Joe Manduwa (born 1960 in Chimbalanga

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

under traditional authority Dambe in Neno,

Southern Region, Malawi The Southern Region of Malawi is an area of Malawi. It covers an area of 31,753 km2. Its capital city is Blantyre. In 2018, its population was 7,750,629. Geography Domestically, the Southern Region borders the Central Region, Malawi, Cent ...

) is a Malawian politician. He served as a deputy minister and Member of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

for Mwanza East for the United Democratic Front.The Nation: Joe Manduwa
/ref> He is most remembered for advocating the legalization of ''chamba'',

Malawi Gold Malawian cannabis, particularly the strain known as Malawi Gold, is internationally renowned as one of the finest sativa strains from Africa. According to a World Bank report it is among "the best and finest" marijuana strains in the world, gene ...

. He is described as bold, frank, and rogue.

Political career

He became a Member of Parliament under the United Democratic Front ticket in 1999. He became Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the

Bakili Muluzi Elson Bakili Muluzi (born 17 March 1943) is a Malawian politician who was President of Malawi from 1994 to 2004. He was also chairman of the United Democratic Front (UDF) until 2009. He succeeded Hastings Kamuzu Banda as Malawi's president. He al ...

administration. He later became the Deputy Minister of Agriculture. He was replaced as minister in 2000 due to a pending court trial and gave his duties to Ludoviko Shati. He was also fired together with Jan-Jaap Sonke for not supporting

's third term bid. According to the Associated Foreign Press report, he was later fired from the UDF in 2002 for investigating allegations of government involvement in illegally selling tons of maize during the Malawian drought of 2002. His seat was declared vacant by Sam Mpasu but the Malawian courts ruled against the government and he remained Member of Parliament until 2004.

Legalizing marijuana

He is most known for advocating the legalization of Marijuana in Malawian Parliament. He suggested in parliament that Malawi begin to produce ''chamba'' (

) for non-medicinal use as a viable replacement for its main official export tobacco. this call was backed by medical doctor and Member of Parliament for

Malawi Congress Party The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is a political party in Malawi. It was formed as a successor party to the banned Nyasaland African Congress when the country, then known as Nyasaland, was under British rule. The MCP, under Hastings Banda, pre ...

, Hetherwick Ntaba.

Aphrodisiac

He has also advocated the sale and marketing of a locally made herbal aphrodisiac as an export in order to lift the nation out of poverty.

Maize scandal

While he was the chairman of a 19-member Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, he was involved in investigating a maize scandal that was blamed for the Malawi's 2002 food crisis. He was charged with investigating the illegal sale of more than 160,000 tonnes of maize from the strategic grain reserves in the midst of the 2002 severe drought and famine which left the country with a 600,000-tonne food shortfall. Two million Malawians faced starvation due to this sale. Manduwa was fired over this investigation a few weeks before he was set to present the findings of the report to parliament without an explanation. Manduwa noted that "This is a move to block me from investigating some top people who are involved, whom we have uncovered". His dismissal was later reversed in court and he continued to serve in the role until 2004 when he lost re-election as an independent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manduwa, Joe United Democratic Front (Malawi) politicians Members of the National Assembly (Malawi) 1960 births Living people People from Neno District