It is not today that Sam Mpasu was convicted in the popular fieldyork scandal but memories are still fresh of him outside the prison. I see a time when Sam Mpasu will get out of jail with a book ready to be published.
What brings back the memories of Sam Mpasu is the article written by D.D Phiri pleading for Mpasu to be pardoned. Much as he was not the first political convict, he will not be the last political convict. Many others are on the line despite the zero tolerance to corruption war the government waged. Depending on the meaning of corruption, many others are just doing that in today’s life either in the public sector or private sector.
No one will oppose the fact that Sam Mpasu is a good narrator if you read the book political prisoner 3/75. He wrote with such professionalism despite claiming that he took writing as a hobby. Today, while he sits in his cell, my strong conviction is that he is not feeling lonely as he has that vibrant creativity of using the pen that would make his time useful but what about those who are used to issuing orders and have never tested jail in their life.
Remember, he was so influential in the formation of Malawi writers union, he was at liver brothers at one time that is in the 70s.
He was not only good at being a writer, he once served as a speaker for the Malawi parliament which made him the third in command to go with the hierarchy of governance considering the three arms of government namely the judiciary, legislature and the executive.
Not only that, he served as a minister in different post in the previous government. I remember at one time he was the minister of education, at one time a minister of commerce and industry and many other ministerial posts. Today the one we used to call honourable is a convict.
The last time I met Sam Mpasu was at the constitution review meeting in Lilongwe weeks after being arrested for trespassing at a graveyard. He looked composed just like he was when he was a minister. He was not ashamed when people made jokes about the whole incident of being found at a graveyard. He contributed positively and impartially during the review meeting despite the fact that at that time he was a spokesperson of the United democratic front.
Things fall worse for him when he openly foresaw doom in UDF for its insistence to make Dr Bakili Muluzi its candidate for the just ended elections. No one listened to him apart from a few people who told me angonis a known for their brevity. People called him the real ngoni.
My question in this should be should we surely forget all the things Sam Mpasu did for Malawi when he was in power? In his analysis, D.D Phiri the columnist said Mpasu did not steal and did not accept bribes. He just failed to use the normal channels of awarding contracts. I feel for Sam Mpasu if he has the opportunity to read the newspapers where he is now for he is reading stories of others in the same crime. I feel for him as being a high positioned man at one time, he knows some who the long arm of law has not caught up with them.
Many others apart from me have feelings for Sam Mpasu that if he can be out of prison today, he will still make a considerable contribution to the nation and the world as a whole be cause I have a strong conviction that he has fully reformed.
I f he does not get the pardon, for me its okay, but I know he will come out strong as ever before ready to fight and contribute to mother Malawi as he has always done.
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