Nachipanti: mute dosage for human rights activists

Everything, as it moves- now and then, here and there, to and from- makes stops.

A bird, as it flies, stops in one place to make its nest, and in another to rest in its flight. Vapour, though it breathes not, has a place it freezes and rests; somewhere below the blue-some sky.

So, too, with people because, when all that has to be done has been done, they stop and rest. Call it the Natural Law of Exhaustion or Rest, started by some God who is said to have rested after six days of (is it?) tiresome work of creation.

The law applies in Bolero, Rumphi, as it does in Bembeke, Dedza. Ndirande is no exception, though there seems to have resided a man there (Ndirande) who paid no attention to it, or rather residents allege he did not.

Dear reader, here with us, standing on this make-shift stage of recycled paper, is 26 year-old Jack Bandawe. He is our man of the moment, I guess, and comes from Chikumbeni Alinuswe Village , in the area of Traditional Authority Chikowi, Zomba. Ndirande residents allege that he is the famed Nachipanti, a figure they accuse of being behind the brutal killings of female residents.

For a long while, the female community in Ndirande was awash with fear, and patiently waiting for Nachipanti’s restful day, a day the bird that flies so high perches, and the so called energetic man snores in sleep. The day came this month (October), but came with death.

The famed Nachipanti met its fateful day (it was night) at the hands of a humble citizen, Innocent Matewere, who alleges to have seen Bandawe standing in his famed underwear outside a house where one girl lied dead. The girl, who was pronounced dead at the hospital, and two others who sustained serious injuries, is said to have been hit to death by a stone.

Ironically, it is also a stone that brought Bandawe’s long run to a grinding halt. He was hit on the knee, though, and not the head that is said to have been his prized target in victims.

One of the girls who sustained serious injuries is 18 year-old Sheila Twaibu, who later died at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital . She had just sat for the 2009 Junior Certificate of Education Examination at Tafika and Tione Private Secondary School in Blantyre .

Sheila was a hard worker and would often be seen walking from Ndirande, through Nyambadwe, Mbayani to Chemussa- where the school is located- a distance of approximately three kilometers.

She definitely saw a good future before her, and was already planning for next year. Mary Gondwe, one of her school friends, is at pains to understand that Sheila is really gone:

“We sat for exams together. In fact, we were next to each other at Namiwawa Community Day Secondary Scholl where we were sitting for our Cluster examinations. Sheila gave me two of her exercise books and advised me to keep them safe. Her farewell words were: ‘see you next year, in Form Three’.”

Always ambitious and hopeful, that was Sheila to Gondwe. Mary can no longer go through the English or Chichewa notes in those exercise books: how does one read through tears?

At 18 years of age, Sheila can not be said to have lived her whole life. It was cut short.

What is life?

It is the flash of a firefly in the night.

It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.

It is the little shadow which runs across the grass,

And loses itself in the sunset.



Sheila did not live through her life’s long night; did not finish the warm summer of her life. Her shadow did not run across the whole patch of education-grass she aspired to through in Form Three. Her shadow was forced to disappear before the actual sunset.

The situation is like that time before dawn; too silent to behold. But the most conspicuous silence in this great silence is that from Non-Governmental Organizations and human rights activists.

Where are they when Malawi needs them to break this frightening silence? Just less than five months ago, the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) was in town, preaching against the evils of the death sentence.

HRCC National Coordinator, Mabvuto Bamusi, is a man of records. He was in Town when the human rights consortium briefed various stakeholders on why the country should do away with the death sentence at Protea Ryalls Hotel. Figures of people who got hanged for no sins of their own were presented, not forgetting people’s reactions when, in those cases, it was discovered that the people who were sent to their early graves had nothing to do with the crimes.

Then, as expected, the chairperson came in, to cement what Bamusi had said. Undule Mwakasungula said the death penalty was a violation of human rights, and should not be tolerated in Malawi .

Mwakasungula added that life imprisonment would be the fair remedy, as it accords those on the left hand of the law to retune their lives for the better. What more, they even work for us without pay, eating one meal a day for the rest of their lives!

But, wait a minute. The activists also bashed prison authorities for giving prisoners one meal a day, asking for more meal opportunities at the expense of the tax payer.

“Actually, we are not making a stand against the death penalty,” said Mwakasungula. “We are only sensitizing the public and it’s up to them to choose for themselves.”

What a way of sensitizing the public. Sensitizing while taking sides?

Now these groups are quiet, even after the death of some innocent girls who had ambitions like anybody else. Nobody from the NGOs bought a coffin or helped in any way during the funeral. How can an average family afford all the funeral expenses in recompense for deaths that came so sudden?

Is it because of Southern Region Police spokesperson, Davie Chingwalu? Chingwalu has come out of his shell, telling all and sundry that any human rights activist who comes out in the open and calls for Bandawe’s bail will be questioned, too.

“In fact, lives have been lost and we are continuing with our investigations. So, anyone who comes to us in the name of human rights and bashes us for not giving these suspects bail will be summoned for questioning. We would want to know why?” said Chingwalu.

There is reason, however, and hope coming from former Legal Affairs Committee (Of Parliament) chairperson, Atupele Muluzi. Muluzi reveals that the twin issues of life imprisonment and death penalty may be long from over because, as he says, his committee left a report pertaining to the two issues.

“A public survey we carried out revealed that many people were for the death penalty. They wanted it to remain, and I don’t think things have changed. The report is there,” said Muluzi.

As it is, the Nachipanti has turned out to be a mute-pill for human rights activists and death penalty critics, a riddle they want to solve by keeping quiet. He has also turned out to be a play ground, upon which a battle for and against the death penalty will be fought.

As it is, he is innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law. But his issue is one that provides an opportunity for debate..

As the debate rages on, stacks and stacks of money are bundled somewhere, ready to be channeled towards anti-death penalty campaigns. Who doesn’t need money? NGOs, especially, have a nasty appetite for cash.