Malawi’s Vice President Joyce Banda (C) stands during a press confrance in Lilongwe late Friday. — AFPLILONGWE — Malawian Vice-President Joyce Banda took over in the southern African nation Saturday after the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika, and fears of a succession struggle receded as top officials and the army backed the constitutional handover.
Banda, a 61-year-old women’s rights activist and education campaigner, was sworn in as president Saturday in the Chinese-built National Assembly in the capital Lilongwe, officials said.
She becomes southern Africa’s first female head of state.
The government only officially confirmed 78-year-old Mutharika’s death earlier in the day, two days after he had died following a heart attack. His body had been flown to a military hospital in South Africa.
The delay in the announcement had raised worries about a political crisis because Banda had been expelled from Mutharika’s ruling DPP party in 2010 after an argument about the succession, though she retained her state position.
Dispelling fears of a power struggle, Banda appeared at a news conference in the capital Lilongwe to declare 10 days of official mourning for Mutharika, who had ruled for eight years.
She ordered national flags to be flown at half-mast and the state broadcaster to play sombre music.
“I call upon all Malawians to remain calm and to keep the peace during this time of bereavement,” Banda said, flanked by members of the cabinet, the attorney general and the heads of the army and the police. “As you can see, the constitution prevails,” she said, wearing a colourful black, silver and pink robe and headdress.
The constitution stipulates that the vice-president takes over if the president dies, but Mutharika appeared to have been grooming his brother Peter, the foreign minister, as his de facto successor.
In a sign that Banda had support across the political spectrum, opposition leaders called for her to be swiftly sworn in as head of state and some 20 members of the national governing council of Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also expressed their backing for her. — Reuters