Edgar Lungu to attend inauguration ceremony
Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu is among 100 people that are expected to attend the inauguration of Lazarus Chakwera as Malawi’s 6th President after his triumph in the court-ordered election which was conducted on June 23.
The ceremony will be held at Kamuzu Barracks in Lilongwe to limit the number of possible attendees as a preventive measure against the novel coronavirus which has so far infected over 1,600 people out of whom 17 have died.
In an interview after Chakwera announced that the inauguration ceremony will take place at the barracks and not Bingu National Stadium as initially planned, Special Assistant to the President Sean Kampondeni said the Zambian leader will be among dignitaries who will attend the event.
“I can confirm that President Edgar Lungu [of Zambia] is among the 100 people that the President [Chakwera] has said will attend the inauguration ceremony at Kamuzu Barracks,” Kampondeni said.
In his address on the ceremony taking place at Kamuzu Barracks, where he is expected to receive the sword of command from Malawi Defence Force Commander Peter Namathanga, Chakwera disclosed that attendance will be strictly by invitation.
While the inauguration ceremony will go on with strict Covid-19 prevention measures, the Independence Day celebrations which were also supposed to be held today have been cancelled.
Chakwera said all the money that was set aside for the cerebrations will go towards Covid-19 response activities.
Malawi registered its first Covid-19 cases on April 2 before the numbers began to spike the past three weeks.
Some observers are blaming the sharp increase on failure to manage people who returned home from South Africa and other countries where they were left to integrate into their respective communities without being certified Covid-19 free first.
