I’m not dead or missing, Malawi President speaks
Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika was forced to refute recent reports that he was “missing” and rumours circulating that he was critically ill and had died.
Ruling DPP vice president Yunus Mussa and spokesman Hetherwick Ntaba organised a news conference in Lilongwe on Monday to prove that the President was alive.
Mussa telephoned Mutharika in Hong Kong to speak to a journalist and prove that he was fit and well.
The President spoke to veteran journalist Dickson Kashoti of Blantyre Newspapers Limited.
The 78-year-old Mutharika, reportedly furious with the death rumours, told the journalist that he was is “sound health” and that his wife Callista was also well.
The President laughed off the rumours that he was dead and that he was gravely ill.
Mutharika said he was spending his days on annual leave in Hong Kong.
The President, who denied he has any serious health problems, also justified his holiday saying he was entitled 30 days a year.
Mutharika is expected to return home next week.
Although there have been reports over the years that Mutharika’s health is failing, he and his officials have never confirmed that he has any serious ailment.
His brother Aurther-Peter Mutharika, the foreign minister and heir apparet, has said it is “worse than witchcraft to wish someone dead.”
The Malawi ruler and the First Lady left on October 25 to attend the Commonwealth summit in Australia which ended on Monday, October 31 and then proceeded to holiday since.
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