BLANTYRE—Pres Joyce Banda says there was an attempt made on her life in 2010 when she was Malawi’s vice president opposed to the country’s president Bingu wa Mutharika, according to French News Agency (AFP) which quoted South Africa’s Sunday Times.

She said since taking office in April following the unexpected death of Mutharika, she’d found evidence that she was the target when a truck hit her car in a convoy.

"I was in car number five when they hit the car I was supposed to be in. A truck came from the bush full of maize," the Sunday Times quoted Banda as saying. "I was denied access to the accident report until now that I'm president. I've seen that the truck was owned by the system. They hit where I was supposed to sit."

Following advice from her security team, Banda said she’d changed vehicles just before boarding.

The incident, which was widely reported in Malawi, happened at a time Banda and Mutharika were political foes following her refusal to endorse Mutharika’s plan to be succeeded by his younger brother. Their disagreements led to her expulsion from the ruling party in 2010.

Banda hinted in the Sunday Times interview she would contest the 2014 presidential election.

"You must understand that his brother is still here and he is waiting for the job, and the brother has also sympathisers. In the course of the eight years that (Mutharika) was in power the one thing that got worse was nepotism," said Banda.

The Malawi leader however said her attempts to repair Mutharika’s mistakes and excesses was "the greatest challenge [as] I have to tell the international community that this is not witch-hunting, it is cleaning up, because nobody will be removed without evidence of theft or corruption."
---
©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment.