Harry Thomson (1934 – 6 June 2019), also known as "Clean Harry", was a Malawian politician. He was born in Zomba, the capital of Nyasaland (present day Malawi). He was a founding member of the United Democratic Front party (UDF) and a Minister of Trade and Industry.

Personal life

He was born to a family of 5 children. He had a Scottish grandfather and African, black grandmother, so the family referred to themselves as ''EuroAfrican'' which was the fashion of the time. His stern religious parents sent him to boarding school in

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from primary school to secondary school in hopes that he would join the medical profession. As a

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in secondary school he gained interest and experience in working with the people of community. He returned to Malawi in 1950 and began work as a motor mechanic and ran his own business for a few years. He soon became interested in Management and studied management. He was grandfather to

Theo Thomson Theo Thomson is a Malawian born singer, songwriter. Thomson is owner of the Blantyre-based Matalala Recording Studio. He lived in the UK, where he gained an interest in music with rapid artists productions performing and moved back to Malawi to ...

Public service and UDF foundation

He was elected Chairman of the National Chamber of Commerce of Malawi for 10 years and was also Chairman of the Southern Regional Business Council for 6 years. As Chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce he traveled and was part of an underground movement that included

Bakili Muluzi Elson Bakili Muluzi (born March 17, 1943 in Machinga, Nyasaland) is a Malawian politician who was the first freely elected president of Malawi from 1994 to 2004. He was also chairman of the United Democratic Front (UDF) until 2009. He succeeded ...

that aimed at resisting the one-party rule of Kamuzu Banda. Muluzi was heading the Transport Association, and had become a chamber member after leaving Kamuzu Banda's cabinet. The chamber became the foundation of the UDF. They began to agitate the MCP government under growing protests nationwide over Banda's reign and this resulted in associates being arrested or sent away. Protests after Banda agreed to a national referendum to see if the present government, a one-party state, should be continued or to go into multi-party. He traveled the country telling people the advantages of multi-party as opposed to the disadvantages prior to the 1994 elections. In May 1994, elections were won by the UDF, with Bakili Muluzi as the first democratic president of Malawi.

Political career

He was one of the founding members of the UDF. After The Muluzi government won the elections, Thomson served as the Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs. Thomson served UDF for 17 years and stood for parliament in Chikwawa North. After unanimous verdict by the UDF party's National Executive Committee (NEC) that Thomson take over the chairmanship of the party, Muluzi decided to override the decision. Thomson resigned from UDF in 2004 in protest over the nomination of President

Bingu wa Mutharika Bingu wa Mutharika (; born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom; 24 February 1934 – 5 April 2012) was a Malawian politician and economist who was President of Malawi from May 2004 until his death in April 2012. He was also President of the Democ ...

joining the NDA. By May 2009, he resigned from active politics in Malawi.

Death

Thomson died in Johannesburg, South Africa on 6 June 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Harry Malawian civil servants Malawian democracy activists Government ministers of Malawi United Democratic Front (Malawi) politicians Malawian people of Scottish descent 1934 births 2019 deaths