July 2020

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

—

Dear Road Not Taken,

How are you? Do you remember me?

Some many years ago I stood in front of two roads and I chose one. At the time I didn’t realise the weight of my decision, I was simply a woman making a choice about what degree to pursue, I did not know that my choices would lead me to where I am today.

I was a young woman, the fifth born in a family of seven. I was born in Dowa to a father who was a Veterinary Assistant and a mother who was a housewife. I went to Likuni Girls Primary School and later attended Lilongwe Girls Secondary School. I had grown up on the Chitedze Research Station so agriculture was almost second nature to me. So when I was selected to go to Bunda College of Agriculture, a constituent college of the University of Malawi, it made sense. It made sense for me to get good grades, it made sense for me to continue to pursue a degree in agriculture. When I thought that my only options were agriculture, nursing and teaching, that choice made the most sense. But then, then it stopped making sense.

Some students from the Mpemba Law School visited our campus and I realised that I had more options. I could do something else. I could be a lawyer. If I am honest, at the time, I didn’t fully understand what a career in law would entail. I thought I would go on to become a District Commissioner. I never could have imagined any of the things that went on to happen in my life. All I knew at that moment in time was that a career in agriculture no longer made the most sense. The road I had been on had forked.

The decision to change from agriculture to law was not a hard one to make and I received so much support from my parents, support that I continued to receive throughout my career from everyone around me. I didn’t realise that I had broken the mould, I wasn’t trying to be a pioneer, it happened by accident but I am glad it did. I went on to graduate and start working as a lawyer and found that I was often the only woman lawyer in the room, I have always been good at working hard though, so I kept at it, I kept working and I saw myself moving through the ranks.

Today, I am revisiting that moment where I stood at that forked road and chose law and I can honestly say that it was the right decision, I am glad that I didn’t walk down your road, it wasn’t the right road for me. I don’t believe I would have been able to make the strides that I did in any other field. My experience as a lawyer and as a judge exposed me to my country and to myself, something I am forever grateful for.

So, road not taken, I was a young woman when we met, I am older now and I am different now. So perhaps I should reintroduce myself.

I am Justice Anastasia Msosa, retired Chief Justice. I started my career in the Government in 1975 as a State Advocate, then moved to work in the Department of Legal Aid as a Legal Aid Advocate where I worked for about 13 years. I was then appointed Registrar General in 1990. In 1992, I was appointed Judge of the High Court, becoming the first woman Judge in Malawi. In 1997, I became a Supreme Court Judge. I was appointed Chief Justice in 2013 becoming the first woman Chief Justice in the country, a position I held until I retired in 2015. And in between, I was appointed Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission for the first ever Parliamentary and Presidential Elections in Malawi from 1993 to 1998. I was reappointed Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission in 2004 until 2012.

That is who I am now, who I became when I realised I had options, when I realised that roads could fork and I could choose a different path than the one expected. I have stood at many different crossroads since that day, all leading me to where I am now. Thank you for giving me the chance to choose.

Sincerely,

Justice Anastasia Msosa