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Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (September 3, 1948 – August 19, 2008) was the third President of Zambia. He ruled the country from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. He is credited for having initiated a campaign to rid the country of corruption. Prior to his election, Mwanawasa served as vice president from 1991 to 1994 whilst as an elected Member of Parliament for Chifubu Constituency.
Early life and legal career[]
Mwanawasa was born in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia as the second of 10 children. He held a law degree from the University of Zambia. He worked in private law firms from 1974 until 1978 when he formed his own firm Mwanawasa & Company. In 1985 Mwanawasa served as Solicitor General in the Zambian government but he went back to private practice in 1986.[citation needed]
In 1989, he led the legal defense team for Lt. Gen Christon Tembo, who was accused by the Kenneth Kaunda government of conspiracy to overthrow the government, which was judged as an act of treason worthy of the death penalty; Tembo won the case against the state, and Mwanawasa's fame among the anti-Kaunda opposition grew. After Frederick Chiluba was elected as President, he appointed Mwanawasa as Vice-President in December 1991. Mwanawasa left his firm in March 1992.
Accident[]
Before his party's convention in 1990, Mwanawasa was widely tipped to become the President of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), but he declined the overture, citing his young age and inexperience.[citation needed] He opted instead to stand as a Member of Parliament and won with an overwhelming majority of the popular vote.
On 8 December 1991 Mwanawasa was involved in a serious traffic accident in which his aide died on the spot. He suffered multiple body injuries and was flown to Johannesburg, South Africa for medical treatment. He remained hospitalized for three months. A lasting effect of the accident was his noticeably slurred speech. A commission of inquiry was set up to investigate who was responsible for the alleged assassination attempt.
Politics[]
Mwanawasa served as Vice-President until he resigned in 1994. In 1996 he unsuccessfully contested Chiluba for the presidency of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy. After the loss, Mwanawasa retired from politics until the 2001 election.
In August 2000, the National Executive Committee of MMD elected Mwanawasa as its presidential candidate for the 2001 election. He won the election, held on 27 December 2001, with 29% due to Zambia's first past the post system, beating 10 other candidates including two other former vice presidents (Godfrey Miyanda and Gen. Christon Tembo); Anderson Mazoka came in a close second with 27%, according to official results. Mwanawasa took office on 2 January 2002. However, the results of the elections were disputed by main opposition parties, including Mazoka's United Party for National Development, which many observers claim had actually won the elections. Both domestic and international election monitors cited serious irregularities with the campaign and election, including vote rigging, flawed voter registration, unequal and biased media coverage, and the MMD's improper use of state resources. In January 2002, three opposition candidates petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn Mwanawasa's victory. While the court agreed that the poll was flawed, it ruled in February 2005 that the irregularities did not affect the results and declined the petition.
First term as president[]
In a move he described as an attempt to promote "national reconciliation", Mwanawasa appointed a number of opposition lawmakers to his cabinet in February 2003, including Dipak Patel of the FDD as Minister of Trade, Commerce, and Industry, and Sylvia Masebo of the ZRP as Local Government Minister. However, Godfrey Miyanda, himself also belonging to the opposition, opposed the move and threatened to file a lawsuit over it.
In January 2005, Mwanawasa apologized to the nation for failing to tackle Zambian poverty. About 75% of the country's population lived on less than $1 a day, the United Nations' indicator of absolute poverty.
He was elected as President of the MMD for a five-year term in 2005.
Mwanawasa ran for a second term in the presidential election held on 28 September 2006. Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front was considered his main challenger. His re-election was confirmed on 2 October; according to official results, he received 42.98% of the vote. He was sworn in for another term on 3 October. A few days later, he named a new cabinet and appointed Rupiah Banda as Vice-President.
Policies[]
United States First Lady Laura Bush (L) with President Levy Mwanawasa (center) and his wife, First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa.
Foreign investors liked Mwanawasa, owing partly to his anti-corruption drive. During his presidency, Zambia received foreign investment. The main driver of economic growth was minerals. Mwanawasa's policies helped to lower inflation and spread some benefits to the poor. Tourists and white farmers diverted from Zimbabwe and helped Zambian economy. Mnwanawasa turned the Zambian town of Livingstone, near Victoria Falls, into a tourist hub. Zambia received a relatively large amount of aid and debt relief because of liberalisation and Mwanawasa's "stolid efforts". Overall, economic growth increased to about 6% per year.
Mwanawasa criticized President Robert Mugabe of neighboring Zimbabwe. Mwanawasa was one of the first African leaders to publicly do so. When Mwanawasa died, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was among the first to publicly express grief.
In 2007, President Levy Mwanawasa said that he will not sign any warrants so that those facing the death penalty are hanged to death.
Instead the President has indicated that he would soon sign a statutory instrument in which death sentences would be commuted to life imprisonment. He has pointed out that he would extend his mercy to some of the convicted persons so that they are released, to de-congest the overcrowded prisons.
Health[]
In April 2006, Mwanawasa experienced a mild stroke. On 29 June 2008, while in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for an African Union summit, Mwanawasa was hospitalized due to a second stroke. On 1 July, International SOS evacuated him by air ambulance to France for further treatment. The head of the Egyptian hospital to which Mwanawasa was taken said that the doctors there had stopped the brain hemorrhage and that he was in a semi-comatose state. Vice-President Banda said that his condition was stable, and Minister of Information Mike Mulongoti noted that Mwanawasa had previously suffered from hypertension; Mulongoti also stressed that Mwanawasa was a "very hard working man" and said that this may have been a factor. Due to Mwanawasa's incapacitation, Banda became acting President.
Death reports[]
On 3 July 2008 news outlets began reporting that Mwanawasa had died in a Paris hospital due to his stroke. The story originated at the Johannesburg-based 702 Talk Radio, which cited Malone Zaza, who claimed to be the head of protocol at Zambia's High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa; however, the commission denied having someone employed at the embassy with that name. Mulongoti, speaking for the government, said the news of Mwanawasa's death was "false," and he urged the South African media to show more restraint in its reporting. As the reports were spreading, South African President Thabo Mbeki called for a moment of silence in Mwanawasa's memory; the South African government quickly expressed regret over this misunderstanding and expressed Mbeki's hopes for Mwanawasa's recovery. Vice President Banda said on 18 August that Mwanawasa's condition had suddenly deteriorated and urgent medical intervention was necessary. The intervention was successful, according to Banda, but Mwanawasa remained in serious condition. On 19 August, a family member who wished to remain anonymous stated that Mwanawasa had died early that morning. The news of Mwanawasa's death was confirmed by Banda through a television broadcast on the government-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC). He informed the nation that Mwanawasa had died that morning at 10:30 (8:30 GMT) at the Percy Military Hospital in Paris. Expressing "immense grief and deep sorrow", Banda declared national mourning for seven days and urged Zambians to "remain calm and mourn our President with dignity". The mourning period was extended to 21 days on 21 August.