"I was there when the ambulance brought him. He appeared dead. It was most strange to see him without his shirt on,” said a nurse in Lilongwe’s Kamuzu Central Hospital. Malawi’s President suffered a heart attack on 5th April 2012. As they rushed Bingu wa Mutharika from the ambulance a decidedly well dressed Mutharika would have looked down upon his own shirtless body from his official portrait on the wall.
Today a portrait of President Joyce Banda presides. A freshly painted sign below reads: Takulandilani – “You are most welcome.” It was tough to get her portrait up there. In late 2010 Mutharika nominated his own brother, Peter Mutharika, as the next president of Malawi. Vice President Banda protested leading to her expulsion from the party, but despite a major power struggle she remained VP of Malawi and took her rightful place two days after Mutharika’s heart attack.
By the time of his death the economy was in crisis. There were deadly protests against his regime. Malawi’s biggest donors including the UK, US and Norway had suspended aid. Food was short and fuel was often only available on the black market. Murathika had buddied up with Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, an accused war criminal.
Bashir was one of the first people Banda dealt with vowing to arrest him if he ever set foot in Malawi. She went on to cut her salary substantially and sell the Presidential jet and cars. She has seen to the suspension of anti-gay legislation and continues to fight for the rights of women and children.
In the hospital operating room a group of American doctors take photographs and write notes. They’re here to figure out how to improve things. “We’ve met with Joyce four times already,” one of the doctors says.
What they’ll see here is a microcosm of the country: The misery, the decrepitude, the culture, joy and colour. People from all corners of the country, of all cultures, tribes, religions and intellect descend on this institution. Public hospitals are a measure of a nation.
Someone once told me an airport gives you a sense of a nation. But an airport is about choices: stay or go. Kamuzu Banda, first ruler of independent Malawi, self proclaimed ‘President for Life’ and namesake of the hospital and airport, flew away and died in a South African hospital. If Murathika’s ailment weren’t as sudden there’s little doubt he would have sought treatment elsewhere. As it happens his body was taken to South Africa for post mortem.
Perhaps what a president should do is look at their hospital, this microcosm of their nation, and consider that these are the people they should spend their last moments with.
Welcome to Malawi.
