Bingu wa Mutharika (Malawi's President) -- died April 4 -- heart attack

from www. globalpost dot-com (online article)

     Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika  is dead after suffering a heart attack, according to reports.  The 78-year-old was rushed to a hospital in Lilongwe, the capital, on Thursday after collapsing at a meeting, but was dead on arrival (according to REUTERS, international press agency). A brief statement read on state radio and TV late Thursday said Mutharika would be traveling to South Africa to receive treatment, but gave no mention of what was wrong. BBC sources  also say Mutharika is dead, his body was taken to South Africa while the government decides who should take over. Ministers have reportedly been in emergency meetings all night.
     Malawi's government has yet to make an official announcement about Mutharika. Independent newspapers have criticized the government's handling of the situation, with the Nyasa Times periodical is saying that that senior officials agreed to fly the president to South Africa in an attempt to buy time.  Hospital and government officials in Johannesburg have refused to comment on Mutharika.
     Under Malawi's constitution, the vice president – currently Joyce Banda – must take over if the president is too ill to serve.  This represents a "huge shake-up" in Malawian politics since Mutharika expelled Banda from his party in 2010 after they dramatically fell out. (sources in BBC and Nyasa Times reports).  Banda, after news broke that Mutharika was in hospital, asked Malawians to pray for the president.  "When I first heard the state president had been taken ill, I quickly wished him quick recovery," she said.
Mutharika's brother Peter, the country's foreign minister, is usually deputized in the president's absense.
Malawi, a peaceful southern African nation praised for its democratic system since shedding the dictatorship of Hastings Kamazu Banda in 1994, had under Mutharika slid backwards towards authoritarianism.  Mutharika had been president of Malawi since 2004.  He faced violent protests  against his rule last year, in which at least 18 demonstrators died.