who died between 1958 and 1964 when nationalists rose against colonialists.

During the long drive I discovered that Kanyama Chiume was a quintessential political operative, a well of living history Malawi was sadly allowing to go to waste. He was there when Malawi was in gestation period as a state. Indeed, he attended those history-making Lancaster House conferences in the United Kingdom that gave birth to Malawi as a nation. No wonder, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda entrusted him with the all-important portfolios of Foreign Affairs, Education and Information in his inaugural cabinet.

But Kanyama Chiume knew the Ngwazi was made leader by people like him. No wonder that when red lights of autocracy started flashing in Dr. Banda’s demeanour he — and others — rebelled. But perhaps conveniently for a young nation, Kamuzu thwarted the rebellion.

Kanyama Chiume spent the succeeding three decades in the Diaspora, dodging Dr. Banda’s agents now and again. One by one, his brothers-in-rebellion were being eliminated but the ‘cunning’ Kanyama Chiume survived to see the back of the Banda regime in 1994.

I think as a nation we did not put such a critical mass of experience and expertise to good use. When Kanyama Chiume traded in his CSR with a membership in the United Democratic Front, President Bakili Muluzi honoured him with the responsibility of running the ill-fated Malawi Book Service and later the poorly-funded National Library Service.

Perhaps that was quite fitting considering Kanyama Chiume’s background as a part-time writer. But then the parastatal was destined for the hammer in no time at all while National Library Service was not adequately supported.

Kanyama Chiume believed in education. It was little wonder that CSR was the only party in Malawi that put education as a rallying call. Remember his party election symbol? A boy reading a book. Perhaps we should have made him some education advisor. He might have had the magic wand to reverse the falling education standards.

It was also a feat for Kanyama Chiume to survive Banda’s agents. Historian and essayist Desmond Dudwa Phiri says Kanyama Chiume operated a network of informants that kept him abreast of potential danger, no wonder Dr. Banda branded him a ‘cunning’ fellow. There were at least seven known attempts on his life but he survived them all. He would quit his Tanzania base and flee to Uganda, Zambia or Kenya whenever red lights were flashing.

According to Dr. Phiri, Kanyama Chiume would not meet anyone willy-nilly without ascertaining their mission. If anyone — strangers or otherwise — sought an audience with him he would do a quick background check. He refused to meet most people and when he agreed to a meeting he would make sure you are met by someone he trusted first before availing himself.

We joked about this as we drove to Nkhata Bay and Karonga. He did not give out much but did insist that anyone must have an in-built survival instinct “because no one wants to meet his Maker before the appointed date”.

So in Kanyama Chiume I saw a potential head of intelligence. The National Intelligence Bureau or whatever we are calling a band of our sleuths could have benefited a lot from Kanyama Chiume’s survival tactics.

At 78, Kanyama Chiume has lived more than a full life considering that the United Nation Human Development Index says Malawians must die at somewhere around 36. But he would still have been very profitable to Malawi as a nation should we not have made him feel irrelevant in his land of birth.

I know that politicians will use Kanyama Chiume’s death to score some critical political points. I know some people have already started canvassing to have Kanyama Chiume’s memory immortalised by making him a candidate on the newly-inaugurated national monument. Some will even canvass for some form of state funeral.

But as a nation we must take a deliberate approach to honour our heroes while they are alive. It may be good to wax lyrical about exploits of the dead in colourful eulogies. But we stand to benefit more by making use of our heroes while they are still alive.

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