For two days, some members of Golozera Gama community in Traditional Authority Jalavikuba in Mzimba had been celebrating.
Their relative, Mclean Gama, was finally coming home after serving a 15-year prison sentence.
The excitement peaked on Saturday when Gama, a 43-year-old father of four, stepped out of the prison vehicle.
Some villagers waved tree branches in the air, singing and cheering, while others were moved to tears at the sight of him; neatly dressed in a white golf shirt, black striped trousers and black shoes.
It was a warm and emotional welcome as Gama, accompanied by senior prison officials from the Northern Region, walked back into his home.
But why such overwhelming joy?
Gama was convicted in 2016 for defilement and sentenced to 15 years in prison, a charge he continues to deny.
“This was a staged arrest and conviction,” he said calmly.
Apparently, after his father’s death, he was the rightful successor to the chieftaincy, but some family members opposed that.
“They orchestrated false accusations against me, claiming I defiled a girl. Despite the lack of medical evidence in court, the case still moved unusually fast and I was convicted,” Gama insists.
With his release, he is poised to reclaim his chieftaincy, which has been under the care of his uncle.
“Our youthful chief is back!” the villagers cheered as he stood up to address them after alighting from the vehicle.
Comparing his journey to that of Joseph in the Bible, Gama urged the government to ensure thorough investigations are conducted before arrests and prosecutions.
He says he believes many innocent people are currently serving sentences in the country’s prisons.
“I have moved on; I hold no grudges against those who engineered my arrest. The turnout today shows that people know I was innocent. Life must go on. While in prison, I found a calling; I am now a pastor,” he said with a smile.
That is his claim, but in the books, a court of law found him guilty and he served his time.
Officer-in-Charge of Mzuzu Prison, Smart Maliro, said Gama’s story regarding his reception upon release shows the importance of successful reintegration of former inmates into their communities.
“There are often challenges when a former prisoner returns home, but Gama’s experience is inspiring. It shows that offenders can be warmly received and can positively contribute to the economy and development of their communities,” Maliro says.
Mzuzu Prison has been running a ‘Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding’ programme, which has helped reconcile 183 cases between offenders and victims since 2022.
Maliro insists that if former prisoners are well reintegrated, chances are very slim they will reoffend.
He describes this as a positive step forward, as the Malawi Prison Service is shifting from being a punitive institution to a correctional facility.
“So, I can say so far, so good, as this is part of the integration we have always talked about. At the end of the day, the programme will help reduce the number of ex-convicts who return to prison because they have been welcomed well in their communities,” Maliro states.
The prison officials were accompanied by Samuel Phiri, Chief Executive Officer of Ungweru, a Mzuzu-based local organisation whose vision is to see communities that co-exist for the flourishing of all Life in Malawi.
Phiri noted what he described as a worrying trend, where many people remain on remand in prisons for years without their cases being concluded.
He said that apart from contributing to congestion in the country’s prisons, it is also a human rights violation that needs to be addressed.
He indicated that his organisation plans to start assisting about 30 of these people for now, though he acknowledged that the numbers are much higher.
“We have set up a legal unit within our organisation to support and represent those who have been on remand for a long time. As you know, justice delayed is justice denied, so we are stepping in to support these people,” he said.
In the Northern Region, the ‘Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding’ programme is supported by St Patrick’s Missionary Society.
As Gama embraces his second chance, his story could be a reminder of the need for the importance of reintegration and the possibility of forgiveness.
