Former cabinet minister Harry Thomson no more

Former Cabinet minister Harry Thomson has died in a hospital in South Africa, the Office of the President and Cabinet has announced.

Lloyd Muhara, chief secretary to government says Thomson died in the morning of June 6.

Late Thomson was one of the champions of multiparty democracy in the run up to the 1993 referendum on whether Malawi should adopt multiparty democracy or maintain the iron fist of Dr. Kamuzu Banda’s one party rule.

A member of his family said the family was discussing on the program of his funeral and burial ceremony.

The family member said Thomson has been sick for a year now, saying this was why he did not contest for the Chikhwawa north parliamentary seat which he won during the 2014 elections.

He held a number of cabinet portfolios during the President Bakili Muluzi reign after the 1994 multiparty elections but was arrested in 2004 after the United Democratic Front (UDF) sponsored presidential candidate Bingu wa Mutharika left the party soon after he was elected into power to form his own Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Thomson was arrested at Sanjika palace gates on his way to meet Mutharika for peace talks and it was alleged that he had a gun in his vehicle, which Thomson said was fully lincenced.

He was once secretary general of UDF when the party was governing the country and also held the title of leader of government business in Parliament.