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AFORD PRESIDENT - Mr. Chakufwa Chihana.
A trade union leader and pro-democracy activist, Chihana was detained upon his return from exile in 1970. After undergoing torture and seven years in prison, including five in solitary confinement, he was released in 1977. In 1992, he was sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor for sedition, but was released in June 1993 on the eve of Malawi's referendum to decide whether to introduce multi-party democracy. Chihana leads one of Malawi's three major political parties. He was a presidential candidate in the 1994 elections, Malawi's first multi-party election after 30 years of one-party rule, and served as Second Vice President of Malawi.
Keynote Address
By
Mr. Chakufwa Chihana
INTRODUCTION
To become a 'party' to something always means identification with one group and differentiation from another. Every party in its essence signifies partnership in a particular organization and separation from others by a specific programme. Such an initial description, indicates that the very definition of party presupposes a democratic climate and hence makes it a misnomer in every dictatorship. A one-party system (le parti unique) is a contradiction in itself.
The political party is therefore, a critical force, for modernization in all contemporary societies that particular pattern of modernization adopted by each is quite often determined by its parties. This includes playing an active entrepreneurial role in the formation of new ideas, in the establishment of a network of communication for those ideas, and in the linking of the public and the leadership in such a way that power is generated, mobilized and directed.
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