Yatuta Chisiza’s weaponry to be displayed at Malawi military museum

Minister of Tourism  Dr Micheal Usi has said the former cabinet minister during the one party rule of Malawi Congress Party  (MCP) Yatuta Chisiza will have his weapons which he wanted to use to overthrow Kamuzu Banda from power on display at the proposed military museum.

The museum will be  located in Zomba but  the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife and the military are working on the finer details.

Yatuta, a former minister of Internal Affairs during founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s administration, led 17 exiles in a military incursion in October 1967, just four years after fleeing the country in the 1964 Cabinet revolt against Kamuzu.

Political commentators say the reinstitution of multiparty democracy in post-independent Malawi was not an event, but rather a process and more so, the victory that was finally attained in this regard on June 24 1993, was actually a product of an arduous struggle that had spanned almost 30 years since the Cabinet crisis of 1964 if not a little earlier than that.

It is in light of this that Chisiza becomes an integral part of the history of this arduous struggle for freedom and democracy in post-independent Malawi.

Yatuta Chisiza was shot dead by soldiers from Cobbe Barracks on 11th October 1967   in an armed combat  in the hilly forests near the confluence of the Shire and Lisungwi rivers in the southern border district of Mwanza.

The casualties on Yatuta’s side included Luteghano Mwahimba.

Yatuta disagreed with Kamuzu together with Henry Masauko Chipembere, Orton Chirwa, Kanyama Chiume, Augustine Bwanausi, Willy Chokani and Rose Chibambo.

President Lazarus Chakwera has ensured that there should be national healing and has brought close Kwacha Chisiza the son of Yatuta and Chirwa’s son to be part of his Tonse Alliance government led by Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

During the visit to the proposed site Usi also had audience with military personal on the same who said they want Malawians to have a glimpse into their military’s history.

“These will be huge attractions for Malawians and tourists, you will be amazed,” Usi said.

Chisiza was buried at Zomba prison but up to now his remains have not been traced.