APA-Lilongwe (Malawi) Malawi’s first finance minister and the country’s second most dominant post-independence politician, John Tembo has died, aged 91.
According to the family, Tembo succumbed to diabetes complications at a Lilongwe hospital on Wednesday night.
Tembo was – after Malawi’s founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda – the most dominant figure in the country’s politics, having served as Banda’s right-hand man for decades.
He served in several key positions during Banda’s 30-year reign from independence in 1964 to 1994 when the former president lost in an election to Bakili Muluzi. In addition to being finance minister, he was at one point Malawi’s justice minister.
He also served as governor of Malawi’s central bank from 1971 to 1984.
He was a member of parliament between 1961 and 2014, with a few gaps in-between.
After Banda’s death in 1997, he took over as leader of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) before resigning in 2013 and handing over to President Lazarus Chakwera.
In a statement, Chakwera described Tembo as a pillar of Malawian politics, “a source of inspiration and repository of knowledge.”
JN/APA