Chanju Samantha Mwale is a Malawian lawyer and army officer. She was the first female lawyer in the

Malawian Defence Force The Malawian Defence Force is the state military organisation responsible for defending Malawi. It originated from elements of the British King's African Rifles, colonial units formed before independence in 1964. The military is organized under ...

and in 2016 became the first female officer of the Malawian Army to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. She was transferred to a research role in 2016, a move she alleged was illegal and took to the Malawi High Court. The court did not hear the case and Mwale chose to retire from the army.

Career

Chanju Samantha Mwale attended the

Kamuzu Academy Kamuzu Academy is a private boarding school in Malawi that was founded by, and named after, the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the former President of Malawi. It is described by its proponents as "The Eton College, Eton of Africa". In 1987, it was ...

before graduating with a

bachelor of laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree from

Chancellor College The University of Malawi (UNIMA) is a public university established in 1965 and until 4 May 2021, when the university underwent a delinking, was composed of four constituent colleges located in Zomba, Blantyre, and Lilongwe. Of the four colleges, ...

(University of Malawi). She worked as a senior resident magistrate before joining the

as an assistant legal officer in 2004, the first female lawyer to join the defence force. Mwale was deployed as a

military observer A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

to the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

between 2010 and 2011. She participated in

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security coopera ...

military exercises and, as a major, represented Malawi at the March 2012 regional

United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) was established in 1980 by the United Nations General Assembly to inform States and the global community on questions of international security, and to assist with disarmament eff ...

seminar. Mwale was awarded a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

fellowship in international law in 2013. She was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in May 2016, the first woman to reach that rank in the army. Mwale was appointed deputy director of legal services in August 2016. She was transferred to become a staff officer in the directorate of research and development at the Malawi Armed Forces College on 25 May 2017. Mwale contested the change of role as unsuited to her abilities and an illegal action. Choosing not to take the matter to Malawi's Defence Council, as her superior officer sat on the council, she opened proceedings in the Malawi High Court. The case was discharged in September 2017, with the judge ruling it should have first been brought before the Defence Council. Mwale, a single mother, chose to retire from the army during the course of the proceedings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mwale, Chanju Samantha Year of birth missing (living people) Malawian women lawyers Malawian Defence Force officers University of Malawi alumni Alumni of Kamuzu Academy Living people

Career

See also

References