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Malawi: President Bingu wa Mutharika dies
Any attempt to circumvent the constitution would certainly meet with resistance, analysts said.
“It’s automatic that she takes over the presidency. The reality on the ground is that Joyce Banda takes over until the remainder of the term in 2014, unless someone wants to change the rules,” lawyer Wapona Kita told AFP.
Kita said the constitution “clearly states that in the event of incapacitation or death of the president, the vice president takes over.”
Banda formed her own People’s Party after being sacked from the ruling party. Mutharika then filed a case at the High Court seeking to force her from office, arguing that his running mate had become an opposition figure.
The Nation, an independent newspaper, criticized the government’s handling of Mutharika’s hospitalization.
“It is time to do things well through provision of timely information,” the paper said, adding that the government “could have done better than the sketchy statements broadcast on state radio – as almost everyone was left guessing”
Copyright 2012 AFP
