Alum Faces Lesser Charges in Malawi

The Malawi government charged opposition leader Danga K. Mughogho ’94 Tuesday with excessive use of his car horn, a significant reduction from the original charges for political demonstration and possession of a Playboy magazine.

Mughogho, northern regional chair of the Malawi Forum for Unity and Development, was arrested on Sept. 17 for protesting President Bakili Muluzi’s decision to alter the constitution and seek a third term as leader of the southern African country.

After the court reduced the charges on Tuesday, the case was postponed indefinitely when the court magistrate learned his own sister had died.

“It was obvious that I was detained for political reasons, but now the government is making it seem like it was a traffic offense,” said Mughogho.

The incident that originally led to Mughogho’s arrest was part of a campaign in Mzuzu, Malawi’s third largest city in the north of the country, to make noise in protest of Muluzi’s quest for a third term.

“Three times a day people would toot their horn or bang something or just yell,” he said. “Given the climate of intimidation, people didn’t want to march in the street and risk getting tear-gassed.”

On Sept. 17 Mughogho decided to drive by the Mzuzu police station while flashing his lights and honking his car horn.

“At this point I wanted something to happen,” he said. “It was in the spirit of civil disobedience.”

The police arrested Mughogho and charged him with distribution of false literature likely to cause public unrest. He said they accused him of distributing leaflets that urged Malawians to blow their car horns as a form of protest.

Mughogho said he was denied bail and spent that night in an 800 square foot prison cell with about 180 other inmates.

The next day, he said, the police obtained a search warrant to look for the leaflets in Mughogho’s house. Although they found no such literature in his home, they discovered a Playboy magazine underneath his bed.

On Sept. 19, after Mughogho spent his second night in jail, the state prosecutor dropped the original charge and added two new ones: conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace and possession of materials likely to cause corruption of moral values, both misdemeanors under Malawi law.

His trial was scheduled for Oct. 8, but when Mughogho returned to court for his appearance, he discovered his case had been sent to Director of Public Prosecutions Fahad Assani for evaluation.

“My lawyer suspects that sending the case to him means that the case is politically sensitive,” Mughogho said. “His feeling is that the police acted rashly and now they’re stuck with the case.”

An official at the Malawi embassy in Washington referred requests for comment to the Ministry of Information in the capital city of Lilongwe. Repeated calls to that office yesterday were unanswered.

In court Tuesday, the state prosecutor dropped the other charges, Mughogho said, and instead accused him of violating the Malawi Motor Traffic Act of 1997—“for excessive use of my hooter.”

“The case has been shown publicly to be a sham, and the only charge I am facing is a basic traffic offense,” he wrote in an e-mail to friends and supporters after Tuesday’s hearing. “The moral victory is ours!”

Mughogho said his arrest has inspired others to stand up against Muluzi’s government.

“It’s amazing how since my arrest people have gotten more courage to resist,” he said. “I was just an ordinary, random Malawian and yet in my hometown, people are coming up to me and saying, ‘That was a brave thing to do.’”

Mughogho said his case, which was widely reported in newspapers across Malawi, has bolstered the opposition movement across the country.

A coalition of political parties and church groups is planning a nation-wide protest tomorrow morning against Muluzi’s aspirations for a third term.

While at Harvard, Mughogho, an economics concentrator, was a member of the Spee Club and the polo team. He is currently an officer of the Harvard African Students Alumni Network.

He said his college days inspired him to enter politics.

“While I was at Harvard I read a quote that has stayed with me ever since: ‘The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a moment of moral crisis, seek to maintain their neutrality,’” he said. “I would argue that those words apply equally well in Malawi today.”

—Staff writer Amit R. Paley can be reached at paley@fas.harvard.edu.