Between 1991 and 1992, a quiet but determined resistance was growing within Malawi’s intellectual and activist circles. This resistance was marked by the clandestine circulation of pro-democracy literature, which reached its peak in two months following the historic Pastoral Letter issued by Malawi’s Catholic Bishops on 8 March 1992.
Among other players, at the heart of this underground movement was Prof. Edge Kanyongolo, then a law lecturer at the University of Malawi.
During his address at the launch of Dr. George Nga Ntafu’s biography on 29 December 2021 at Malawi Sun Hotel in Blantyre, Prof. Edge Kanyongolo reflected on his active involvement in this underground resistance. He revealed that he was part of a covert network that received, reproduced, and distributed anti-government pamphlets that called for political reform and an end to the one-party regime under Dr. Kamuzu Banda.
The movement operated in secrecy, involving a few lecturers at the University of Malawi, such as Prof. David Kerr and Father Patrick O’Malley. These individuals formed part of a determined core that used their intellectual networks and connections to disseminate subversive material, often at great person