Banda, a 61-year-old women’s rights activist and education campaigner, was due to be sworn in as president later yesterday in the Chinese-built National Assembly in the capital Lilongwe, officials said.
She will become southern Africa’s first female head of state.
The government only officially confirmed 78-year-old Mutharika’s death earlier yesterday, two days after he had died following a heart attack.
His body had been flown to a military hospital in South Africa.
The delay in the announcement had raised worries about a political crisis because Banda had been expelled from Mutharika’s ruling DPP party in 2010 after an argument about the succession, though she retained her state position.
Dispelling fears of a power struggle, Banda appeared at a news conference in the capital Lilongwe to declare 10 days of official mourning for Mutharika, who had ruled for eight years. — Reuters
