Several African Heads of State joined thousands of mourners at the obsequies yesterday April 23.

Malawi's former leader, Bingu wa Mutharika was yesterday April 23, 2012 buried in a huge white marble mausoleum beside his first wife, Ethel at his sprawling farm in southern Malawi. Mutharika died on April 5 at the age of 78 after suffering cardiac arrest and was flown to South Africa for confirmation of the death and embalmment.

The BBC reported that at least seven African Heads of State joined thousands of mourners at Mutharika’s Ndata Farm in Thyolo District for the obsequies. They included his close ally, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mozambique's Armando Guebuza, Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete, Benin's Thomas Yayi Boni and Namibia's Hifikepunye Pohamba. South Africa was represented by Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe while Angola sent its Speaker of Parliament.

Thousands more paid their respects over the past week when Mutharika's body was laid in state in the capital, Lilongwe, the northern city of Mzuzu and the commercial capital, Blantyre. The Sunday Times newspaper of Malawi cited the head of the State funeral organising committee and Minister of Local Government, Henry Mussa as saying that the funeral gulped more than 242 million Malawi kwacha (about FCFA 734 million), including the production of 50,000 metres of funeral cloth for distribution to the people and flying in Malawi’s ambassadors stationed abroad.

Bingu wa Mutharika was as born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom on February 24, 1934. An economist, he was first elected in May 2004 and died while serving his second term. He has since been replaced by his deputy, Joyce Banda with whom he fell out over a succession dispute. He had first and second degrees in Economics and a PhD degree in Development Economics. He served in the Malawi civil service and was also Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and Minister of Economic Planning and Development. Then followed a rich international career with the World Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, COMESA.

During his first term, Mutharika was widely praised for helping millions of the country’s poor farmers by subsidising agricultural inputs. But donors started to warn that the government could not afford such a large-scale programme. This led to deterioration in relations, followed by the cutting of aid by some partners. Protests against rising cost of living in 2011 led to the death of 19 demonstrators.