By Mabvuto Banda
LILONGWE (Reuters) – Malawi’s state radio
announced on Saturday that President Bingu wa Mutharika had died, and Vice-president Joyce Banda prepared to take over as
southern Africa’s first female head of state.
The radio announcement confirmed reports by medical and government
sources on Friday that the 78-year-old Mutharika had died shortly after a heart attack the previous day.
The delay in
the official announcement, as well as the airflifting of Mutharika’s body to South Africa on Thursday, had aroused
suspicions about the succession process in the impoverished southern African nation.
The United States, which has been
an important aid donor for Malawi, expressed alarm at the official silence and said it did not want to see any delay in the
swearing of Banda, a women’s rights activist.
Malawi’s constitution is clear that Banda should take over, although a
smooth transition has not been completely assured since she was booted out of Mutharika’s ruling DPP party in 2010 after an
argument about succession.
Mutharika appeared to have been grooming his brother Peter, the foreign minister, as his de
facto successor.
“Malawi’s constitution lays out a clear path for succession and we expect it to be observed. We are
concerned about the delay in the transfer of power,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
“We trust that the
vice president who is next in line will be sworn in shortly.”
Banda is due to hold a news conference on Saturday,
officials said, as well as meet the Attorney General and head of the armed forces, suggesting any divisions over the transfer
of power have been ironed out.
Few of Malawi’s 13 million people mourned Mutharika, whom they regarded as an autocrat
personally responsible for an economic crisis that stemmed ultimately from a diplomatic spat with former colonial power
Britain a year ago.
“We know he is dead and unfortunately he died at a local, poor hospital which he never cared about
– no drugs, no power,” said Chimwemwe Phiri, a Lilongwe businessman waiting in a line of cars for fuel at a petrol
station.
As reports of the death of the self-styled “Economist in chief” swept the capital, there were pockets of
drunken jubilation among those who accused Mutharika of turning back the clock on 18 years of democracy in the “Warm Heart of
Africa”.
“I am yet to see anyone shedding a tear for Bingu,” said Martin Mlenga, another businessman. “We all wished
him dead, sorry to say that.”
Medical sources said Mutharika’s body was flown to South Africa because Malawi’s
energy crisis was so severe the Lilongwe state hospital would have been unable to conduct a proper autopsy or even keep his
body refrigerated.
There has been no comment from the South African authorities.