The Chinsinga-gate affair : a not-so-subtle threat to academic freedom in Malawi

• Published date: 01 January 2012
• Author: Mwiza Jo Nkhata
• Date: 01 January 2012
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC139806
• Pages: 183-201

THE CHINSINGA-GATE AFFAIR:

A NOT-SO-SUBTLE THREAT TO ACADEMIC

FREEDOM IN MALAWI

Mwiza Jo Nkhata*

ABSTRACT

In Feb ru ary 2011, the In spec tor Gen eral of the Ma lawi Po lice Ser vice ‘sum -

moned’ and ‘in ter ro gated’ As so ci ate Pro fes sor Bless ings Chinsinga of the

De part ment of Po lit i cal and Ad min is tra tive Stud ies at Chan cel lor Col lege,

the Uni ver sity of Ma lawi, in re la tion to com ments he had made in one of his

lec tures. News of Chinsinga’s ‘sum mon ing’ sparked a pro tracted dis pute be -

tween lec tur ers, who viewed the ‘sum mon ing’ as an in fringe ment of

ac a demic free dom, on the one hand, and the Uni ver sity au thor i ties and the

gov ern ment, on the other hand. This dis pute even tu ally led to the clo sure of

Chan cel lor Col lege, the larg est con stit u ent col lege of the Uni ver sity of Ma -

lawi, for al most nine months, bring ing into sharp fo cus the state of ac a demic

free dom in Ma lawi. This ar ti cle con ducts a crit i cal ap praisal of the state of

ac a demic free dom in Ma lawi, par tic u larly in the post-1994 pe riod tak ing

into full ac count the ev ents that sur rounded the Chinsinga-gate af fair. The

aim of this ex po si tion is to de duce some prin ci ples that un der lie claims to ac -

a demic free dom and to draw some les sons for the pro tec tion of ac a demic

free dom in Ma lawi and beyond.

IINTRODUCTION

Some time around Feb ru ary 2011, a dis pute broke out be tween lec tur ers

in the Uni ver sity of Ma lawi (‘Uni ver sity’ or ‘UNIMA’), on the one hand, and

the In spec tor Gen eral of the Ma lawi Po lice Ser vice (‘MPS’), the Uni ver sity

THE CHINSINGA-GATE AFFAIR 183

LLB (Hons) (UNIMA), PGCHE, LLM LLD (UP); Dean of Law and Se nior Lec turer, Fac ulty of

Law, Chan cel lor Col lege, the Uni ver sity of Ma lawi.

*

ad min is tra tion and the gov ern ment, on the other hand. This dis pute, which

ini tially only in volved lec tur ers from the Chan cel lor Col lege cam pus of

UNIMA, even tu ally spread to other con stit u ent col leges of the Uni ver sity,

no ta bly the Poly tech nic of Ma lawi. At the core of the lec tur ers’ fury was the

al leged ‘sum mon ing’ and ‘in ter ro ga tion’ of po lit i cal sci ence lec turer Bless -

ings Chinsinga by the then head of the MPS, Mr Pe ter Mukhi to. Many

lec tur ers, es pe cially mem bers of the Chan cel lor Col lege Ac a demic Staff Un -

ion (‘CCASU’) per ceived the ‘sum mon ing’ and ‘in ter ro ga tion’ of Bless ings

Chinsinga as an af front to ac a demic free dom. It is the dis pute be tween the

lec tur ers, the Uni ver sity au thor i ties and the gov ern men t that this ar ti cle calls

the Chinsinga-gate af fair. Fur ther de tails about the Chinsinga-gate af fair will

be pro vided later. At this point, a brief over view of higher ed u ca tion in Ma -

lawi is nec es sary to place the is sues in their proper con text.

The first pub lic in sti tu tion of higher learn ing in Ma lawi – the Uni ver sity

of Ma lawi – was founded in 1964 un der the Uni ver sity of Ma lawi (Pro vi -

sional Coun cil) Act which was later su per seded by the Uni ver sity of Ma lawi

Act of 1974.1 The UNIMA cur rently op er ates un der the Uni ver sity of Ma lawi

Act of 1974 as amended in 1998. Cur rently, the UNIMA has four con stit u ent

col leges.2 The sec ond pub lic in sti tu tion of higher learn ing – the Mzuzu Uni -

ver sity – was es tab lished by the Mzuzu Uni ver sity Act of 1997.3 Sev eral

pri vate uni ver si ties have sprung up over the years but the two pub lic uni ver -

si ties re main the lead ing cen tres of higher learn ing in the coun try.

The state of ac a demic free dom dur ing the dic ta tor ship of Dr Kamuzu

Banda was pa thetic.4 The Chinsinga-gate af fair calls for a re-ap praisal of the

state of ac a demic free dom in Ma lawi, par tic u larly in the post-1994 pe riod.

The first part of the ar ti cle fo cuses on the Chinsinga-gate af fair and nar rates

the events that oc curred lead ing up to it. The sec ond part is an ex po si tion of

the state of ac a demic free dom in in de pend ent Ma lawi while the third part

con sid ers the scope and im pli ca tions of ac a demic free dom in in ter na tional

hu man rights law. The aim of this ex po si tion is to de duce some com mon

prin ci ples that un der lie ac a demic free dom. Fi nally, the ar ti cle draws some

im por tant les sons that may be learnt from the Chinsinga-gate af fair.

184 (2012) MLJ VOL.6, ISSUE 2

1Cap 30:02 of the Laws of Ma lawi. See ‘His tor i cal back ground’, avail able at

http://www.unima.mw/back ground.htm (ac cessed 17 March 2011).

2These are: Chan cel lor Col lege, Kamuzu Col lege of Nurs ing, Col lege of Med i cine, and the Poly -

tech nic. Bunda Col lege has re cently been delinked from the Uni ver sity of Ma lawi to be part of

the newly es tab lished Lilongwe Uni ver sity of Ag ri cul ture and Nat u ral Re sources.

3Cap 30:09 of the Laws of Ma lawi.

4Ma lawi gained in de pend ence from Brit ain in 1964 and was there af ter ruled as a one party state by

Dr Kamuzu Banda for 30 years un til 1994 when a tran si tion to multipartyism was ne go ti ated.