It was July 2010 and the Southeast African country of Malawi was in the tight grip of President Bingu wa Mutharika. His policies were considered harmful and dangerous to the extremely poor in the country, which has been consistenetly named one of the poorest in the land.
Rev. Levi Njombole Nyondo, general secretary of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian’s Synod of Livingstonia, was an outspoken critic of the president. At a funeral of a colleague, he spoke against the president’s policies during his sermon.
Word of his sermon spread and Nyondo was arrested and put in jail for the formal charge of sedition.
Hearing of his arrest, members of the Women’s Guild of the CCAP marched, singing, chanting, dancing, to the jail house. There they remained, constantly singing for three days until Nyondo was released.
“They couldn’t take the noise anymore,” Nyondo jokes today, “They had to let me go.”
Nyondo had to report to the police every Friday for four months until the charges were finally dropped. The president stated he did not know Nyondo had been arrested and was shocked when he found out.
President Mutharika died in April this year. Bags of American cash were found in his home.
