MEMORIAL FOR ZAMBIAN HEROES

A memorial service took place in Toronto, on November 01, 2009 for three great Zambian heroes: John Mwanakatwe, Nackson Longwe and Dr Gavin Silwamba. The event was moderated by Charles Mwewa, Vice-president, Zambian Canadian Foundation.

Sunday, November 1 would have been John Mupanga Mwanakatwe's 83rd birthday had he lived said Mr Chisanaga Puta-Chekwe – Deputy Minister, Ontario government, who also attended.

In eulogy Hon Puta-Chekwe emphasized the fact that John Mupanga Mwanakatwe (JMM) achieved many firsts. He was Northern Rhodesia's first university graduate. He had a distinguished career as a teacher at Munali where he taught Bemba, English and Latin. He then scored another first by becoming the first African to serve as Principal of a secondary school. He had some amusing times in that position as visiting white technicians and others doing business with the school would routinely ask Mwanakatwe to take them to the principal. These visitors would of course be looking for a white person. Those days only British Whites could become principals. Mwanakatwe handled racism well and preferred to see the humorous side of things rather than take unnecessary offence.

Another first came when late John Mupanga Mwanakatwe was asked to serve as Assistant Commissioner at the Northern Rhodesia Commission in London. In addition to bringing him in contact with many students, JMM also met many future Zambian leaders like Andrew Kashita. He also renewed his acquaintance with Valentine Shula Musakanya, the late intellectual who married one of Mwanakatwe's nieces. In his autobiography Mwanakatwe describes Musakanya as "an intellectual live wire". Many years later Mwanakatwe was to defend Musakanya in Zambia's famous treason trial of the 1980s.

That of course was much later. In 1961 Mwanakatwe decided to do something unusual in Zambia; he resigned his well paying position in London in order to help the nationalist cause back home. He subsequently stood in the 1962 election in the Upper Roll. He was the only African to be elected by an almost all white constituency in that roll.

After the 1964 one person one vote election in Zambia, Mwanakatwe became the Minister of Education and presided over the desegregation of schools in the country. He later held other portfolios such as Minister of Finance.

When Mwanakatwe finally left political office, he did so voluntarily and spent the bulk of his time practicing law in the firm MMW&Co. He was the founder of the firm and his partners were Linda Mungomba and Bevin Willombe. As a lawyer Mwanakatwe was characteristically thorough and humble. He would seek counsel even from junior lawyers.

In fact humility was a hallmark of John Mwanakatwe's. He was slow to chide but quick to praise. He believed he could learn from anyone, regardless of station in life.

Another successful but humble Zambian remembered was Nackson Longwe. Nackson Longwe was Zambia's 11th graduate. Apart from a stint with the Cooperatives Department after leaving school, he spent virtually his entire life in the private sector. He was an early Director and shareholder of Mwaiseni Stores Limited. He subsequently became the company's CEO.

But Mr. Longwe was also interested in the welfare of his people. He got involved in civic politics and was in fact the first African Mayor of Chingola. He served just before Zambia's independence. He is remembered for his commitment to preserving Chingola's reputation as the cleanest town in the country.

Nackson Longwe met numerous people as his career advanced. Despite that he valued old friendships and never abandoned his childhood friends. One such friend was Valentine Musakanya. When Valentine Musakanya married Flavia Shikopa, it was Nackson Longwe who was asked to serve as best man. When Valentine Musakanya died, Nackson was asked by the family to read the eulogy.

Nackson Longwe belongs to the class of unsung heroes who gave more to their country than the country could possibly give to them. He is survived by wife Mary Longwe.

Yet another hero Zambia lost recently is Dr Gavin Silwamba who passed away first week of July, 2009. Unlike the two great men eulogized above – Mwanankatwe and Longwe – Dr Silwamba’s contribution to Zambia was principally in the medical field.

Dr Silwamba worked not only as a Senior Doctor in Kitwe, at one time he was Chief Medical Officer for the then mining conglomerate ZCCM. Thereby playing a role in maintaining a high health quality standard not only for the mining working force, but for the entire populace on the Copper Belt and Zambians at large.

Then apart from his medical profession’s pursuits – Gavin Silwamba had keen interest in education which took him to the University of Zambia (UNZA). At UNZA, Silwamba was a popular Lecturer and eventually became the Head for the Department of Community Medicine, at the School of Medicine in Lusaka.

While at UNZA, he not only published a few scholarly papers especially in BMC Health Services Research, but he also actively participated in a number of academic conferences, workshops or seminars at home and abroad. Specializing in public health issues – his professional advice was particularly critical when Zambia was hit with pandemics like HIV/Aids, Malaria, Cholera, and other major disease outbreaks or viruses.

These roles – in all aspects of health services research, delivery of care and management, were particularly visible when he served as Director of Zambia’s Central Board of Health. In this capacity, he attended and actively participated in many international policy fora – from UN to other global organizations. A notable example was when he took part in – Second Forum 2000, held in Bangkok, Thailand. This conference was organized by The Global Forum on Bioethics under the auspices of WHO. At this meeting the agenda and model was set for international Bioethics Education.

Gavin Silwamba et al., recently published in Health Research Policy & Systems, on October 24, 2009, a powerful paper called – “Accountable priority setting for trust in health systems…. A new approach for strengthening sustainable action in Developing Countries”.

Dr Silwamba’s professional achievements are numerous to cover them all, but the list would not be complete if we did not mention that he also served as PS (Permanent Secretary) in the Ministry of Health.

He is survived by wife Violate, four daughters and three grandchildren.

Therefore to replace these great and brilliant brains would not be easy.

MAY THEY ALL REST IN ETERNAL PEACE!

Toronto, November 6, 2009

Dr. Kaela B Mulenga