Chakufwa Chihana (23 April 1939 – 12 June 2006) was a Malawian human rights activist, pro-democracy advocate, trade unionist and later, politician. He held the post of Second Vice President in Malawi, under President Bakili Muluzi. He is often called the 'father of Malawian democracy'. He served as leader of Malawi's first underground political movement, which urged President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who had ruled for three decades, to call for a referendum on political pluralism. He was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1992. Early life and career Chihana was born in Mhuju Village, Kawiluwilu, in the Northern Region of Nyasaland (Colonial Malawi). His father died when he was young and he was raised by his mother, an activist for local women. After secondary school, he worked for the colonial government and became active in the 4000-strong Commercial General Union, a Trade Union. In 1958, he became the union's publicity secretary and magazine editor. The following year, aged 21, he was made secretary-general of the Trade Union. He was active in campaigns involving Malawi Railways and the Imperial Tobacco Group. He studied at Oslo and Dubrovnik universities and received a Masters in Politics at Bradford University. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Botswana. In 1985, he became a co-founder and secretary general of the Southern Africa trade union coordinating council. Political activism Anti-colonial struggle Chihana joined the anti-colonial Malawi Congress party (MCP) that was spearheading opposition to the (Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) and to British rule in Nyasaland. By the end of 1963 the federation had collapsed and Kamuzu Banda became prime minister of the newly independent Malawi. As Banda began to consolidate his power after his presidency, Chihana continued to support independent trade unions and political democracy. As a result, Banda dismissed Chihana from the MCP. He was ordered into internal exile and assaulted. He escaped secretly into Kenya, through help from a Roman Catholic Priest. He continued to criticize Kamuzu Banda in Kenya while working as an adviser to the Kenya Federation of Labour. Political exile and arrest He was a dissident during the rule of President Hastings Banda and consequently spent much of the 1970s and 1980s either in detention or in exile. As a trade union leader and pro-democracy activist, Chihana was detained upon his abduction and subsequent return from exile from Kenya in 1970. During his seven-year sentence