State vice-president Saulos Chilima has come under intense fire for describing founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda - an autocrat with a streak of brutality who ruled Malawi for 31 years of one-party dictatorship - as champion of democracy.
Chilima has hailed Kamuzu Banda as champions of democracy but critics say in reality Kamuzu was a champion of atrocities and poor human rights record
Chilima, whose party, UTM is in political alliance with Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and seven other tiny parties, described Kamuzu Banda as a "champion of democracy" for accepting to hold a referendum on June 14, 1993 on whether the country should adopt multiparty democracy or not.
Chilima, as a suniversity student activist, was among frontline troops who campaigned against Kamuzu and trumpeted democracy.
Ngeyi Kanyongolo, a lecturer at Chancellor College also wrote that what she remembers about Kamuzu Banda are stories of a young student (now husband) who spent months in prison together with his friends for unspecified "revolutionary rebel" activities.
Adack Pafupi also posts that Kamuzu was a "champion of atrocities" and not champion of democracy.
