Former president Bakili Muluzi Thursday asked government to consider taking part in organising important national events like the Kamuzu memorial ceremony instead of leaving them to concerned families.
Muluzi, who spoke with his old-time vigour and good-humoured touch during Kamuzu Day celebrations at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe after having earlier laid a wreath at Kamuzu Mausoleum, said Kamuzu represented everyone.
“It is important that such arrangements like this one should be organised by government. Kamuzu is the father and founder of Malawi and it is important that we come together in celebrating his life and achievements.
“Let’s not leave this to the family alone… What is happening now is really commendable. Regardless of political affiliations, we have all gathered here and this unity is the principle that Kamuzu lived for… Let’s leave politics aside,” said Muluzi.
He further described the late Malawi founder as a meticulous person who never wanted things to be done in halves, arguing this was seen even from the way he presented himself including how dressed.
“He was very smart in whatever he did. He strove for perfection and we learnt a lot from him. Even when we made mistakes in our memos, he could correct us right away because he hated compromise,” said Muluzi.
The former head of state, who worked with Kamuzu in different capacities including Cabinet and Parliament portfolios, stressed that Kamuzu Day is a day for all Malawians to celebrate.
While not directly responding to Muluzi’s appeal for government to organise events like the Kamuzu Day celebrations, Finance Minister Goodal l Gondwe – who represented President Peter Mutharika – said he hoped that the next event would be bigger and that it would have more support from different stakeholders.
In an earlier interview at the mausoleum, Gondwe had said there are “too many” development projects that Kamuzu accomplished which he said are benefitting the nation up to this day.
“We are here in Lilongwe. That’s his creation. We were in Zomba before but he decided that we should be here. Now we have seen how convenient it is [to have the capital city here],” said Gondwe.
He also cited the M1 road, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) and the University of Malawi as some landmark development projects that Kamuzu undertook.
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