 President Bingu wa Mutharika has trashed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s vision of having a continental country, saying he tried to fast track the idea to fulfill his dream of ruling the whole Africa.
Mutharika said this Thursday on arrival from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia where he was unanimously elected chairperson of the African Union, Africa’s continental political organization after flooring Gaddafi who was lobbying for a second term.
Speaking at a press conference at Kamuzu International Airport, Mutharika said the issue of one united Africa was first propagated by Ghanaian president late Kwame Nkrumah but Gaddafi hijacked the idea and forced people to believe it was his.
“Others want to reap where they did not sow,” said Mutharika in reference to Gaddafi.
Mutharika said all African leaders agree that there should be a united Africa but they want to carefully study the issue and consult widely before implementation to avoid problems.
“But Libya wants this to happen today. How can we implement this if individual African countries fail even to form governments of national unity,” said Mutharika who blamed Gaddafi of having personal interest on the matter.
Mutharika said it was interesting that Gaddafi had already prepared a shadow cabinet in which he placed the Malawian leader as minister responsible for railways in Africa.
“He is too fast, let African organizations like Sadc agree on that first, it is only one person who wants to become the president of Africa,” he said.
Mutharika also told the people that he could not comment on the government’s decision to allocate the presidency K500 million for the AU activities, saying the speaker of the National Assembly has not yet briefed him on the matter.
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