Malawi Independence
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 among Nyasa Africans.
Along with Chipembere and the Chisiza brothers (Dunduzu and Yatuta), Chiume became a driving force in organizing popular support in the mid to late 1950s for Hastings Banda and in persuading Banda to return to Nyasaland in order to lead the country to independence. He was given a senior post in the Congress at the Nkhata Bay conference in August 1958 when it adopted Dr Banda as its unquestioned leader.
In March 1959, Chiume avoided arrest while he was in London during "Operation Sunrise" when the local colonial government rounded up and interned members of the Nyasaland African Congress during the state of emergency. In July 1960 he joined Banda, Orton Chirwa, Aleke Banda and other prominent Africans at the Nyasaland Constitutional Conference in London. It was here that British Government decided that Nyasaland (Malawi) should become self-governing by early 1963, and that Banda, should become prime minister. Chiume was made Minister of Education in 1962 and went on to become Foreign Minister in the first government formed after Malawi's official independence in July 1964.
Read more about this topic: Kanyama Chiume
Famous quotes containing the word independence:
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—Richard Louv (20th century)