Kapote Mwakasungura

Archibald Kapote Mwakasungura was a student activist who fled Malawi for exile in Tanzania in October 1964 when Kamuzu installed his brutal dictatorship. Kapote lived and studied in Dar es Salaam and later taught at the Mzumbe Institute of Development Management in Morogoro, now the University of Mzumbe. In 1974, he, together with four Malawians, founded the Socialist League of Malawi (LESOMA) and served as its highly respected Secretary-General. In the democratic dispensation in 1992-94, he became a key player as a member of the Transitional National Consultative Council (NCC) and helped to draw up the New Malawi Constitution. Later, he served as High Commissioner to Zimbabwe from 1995 to 1998. He is now retired and still an active politician. He is the Chairman of the Uraha Foundation Malawi, which oversees the prestigious Cultural and Museum Centre Karonga. He is also the Group Village Headman in his village at Kasoba where his young brother is the Paramount Chief of Karonga and Chitipa Districts.