 Mirriam Kaunda-Johansson, the biological mother of Jumani Immanuel Masauko (Jim) Johansson has cleared the air surrounding the paternity of his son saying Jim’s biological father is not Malawi’s founding father, the late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda as Jumani claims. A Malawi News week-long investigation has established that Jumani’s father is a Malawian of Indian descent who is now based in England.
In an exclusive telephone interview from Sweden on Thursday evening Kaunda-Johansson said Jumani’s father is Muhammad Jogee, a chartered accountant.
“It is important to note that I am the biological mother to Jumani. I gave birth to this child and what he is saying [that the late Dr Banda maybe his father] is not true.”
 “His biological father is Muhammad Jogee. He is a Malawian of Indian descent, a chartered accountant who moved to England years back. I told him of his biological father when he was a little boy. I even gave Jim his father’s telephone number. If you saw him, you would agree he looks like him,” said Kaunda-Johansson.
“I am shocked and I apologise to everyone concerned [for what Jumani is claiming],” she added.
But why is Jumani making claims that the first president might be his father?
“I don’t know. But I am sure Jumani is not feeling well right now,” said Kaunda-Johansson.
Asked if Jumani has a medical condition which could affect his thinking, the mother said he only knows that his son has a heart problem and has not been “diagnosed of any other ailment”.
But Jumani contends that only a DNA test will resolve his claim that the late Dr Banda was his father.
But the mother thinks otherwise: “You don’t need to go to Malawi and do a DNA test. I don’t think there is any need for a DNA test. I am his mother and I know who his father is. I am concerned about him as well,” said Kaunda-Johansson.
The local press insinuated that Jumani may have ideas that the late Kamuzu was his father because his mother worked with the late Dr Banda.
But Kaunda-Johansson, who was crowned Miss Malawi in 1976, said she worked as a Chief Air Hostess with Air Malawi in the 70s.
“When there were presidential charters, I used to be on those flights with many others when the late president was flying abroad,” she said.
 Kaunda-Johansson also said his ex-husband Hakan Johansson adopted Jumani when he married her when Jumani was about six years old.
“We brought him up in a secure and good lifestyle home. We had a good life. He has not lived a poor life. I thought he was going to Malawi to find his roots,” said Kaunda-Johansson.
In another exclusive interview Jumani’s aunt, Patricia Likaku who is Kaunda-Johansson’s sister, revealed that Jumani was born in Mzuzu in 1973 and before he was adopted by Johansson, he was brought up by his grandmother a Mrs. Kaunda who now stays in Bangwe, Blantyre.
Likaku said she raised Jumani [when he was staying with his grandmother] and that when he first arrived in the country in 2008, he stayed with her (Likaku) at her Area 12 home in Lilongwe.
She said she was shocked that Jumani is making claims that the late Dr Banda could be his father.
“I think Jumani needs help, he needs to go to the hospital. He needs divine intervention,” said Likaku.
She recalled that one day Jumani asked her if Kamuzu was his father and she laughed off the matter, thinking it was a joke. This did not please Jumani who eventually left her house to live with his grandmother in Bangwe.
Likaku also challenged Jumani to go ahead with the DNA test.
“He can go ahead with the DNA test and I am sure, the DNA will show that the late President was not his father,” said Likaku.
“As a family we are extremely disappointed with what he has done,” she added.
She also said Jumani is a graduate and has two children, a boy, Jumani and a girl, Modesty, with a Swedish wife.
Likaku also disclosed that Jumani changed his name to Jumani Immanuel Masauko Kaunda when he came back in 2008.
Jumani could not be reached on his mobile number but his lawyer Wapona Kita said Jumani has been receiving threats and that is why he might have switched off his mobile phone.
Jumani’s maternal grandmother Joyce Kaunda who raised him since he was two months old, until he was taken abroad when he was six years old, said in an exclusive interview at her Bangwe home in Blantyre Friday that she suspects that the time Jumani served in prison in Sweden for a year may have had an
effect on his thinking capability.
Kaunda said Jumani was jailed for almost a year for allegedly slapping his Swedish wife.
“His mother told me that when he came out from prison he was so sick and he had to go to hospital for treatment. Maybe that is why he is behaving like this but he was a sweet boy when he was little,” said Kaunda.
Kaunda, 72, said she noticed that Jumani had difficulties to understand and take in some advice from the elders when he returned home in 2008 and said this could be as a result of differences in culture and his long spell in Sweden.
“He left when he was six and came back when he was 36. Sometimes he could not understand when I tell him that in our culture you cannot call elders by their first names,” said Kaunda.
“As a family we are saddened with what he has done and we apologise to the Kamuzu family,” she added.
Jumani has flighted adverts to change his name from Jumani Immanuel Masauko Johansson to Jumani Immanuel Masauko Kamuzu Banda within 14 days from last Sunday.
But speaking on behalf of the Kamuzu family, Jane Dzanjalimodzi, who is grandniece to Kamuzu, said she knows Jumani well, saying his father was an Indian but it was sad that he has not been told the truth about his real father up to now.
“It’s true I know him and I know his mother. His mother was Mirriam Kaunda, the first Miss Malawi,” said Dzanjalimodzi, adding Kaunda married an Indian who fathered Jumani and left the country.
“He (Jumani) is an Indian man, his grandfather is in Ndirande (Blantyre Township) now,” added Dzanjalimodzi.
 Dzanjalimodzi, who confirmed meeting Jumani several times, said it was understandable for him not to know his real father because he left the country when he was young after his mother married another man in Sweden.
Dzanjalimodzi said she was aware that Jumani’s mother, Kaunda, was now living abroad after the dissolution of their marriage in Sweden, forcing Johansson to come back home to look for his real father.
She said the Kaundas were family friends with Kamuzu’s family because they lived together in Kasungu for a long time when their father was a Headteacher at Kasungu Secondary School.
“It’s a family we know very well, we have lived together. They come from the north,” explained Dzanjalimodzi.
She suggested that it was possible that Johansson was confused about his true identity after researching on the Kamuzu family, and challenged him to go on with a DNA test.
“Let him go for DNA test, his father was Indian. He is coloured, Kamuzu was not a coloured and we don’t have coloureds in our family ,” she said.
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