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Malawi President Overstay In The U.S. After UN Meeting Sparks Illness Fears

Malawi President Overstay In The U.S. After UN Meeting Sparks Illness Fears

Peter Mutharika, the president of Malawi is yet to return home two weeks after the United Nations General (UN) Assembly ended in New York, sparking fears that he may be critically ill.

The government has urged citizens to ignore rumors about Mutharika’s health amid mounting fears that he remained in the U.S to undergo treatment. He has not appeared in public since September 25, when he addressed the UN General Assembly.

“The president is enjoying very robust health and is continuing to carry on his duties,” BBC quoted a statement from the government.

Mutharika’s health has been under scrutiny since February last year when he fainted some minutes before he took dinner at state house.

He came to power in May 2014, succeeding Joyce Banda, the first ever female president of the Southern Africa nation, one of the poorest on the continent.

Mutharika is brother to Mbingu wa Mutharika, who died in power in April 2012, after suffering cardiac arrest.

A commission of inquiry set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mutharika’s death found Peter to be one of the people who hid his elder brother’s death for two days in an effort to keep Banda, then vice-president from ascending to power, Africa Review reported.

The government warned people against spreading rumors on Mutharika’s deteriorating health, adding that it will prosecute anyone who engages in fueling the claims.

The president’s communication team has failed to provide videos of the leader in his purported robust health, further attracting criticism from the public that said that he is in the US on taxpayers’ money and that his health should not be a secret, Malawi24 reported.

“Mutharika is a public figure, therefore, as a public figure Malawians have a right to know to (his) whereabouts,” Nyasa Times quoted the Public Affairs Committee, a quasi-religious body.

Mutharika is part of several African presidents whose ill-health has been hidden from the public in the past.

Robert Mugabe, the longest serving president on the continent has in recent times made medical trips to Dubai and Singapore, claims that his government has always rubbished off, saying he was on state visits.

Muhammadu Buhari, the president of Nigeria travelled to the United Kingdom in June for medical treatment, while the government said it was a 10-day vacation, Vanguard reported.

Several African presidents have died in power due to ill-health. Currently, 22 leaders have died in office in 19 countries.

The refusal by Malawian government to publicly admit Mutharika’s ill-health and threats to punish those found spreading rumors on his sickness follows an age-old tradition in Africa, where discussions of a leader’s ill-health are considered criminal offenses.