….Rest In Peace Bingu wa Mutharika…..Happy Reverend Lazarus Chakwera
By Cedric Nyoni
On a day like this in 2012, Mother Malawi lost her 3rd President Bingu wa Mutharika due to a sudden Cardiac Arrest.
Bingu who was Born Webster Ryson Thom Mutharika, woke up very strong as usual and fulfilled some of his routine duties at the Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe.
On that day Bingu wa Mutharika planned to meet several female members of Parliament of his Democratic Progressive Party including the likes of Patricia Kaliati, and the late Agnes Penemulungu, among others.
At around 10 am everything changed when he was in a one-on-one meeting with The Late Agnes Penemulungu.
The President was immediately rushed to Kamuzu Central Hospital, where he was pronounced ‘Clinically dead’, and efforts to deter the then Vice President Joyce Banda was hatched by the then ruling DPP.
Bingu’s dead body was flown to South Africa via a chartered Air Ambulance just to buy time in an effort to prevent Joyce Banda to ascend to the presidency.
Bingu died at the the age of 78…
….On the same date, in 1955, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, Malawi’s 6th president was born on the outskirts of Lilongwe.
It is said he was given the Biblical name ‘Lazarus’ (whom the Bible said was raid from death after several days in a tomb by Jesus) because two of his brothers born before him died in infancy due to a high infant mortality rate those years.
His father, believing that he (Lazarus) would live gave him the name Lazarus as the Bible character who was raised from the dead.
He went to Chancellor Collage and attained his BA before pursuing a Master’s degree in Theology and then Ph.D.
He has worked as an instructor at the Assemblies of God School of Theology from 1983 to 2000 where he became the Principal in 1996.
He has been the co-director and a lecturer at All Nations Theological Seminary.
From 1989 to 2013 he had been at the helm of the Malawi Assemblies of God presidency.
On 14 April 2013, he took many by surprise when he declared his intentions to run at a Convention of an opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) as a president while still maintaining the Assemblies of God Presidency.
He first contested for presidency in 2014 but lost to Peter Mutharika, but finally won in the 2020 Fresh Elections after he successfully won a Court case that disputed the outcome of the 2019 elections which he again lost to Peter Mutharika. Re
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