Samuel Mpasu

Sam Mpasu (born 1945) is a Malawian politician, author, and former diplomat. He served as Minister of Commerce, Secretary General of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1999, and speaker of the Malawi National Assembly.[1]

Early life

He was a student at Dedza secondary school and went to University of Malawi's Chancellor College.[2]

Career

He served as a diplomat in the foreign service for the Malawi mission to Germany. He wrote a book in 1975 entitled, 'Nobodys Friend', which got him arrested because the Kamuzu Banda regime thought that it was written about Kamuzu Banda.[3] He was arrested without trail for, "two year, one month, one week, and one day" in Mukuyu Prison.[4] He served as Minister of Commerce, Education, and Speaker of the Malawi House of Assembly. His appointment as a minister of commerce was met with a lot of resistance since he was the speaker of the house at that time.[5] The court attempted to block President Bakili Muluzi from posting him to this position.[6]

Civil Servant Strike 1997

On April 8, 1997 whilst he was UDF Secretary General, during a civil servant strike where civil servants were demanding higher salaries as recommended by the Chatsika Report, he was pelted with stones in Zombawhilst driving his own car to the Parliament Building.[7] He was hit in the jaw.[8]

Fieldyork Notebook Scandal

In 2008 A Malawian court charged him with a six-year prison sentence over corruption and abuse of office charges dating back 14 years.[9] He was accused of receiving kickbacks and failing to use normal channels of awarding contracts for awarding a British company, Fieldyork a deal to provide Malawi with millions of notebooks and pencil when he served as Minister of Education.[10] However, his incaceration was received with ambivalence after having been tried prior to the 2008 court case on the same while he was minister as a gesture to clear his name. In one of his articles, D.D. Phiri, a prominent historian and writer in Malawi wrote in the Nation of October 13, 2009: In its 1994 manifesto, UDF pledged to introduce free primary education in Malawi. When he won the presidency, Bakili Muluzi appointed Sam Mpasu as Minister of Education. The Minister of education was more anxious than most people that exercise books and pencils be made available in time, otherwise the free primary schooling programme was going to fail."[11] He was released from jail in 2010 instead of 2014 due to good behavior.[12]

Yet according to reports on corruption which different independent organizations, both local and international, published, it became clear that many more individuals, had engaged in corrupt practices at one point in time in the Muluzi administration. But, so far, only few have been brought to book.

Books

Movies

  1. ↑ http://allafrica.com/stories/200308010269.html
  2. ↑ http://www.nationmw.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18902:sam-mpasu-writer&catid=48:the-legends&Itemid=48
  3. ↑ http://www.nationmw.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18902:sam-mpasu-writer&catid=48:the-legends&Itemid=48
  4. ↑ http://www.nationmw.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18902:sam-mpasu-writer&catid=48:the-legends&Itemid=48
  5. ↑ http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/3378.html
  6. ↑ http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/3378.html
  7. ↑ http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Newsletters/mno28.html
  8. ↑ http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Newsletters/mno28.html
  9. ↑ http://www.nationmw.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18902:sam-mpasu-writer&catid=48:the-legends&Itemid=48
  10. ↑ http://mg.co.za/article/2008-04-09-malawi-jails-former-minister-for-corruption
  11. ↑ http://alickponje.blogspot.com/2010/09/sam-mpasu-out-of-prison-walls.html
  12. ↑ http://www.mwnation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=269:jailed-mpasu-out-in-august&catid=1:national-news&Itemid=3
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