Shock and bewilderment as Nga Mtafu buried

Malawi’s neurosurgeon and retired politician George nga Mtafu was buried Friday at Ntonda Village on the outskirts of Blantyre City, following his death on Tuesday after sustaining injuries in a road accident.

Several hundred mourners, —including government officials, politicians, Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) members and traditional leaders—attended the funeral.

The former MP for Likoma was buried at Mtonda – Khumbo Farm – at a cemetery he had choosen before he died.

“It is an hour of heartache, a time of tears,” said former president Bakili Muluzi.

Mtafu’s widow Elvy, Commissioner at the Malawi Electoral Commission, said his death had shattered her life and described him as “my pillar of strength, husband, father, mentor, protector and very best friend”.

Some of the notable people who witnessed the burial were former vice-president Khumbo Kachali, First-Deputy Speaker Esther Mcheka-Chilenje, former Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda, former Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo, PPM president Mark Katsonga, People’s Party’s Central Region vice-president Uladi Mussa and Inkosi ya Makosi M’mbwelwa V .

Government was represented by Minister of Health Peter Kumpalume.

He was once arrested and imprisoned without trial for making a statement disagreeing with President Hastings Banda’s pronouncements. Upon his release in 1991, he became active in reform politics, and is one of the founding members of United Democratic Front (UDF).

Mtafu was once UDF treasurer general and the party’s leader in Parliament.

He served in various ministerial portfolios during the UDF regime under Bakili Muluzi presidency, and in 2012 Mtafu was appointed as Chief Technical Advisor in the Ministry of Health.

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