Background:
Born in the homeland of Malawi near Kasungu, Hastings Banda with no official record of his birth. He was born in a tribal village where no one kept any records for people’s birth dates.
Around 1915, Hastings left his home on foot with his uncle, teacher, to Johannesburg, South Africa to further his studies.
He further went to Indiana University for his premedical studies.
Main Events:
After his round of studies he soon came back Nyasaland (now Malawi).
He soon began touring the country, speaking against the Central African Federation and urged its citizens to become members of the party. He was supported enthusiastically wherever he spoke, and resistance to imperialism among the Malawians became increasingly common. By February 1959, the situation had become serious enough that Rhodesian troops were flown in to help keep order, and a state of emergency was declared. On 3 March, Banda, along with hundreds of other Africans, was arrested in the course of “Operation Sunrise”. He was imprisoned in Gwelo in Southern Rhodesia, and Orton Chrirwa, who was released from prison in August 1959, temporarily assumed leadership of the Malawi Congress Party.
Hastings used his political influence over the years to shape and maintains Malawi’s heritage.
The mood in Britain, meanwhile, had long been moving toward decolonization due to pressure from its colonies. Banda was released from prison in April 1960 and was almost immediately invited to London for talks aimed at bringing about independence. Elections were held in August 1961. While Banda was technically nominated as Minister of Land, Natural Resources and Local Government, he became de facto Prime Minister of Nyasaland—a title granted to him formally on 1 February 1963. He and his fellow MCP ministers quickly expanded secondary education, reformed the so-called Native Courts, ended certain colonial agricultural tariffs and made other reforms. In December 1962, RA Butler, British Secretary of State for African Affairs, essentially agreed to end the Federation.
It was Banda himself who chose the name “Malawi” for the former Nyasaland; he had seen it on an old French map as the name of a “Lake Maravi” in the land of the Bororos, and liked the sound and appearance of the word as “Malawi”. On 6 July 1964, exactly six years after Banda’s return to the country, Nyasaland became the independent Commonwealth of Malawi.
Banda’s involvement in Mozambique dates back to Portuguese colonial days in Mozambique when Banda supported the Portuguese colonial government and guerrilla forces that worked for it. Following independence in Malawi, Banda strengthened his relationship with the Portuguese colonial government by appointing Jorge Jardin as Malawi’s Honorary Consul in Mozambique in September 1964. He also worked against Liberation Front of Mozambique forces in Malawi in continued support of the Portuguese colonial forces.
By the 1980s, Banda supported both the government and the guerrilla movement during the Mozambique Civil War. He successfully gave the Malawi Army and Malawi Young Pioneers opposing missions in Mozambique from 1987 to 1992. He had the Malawi Army support the Mozambican government, controlled by FRELIMO after the country’s independence in 1975, to defend Malawi’s interests in Mozambique. This was done formally through an agreement in 1984 with Samora Machel. Simultaneously, Banda used the MYP as couriers and active supporters of Mozambican National Resistance, which had been fighting against Machel’s government since the late 1970s. Malawi was used to channel foreign aid from South Africa’s apartheid government. By September 1986, Machel, Robert Mugabe, and Kenneth Kuanda visited Banda to persuade him to stop supporting RENAMO. Machel’s successor, Joachim Jissano, continued to complain of Malawi’s lack of willingness to stop supporting Renamo. Banda however was trying to keep Malawian interests in the Port of Nacalain Mozambique and did not want to rely on Tanzania and South Africa ports for its imports and exports due to the expense. Mozambique and Malawi came to an agreement to place troops from both countries in Nayuchi near the port. Incidents of Malawi Army members being killed over the course of four years angered the Army because MYP members were involved with the insurgents, essentially pitting the two against each other.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Banda
http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/hastings-banda-former-president-malawi-born