Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika Dead? Rumors Hit Twitter

Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika reportedly suffered a heart attack on Thursday morning. Conflicting reports have since emerged over whether Mutharika has died and whether he has left the country for medical treatment.

The most recent update from BBC Africa on its Facebook page said Mutharika "took ill this morning and is awaiting a flight out of the country to South African [sic] for further treatment."

National Geographic's Andrew Evans reported from Lilongwe, outside the hospital where the President is allegedly being treated.

@WheresAndrew
Andrew Evans

Detained by 3 police detectives for taking pictures at Kamazu Hospital where President of #Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika has died. #Africa #news

April 5, 2012 3:35 pm via Twitter for iPhone Reply Retweet Favorite

Reuters Africa, meanwhile, reported that the president is in critical condition and being flown to South Africa for treatment.

Whether or not wa Mutharika is dead, Malawi is "braced for violence" in the chaos following his hospitalization, according to The Guardian.

"We have never been prepared for such an eventuality. He suffered a cardiac arrest and the condition is still unstable," a hospital staff member told Reuters.

BBC Africa originally reported that wa Mutharika was being airlifted for treatment, but later quoted Vice President Joyce Banda stating that wa Mutharika is still alive and in Malawi:

@BBCAfrica
BBC Africa

President #Bingu is still in the country - "as far as i know he is still alive": Vice President Joyce Banda tells @BBCAfrica #Malawi

April 5, 2012 5:00 pm via TweetDeck Reply Retweet Favorite

The Guardian reports that Bingu wa Mutharika is in "very critical" condition after suffering a heart attack. The 78-year-old was taken to a Lilonge hospital on Thursday morning, according to the Associated Press.

From AP:

Mutharika is a former World Bank official once heralded for his stewardship of a southern African country that is among the world's poorest. In recent years, he has been accused of trampling on democratic rights.

Mutharika first came to power in a 2004 election, and was overwhelmingly re-elected five years later. Elections are not due again in Malawi until 2014.

Comments

[ciotog17]

10:08 PM on 04/05/2012

The Nyasa Times, a Malawian newspaper, is reporting that its sources have told the paper President Bingu is clinically dead but that his body was flown to South Africa to buy time for "his kitchen cabinet" to figure out how to keep "holding on to power at all costs."

The Malawian constitution stipulates that power should pass upon the death of the president to First Vice President Joyce Banda, who has since 2010 been at loggerheads with the president and his party.

Mrs. Banda was widely expected to challenge the current president's brother, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mutharika, widely seen as being groomed to replace the president when he ends his second term in 2014.

http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2012/04/05/malawi-president-bingu-wa-mutharika-dies-exclusive/

[ciotog17]

07:50 AM on 04/06/2012

Reuters and the BBC are now reporting the president is dead, but other news sources, including the New York Times in a report filed 10 minutes ago, are still sticking with reporting that he has been taken to South Africa for treatment after suffering a heart attack.

[ciotog17]

12:55 PM on 04/06/2012

It is about 2000 hours Friday [8 p.m.] in Malawi now, more than 24 hours after initial reports of the president's death began surfacing, yet he seems to perhaps have resurrected. On Good Friday, to boot! News24, a South African news aggregator, has published an Associated Press account from Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre, quoting anonymously doctors who treated the president for a heart attack as saying he died on Thursday and then his body was flown to South Africa. But the report concludes "The Malawi government has so far issued only a brief statement on state radio and television, saying Mutharika was taken ill and was flown to South Africa for further treatment."