LETTER TO THE STATE PRESIDENT-Dr Wamutharika

The State President [Republic of Malawi]

Your Excellency the State president ,

RE: URGENT NEED TO ESTABLISH A COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY

Reading some of the postings forwarded and posted to Malawi's discussion forums notably Malawitalk and Nyasanet, I was particularly struck by a debate which reproduced an autopsy report of Late Dr Stambuli, first by an unknown author on Malawitalk but latter by Mr. Tom Likambale [an alleged friend of the deceased] who posted it on Nyasanet. In the autopsy report ref; CPD/COM/036/03, circumstances that led to Dr Stambuli's death were summarised as follows:

a) He died of asphyxia, due to manual strangulation (pressure on the neck). b) Toxicological tests have also shown that he was poisoned with an organophosphate compound. c) The poisoning in b. above was unlikely to have been suicidal since there was also demonstrable evidence during the autopsy, of an act of manual strangulation.
d) Based on the size of his body and physical appearance, the findings suggest the following sequence of events: the late Dr Kalonga Stambuli was poisoned with an organophosphate compound, and then strangulated.
e) He was at the time of his death not suffering from any overt disease process, such as hypertension, that could explain his sudden demise.
The postmortem examination was done by Dr Charles Dzamalala. The histological examination and the compilation of this report were done by both Dr Dzamalala and Professor Liomba.

As a moderator of Malawitalk, not least an advocate of freedom of expression, a parent and a bread winner, I could not bear to think of such a scene as described above. One would think it had been determined to heap upon the perpetrators, all the varieties of bodily pain, for the purpose of blunting the feelings of the mind; and yet, in this very point to show the power of human prejudice and greed.

Death, at least in this case, is a sure ground of evidence, and the proportion of effort to conceal this enigma and to accept it as normal ,will not only confirm but if possible will even aggravate the public's suspicion of their misery in the transit and desire to free themselves through open debates.
Through the dedicated efforts of discussants, we now have a more comprehensive understanding of the scope of events leading to the death of Dr Kalonga Stambuli. We now know that this grotesque and hideous development bares all the hallmarks of an assassination and not suicidal as was officially reported.

Concerned individuals of my forum have now narrowed down events up to his last known point .Reference has been made by other concerned citizens both in private and public to the extent that names were identified. Through these revelations, the cyber public has been informed of the last people known to have last been seen with late Dr Stambuli on the eve of 28 December 2003.

The danger here is no longer that of concealing the death of Dr Stambuli or the manner in which he died, but the potential to have these merciless killers claiming another life in the event of nothing being done with a sense of urgency. It could be that of an opponent a witness or indeed that of an individual who may hold information relating to the death of Dr Stambuli and many others who might have faced similar fates.
The most frightening thing above all was not that Dr Kalonga Stambuli died, but that his death did not occur as a result of being shot at. It is neither that of being bludgeoned to death with sharp objects nor a car accident. It was death through poisoning and later through strangulation.
The perpetrators did not need to arm themselves. They might have been walking in their business suits and chauffer driven cars. These are people who cannot raise suspicions. Their weapon is an evil mind. All they need to do is to pick their victim and seal his/her fate. Your Excellency, these dangerous people are on the street. They don't move around with spears and arrows, neither do they move with their pangas and machetes. They move around with their hideous plans concealed in their heads.

They are preying on their next victim and it wont be long before another victim is claimed. As was the case in Mwanza murders, the key to unlocking the truth met insurmountable challenges in that two key figures in the name of late John Ngwiri and Mac Williams Kamwana were either systematically alienated or died through natural causes. Through that unfortunate scenarial,the nation has paid a price in that vicious people belonging to the gallows and cells are now freed.To add insult to injury,they could be in public offices holding positions of high repute.
In the case, of Dr Stambuli, many of those who may provide useful information including the last people to have been seen in Dr Stambuli's company are still alive. For that reason, I am of the opinion that the journey to unearth the truth will not take long.

I am therefore asking your office to use its powers vested and conferred on it by the might and fullness of our constitution to establish a commission of enquiry to be headed by an independent high court judge to participate in the common cause that brings us together in understanding this persistent and pervasive assault on human rights, against the commodification in human beings being regarded as valueless objects to be bartered and bonded-willy nilly as part of their larger struggle to suffocate human rights and human dignity .
The appended autopsy’s report further reveals diverging differences from the official account. It is a sad reality that the victim was barely four months into the country bubbled with a sense of patriotism, idealism and talent.

I spoke to hon Atupele Muluzi a colleague of Dr Stambuli who while in London at the time of his death told me how productive Dr Stambuli was, in that he was able to conduct business in excess of K150 million within his short stint at the investment bank where he was chief Executive.
It was here that I also learned that he had already entered into market expansion strategies which would have seen the Malawian Investment bank opening its branch in Zambia and Mauritius respectively.

Perhaps I also need to bring this to your Excellency's attention that Malawitalk forum where these grotesque revelations were made, was initiated by late Dr Kalonga Stambuli in 2001 with an aim of underwriting his own individual contributions to the process of mobilizing Malawian energies towards the direction of more stimulating and constructive thought with the hope that he might just be able to ignite the spark for new ideological dimensions to address domestic inadequacies in communication and freedom of expression. By providing bandwidth that support the country's desires for expression, Dr Stambuli thought he could achieve his dream without filing any claim on the country's fiscal resources.

Without doubt, by now Dr Stambuli would have achieved allot for his employers and his country at large ,above all, he would have been the moderator of Malawitalk.Sadly though, this is now a forgone dream
The people, who are troubled with his death and by copy of his tragic death are now demanding a full enquiry, are neither his former employers nor his former political associates. They are not his friends and relatives neither are his political friends and foes. They are intellectuals, young professionals, Malawian Diasporas, ordinary men and women who value life and hold it in high esteem.

These are dedicated men and women who are desperate to secure the necessities of life and are willing to leave their western comforts to go back home and participate in the development of their country. Instead, their lives are ruined by psychological exploitation rooted in fears and suspicions of what may happen to them should they wish to speak their mind or act according to the dictates of democracy only to be interupted by those who are addicted to malice and hatred campaigns as opposed to progressive ideas.

An approach that will allow us to prevent the problems to begin with, as I described, to protect the next victims who are holding similar key information and are mentioned by name in Dr Kalonga Stambuli's infamous corruption dossier, who are forgotten and may disappear without a trace, to bring the perpetrators to justice, to address the issue from both an international and a domestic perspective, and to build partnerships between governments, parliamentarians, NGOs, and all stakeholders likely to get involved in this effort of bringing confidence and trust into the public's hearts is needed now more than before.

Your Excellency,

We have heard from the media how your own life has been targeted, divided and polarized our partisan political process has become. Consequently, many caring, creative and energetic people who would have contributed to this democratic process have disengaged from the political process as they flee for their own lives inpursuit of safety,opportunities and knowledge. This result in "political depression" - a belief that there are no options for transforming our political system continues to haunt the uncleared public.

As the country that has seen itself rising from economic ashes and gubernatorial oblivion to the levels where trust and confidence have been installed, as a nation that has seen your leadership playing the transparency and zero tolerance on corruption card which resulted into various government successes such as the current debt cancellation, the public now long for the emergence of new and inspiring collaborative response which may provide answers to the questions currently being asked.
What happened? Why did it happen? How did it happen? But why? But why, and why? As citizens but most importantly potential victims, we are asking:

"How do we heal our political depression and engage in politics without losing our soul?"
How do we engage ourselves in celebrations following economic successes, when large parts of our society in the name of eastern region is mourning the death of a health, exposed, well traveled and educated son whose fate was decide by few individuals who could not grasp the notion of free speech in a democratic society?
While asking these questions, we are aware that your government is built on security, justice and development -the true pillars of good governance.

In this your Excellency,

we have common cause, and by working together, we can create a critical mass of advocacy on behalf of that common cause. A common cause where renewing our dream of democracy through establishing of commission of enquiries of the scale being requested by these concerned and terrified discussants can foster a healing process of our individual and collective post-partisan fears and finding new ways to reengage in the political process that belives in the power of reason.

As a moderator of Malawitalk,I should have considered myself wanting in that necessary portion of duty which I owe to my discussants and subscribers of Malawitalk, not least the forum’s walk-in interface visitors and to my country. There is no accusation made against the gentlemen being linked to the death of Dr Stambuli; but by bringing forward the consideration of such a mighty object and not concealing the tragedy, we unite with the person of sensibility, that an action in the direction of an enquiry into the mysterious death of Dr Stambuli is necessary to prevent the next death against a conduit or witness, as founded in rectitude and universal benevolence.

The great cause, it has been stated, of the reason why Dr Stambuli was killed alongside evidence found on his death bed, of a note not written in his own handwritings but capturing words suggesting thus-"very sinful" and its subsequent timing of his alleged compendium of alleged corrupt activities leakage to the press in particular –the dispatch news paper, offers us reason to suspect that his “sins” might have been sparked by his interest to keep a record of things he thought were out of order.
The assumption and impression being formed here, was that Dr Kalonga Stambuli deserved to die as his killers might have considered him to be very profligate and dissolute in his effusive manners. For sure, we do not know the breadth, width and depth of these unpardonable sins which could not even be redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

There is no doubt about Dr Kalonga being the author of the infamous corruption compendium which puts several allegants in positions of redicule. More than three individuals of standing character in society received personal copies from Dr Stambuli and were instructed to keep it for posterity. While at that, I am also mindful of a possibility of exaggerating issues on the part of the victim to clear himself from the corrupt activities he might have been part of.
Indeed some of the issues raised might have been worked upon to inflict injury to those who might have costed suffering and pain to himself when he lost his lucrative post in government. Revenge as a motive cannot be ruled out on the part of Dr Stambuli.He was badily mistreated.He had the conventional right to be angry.

The principal result of this attempt is twofold. First of all, I claim that the logic of induction is not essentially different from, for example, deductive logic, as long as we are prepared to broaden the usual conception of logic somewhat. This frees the way for the application of any investigative and related forensic method put forward, to aid the analysis of reasoning with general rules and exceptions to inductive reasoning.

The second point is a distinction between and logical characterisation of two different forms of induction: explanatory induction, which aims at explaining observed cases as is the case when Dr Stambuli compares notes of the alleged corrupt middlemen while conducting government business, and confirmatory induction, where the inductive conjectures are confirmed by hearsays as noted in his opening statement where he alleges that the principal accused had bullying habits while schooling at Kapili parish primary school .

However without explaining the latter,Dr Stambuli himself had a habit of exaggerating issues to make a point. On one account, he once told me that moderation of Malawitalk was done by an expensive moderation machine which costed him quite a chunk of money.But when an opportunity arose for me to assume the role of moderator, I discovered that the process was so basic that it could be manned remotely.

To this effect, Malawitalk has been moderated from six different positions around the world where regular discussants have been offered an opportunity to moderate the mailing list within the comfort of their homes and offices. This does not mean, everything he wrote was grossly exegerated therefore his own making. The need to follow some of the non personal issues raised in his compendium still stand.
The basis of requesting an establishment of a commission of enquiry is therefore not based on the strength of Dr Stambuli's corruption dossier. The view of most people is that this can be easily pursued by the anti corruption bureau.

However the principal cause and the moral of this petition is Dr Stambuli's ill treatment as we can imagine the agents of darkness squeezing not only his right to express himself fully but as much as possible from their exertions to have him silenced through means of unnatural death –
for on 13 May 2002 ,Dr Stambuli himself wrote
" I share the common view that serious doubts arise when those who have had a clear architectural involvement in shaping the country's past wish to be given the mandate for offices with higher leverage without admitting to their misdemeanors in a less powerful office. Democracy is about transparency and accountability and it is my view that those who wish to promote its virtues must themselves be transparent and accountable to the society they wish to serve"

But Your Excellency, People want to be governed well, and to have a say in what happens in their lives. They want to be safe. They want the chance to earn a decent living for themselves and their families. And they want to be treated fairly by their government and public officials. These aspirations are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Millennium Declaration of 2000. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Millennium Declaration of 2000 have enshrined the need for freedom of speech and access to information.

These are the foundations for decent living condition, sustainable lives and good governance. They are the backbone of our democracy the vision of the nations and hope for the disadvantaged groups. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have also allowed nation to incorporate the people in decision making and development participation.
It is for this reason, that despite my own inadequacies and weaknesses to such a task,I am left with no option but to submit this humble request on behalf of Malawitalk, the request to request the honor of your office to establish a commission of enquiry to answer questions that are being raised in respect of Dr Kalonga Stambuli's death.

Your Excellency,

The ability of citizens to make their voices heard and hold their governments to account is fundamental to good government. Its absence fosters an environment in which corruption and conjectures can flourish, and citizens are unable to assess the decisions of their leaders, or make informed choices about who they elect to serve as their representatives.
Within this context, I am urging your government which has taken an interest in promoting accountable governance and transparency to respond to the wishes of the people by freeing them from their museum of fears with reference from our Ironic past

Yours most obedient citizen,
Bright Mac Everson Malopa