in 1951 he moved to the gold coast in west africa. banda finally returned to nyasaland on 6 july 1958. in august he was named as the leader of the congress. he spoke against colonialism and for independence. in 1963, he was formally made nyasaland’s prime minister. on 6 july 1964, nyasaland became the independent commonwealth of malawi. when he swept to power as the first president of malawi in 1966 he called himself "ngwazi", which means conqueror, and after a few years declared himself "life president".