In 1959, the British Colonial Government banned the
Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) and arrested most of the political party's leaders, including Orton Chirwa and
Banda in a mass swoop known as
Operation Sunrise. Orton Chirwa was detained in Khami Jail near Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia for a short time before, on 1 August 1959, being released. He became the first president of the
Malawi Congress Party(MCP), a successor-party to the NAC formed on 30 September 1959. There was some opposition to this appointment, notably from
Kanyama Chiume, who considered him tainted by his previous association with the Federation-tolerant Nyasaland Progressive Association. It has been suggested that the British government might have harbored hopes of Chirwa taking the leadership reins as a moderate nationalist, but it soon became clear that he was merely "keeping the seat warm" for Banda. During the run-up to elections in 1962 and again in 1963, he was vocal in his condemnation of attempts by other Africans to form political parties in opposition to the MCP, with himself and David Rubadira by this time openly advocating totalitarian rule by the MCP. Orton Chirwa was named
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, (a position slightly short of Minister) in Dr. Banda's interim administration which took office in 1962. In the run-up to the 1964 National Assembly elections, he was active in promoting the use of "traditional courts" as an alternative to the existing judiciary, a controversial move in that these courts were subject to significant political influence, and was heavily criticised by the Chief Justice for this and by the Governor, Glyn Jones, for failing to investigate and prosecute hundreds of cases of politically motivated intimidation, in the form of assaults, murders, arson and crop destruction, as well as cases of intimation against Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1963, he threatened to bring charges against the
Nyasaland Times under the Sedition Act because of that newspaper's reporting on opposition political parties. He became independent Malawi's
Minister of Justice and Attorney General in 1964, On 23 October 1964, sub-Chief Timbiri from Chirwa's Nkahata Bay constituency, was murdered in Zomba. Police said they had evidence Chirwa was involved. He fled to Dar es Salaam early in November, together with his wife,
Vera Chirwa.
Exile and capture Forced by Banda's authoritarian policies to leave Malawi, the Chirwas settled in Tanzania where Orton taught and practised law. He formed a new political party, the Malawi Freedom Movement, which appears to have had little active support inside Malawi, a one-party state with Banda its president for life. During a visit to Zambia with their youngest son, Fumbani, the Chirwas were kidnapped and arrested on Christmas Eve 1981 in eastern Zambia by Malawi security forces and taken back to Malawi on charges of high treason, although it was alleged they were trying to enter Malawi. At their trial, the Chirwas claimed that they had been abducted from Zambia in December 1981. This, and the charge that they had conspired to overthrow the government outside Malawi, should have meant that the traditional courts had no jurisdiction. The case could still have been heard in Malawi's High Court, but that court required proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The treason case heard against the Chirwas by the Southern Region Traditional Court in 1983 was based on handwritten documents said to have been found on them when arrested, and a police officer's "expert" testimony that they were indeed in Orton Chirwa's handwriting. An unsigned statement said to have been made by Orton Chirwa, but repudiated by him, and a transcript said to have been made of a taped interview he had given were also admitted as evidence. The Chirwas were not allowed to call witnesses from outside Malawi and were both sentenced to death and taken to the central prison in Zomba. On the Chirwas' appeal to the National Traditional Court of Appeal, the refusal of the lower court to allow defence witnesses, its admission of the unsigned statement and its acceptance of a police officer as an expert witness were all criticised, and minority of the judges did not accept that creating unpublished handwritten documents amounted to treason. However the appeal court came to the startling conclusion that, even if the Traditional courts had no jurisdiction in law, they had a traditional right to try the Chirwas, and that (despite the deficiencies in the lower court's handling of the case), their decision was correct and should stand. The death sentences were commuted, but Orton Chirwa later died in prison. Vera Chirwa was released from prison in 1993 after over 11 years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement.
Imprisonment and death In Zomba Prison Orton Chirwa was held in solitary confinement and not allowed any outside contact. For eight years he was not even permitted to see his wife
Vera who was being held in the same prison. In 1990, Amnesty International launched an investigation into their fate and named the couple
prisoners of conscience. In autumn 1992, when a delegation of British legal experts was allowed to visit Orton and Vera at the prison, the Chirwas were able to meet again for the first time in 8 years. According to the British lawyers, at the time of the meeting he was partially deaf and blind due to untreated cataracts. Orton died in his cell 3 weeks later at the age of 73.
Family Nkhondo Chirwa, second son of Orton and Vera, died unexpectedly on 18 October 2016 in Kendal, Cumbria, England, hometown for him and his children for many years. He is buried in Parkside cemetery Kendal. At his funeral tributes were paid to Amnesty International for their efforts on behalf of the Chirwa family. ==References==