we would take some of the songs sung in the villages, then we put in political words to suit the occasion... There wasn't any particular person at that time, that this was the one who composed those songs for us to sing. No, it was just general singing. Just as we are here. You could start a song, and our songs in most cases, our African songs, they are traditional. They are not difficult to sing. We could easily pick it up, and then we would all sing". She was quite clear that singing and dancing was not the primary purpose of the women's meetings. She said "I had this feeling ... women should be part and parcel of the whole movement, even of running the country. Women should be involved in decision making. That was my aim". Hastings Banda period In July 1958, Dr. Hastings Banda was elected President of the Congress, and began to tour the country speaking out for independence. In 1958, Chibambo organised the League of Malawi Women. The group used the profits from a monopoly on the sale of millet beer to fund their activities. With growing tension between the NAC and the colonial authorities, in a January 1959 Congress meeting it was agreed that if Banda was arrested or deported a general strike would be called. Rose Chibambo would become a member of a four-person executive committee to conduct the affairs of the congress in Banda's absence. On 3 March 1959, the governor Robert Armitage declared a state of emergency. Over the next 24 hours, almost all the MCP leaders were arrested. In April 1959, Jet magazine reported: "The top woman leader of the outlawed African National Congress, Mrs. Rose Chibambo, 29, who was arrested after giving birth to her fifth child, has taken the infant with her to jail". She had been allowed to remain at liberty until the child was born. The British later accepted that independence for Nysasaland was inevitable, and released Hastings Banda in March 1960. Banda was appointed Life President of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the successor to the NAC. The MCP swept the elections to the Legislative Council in 1961. On 1 February 1963, Nyasaland gained self-governance, and Banda was appointed Prime Minister. Rose Chibambo won the Mzimba North seat in the 1964 elections and was made Parliamentary Secretary for Community and Social Development. The country became