By Isaac Salima:
Malawi Law Society President Patrick Mpaka has described departed lawyer Ralph Kasambara as an action-oriented person.
Kasambara, who once served as Attorney General and Justice minister, died suddenly on Friday in a room at a lodge in Area 47, Lilongwe.
And, Sunday, people from all walks of life gathered at Kasambara’s residence in Nyambadwe, Blantyre, to pay their respects to the departed lawyer.
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In their eulogies, speakers showered praises on the revered legal practitioner, saying he contributed immensely to the legal profession in the country.
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“Ralph was hard working and knowledgeable in his time of law practice. He fought a good fight using the law and the constitutional order, as he understood it, to consolidate political rights and freedoms for everyone. He has finished his race.
“His life teaches and challenges us, as professionals and as the people of Malawi, to do more than just talking; delivering economic freedom and progress for everyone using the power of the law,” Mpaka said.
“Let’s all be like Ralph and do something about economic challenges facing our nation, now that we have enjoyed political rights the likes of Ralph championed in their time in the last 30 years,” he added.
Representing the Judiciary, Judge Zione Ntaba said Kasambara had shown how to do things right, such that the best the country can do is to continue his good deeds.
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Other notable figures at the ceremony included Natural Resources and Climate Change Minister Michael Usi, Reserve Bank of Malawi former governor Dalitso Kabambe and other renowned former and practising legal minds.
A funeral service was later held at St Montfort Catholic Parish before the body was flown, via Chileka International Airport, to his home village in Nkhata Bay.
Burial is scheduled for today.
His sudden death on Friday prompted family members to contact private doctors to carry out a postmortem.
Preliminary results of the autopsy have since shown that he died of a heart attack.
Malawi Police Service spokesperson Peter Kalaya confirmed the development, adding that detailed results will be shared later.
He added that pathologists Tamiwe Tomoka and Andy Mwale conducted the autopsy in Lilongwe.
Kasambara, 55, is survived by a wife and three children.
