Page "History of Malawi" Paragraph 19

During the 1950s, pressure for independence increased when Nyasaland was joined with Northern and Southern Rhodesia in 1953 to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

In July 1958, Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda returned to the country after a long absence in the United States ( where he had obtained his medical degree at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee in 1937 ), the United Kingdom ( where he practised medicine ), and Ghana.

He assumed leadership of the NAC, which later became the Malawi Congress Party ( MCP ).

In 1959, Banda was sent to Gwelo Prison for his political activities but was released in 1960 to participate in a constitutional conference in London.