American Baptist Leader Mourns Death of Zambia President
An American Baptist leader joined the international community in expressing his sadness at the death of Zambia president Levy Mwanawasa, whom he calls a man of faith and a friend.
"Africa and the entire Christian world has suffered a devastating loss in the premature home-going of my precious friend, President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia," said Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Paige Patterson, in a statement Wednesday.
"After President Mwanawasa received Christ and followed Him in baptism, I never witnessed a man more determined to right wrongs, root out corruption and injustice, and produce a noble nation than was the case with this giant of a man," Patterson said.
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Mwanawasa died Tuesday at a Paris hospital that he had been staying at since his stroke in June. The two-term Zambian president was 59 years old when he passed away.
In 2003 he had received Jesus Christ and was baptized after accepting an invitation from his uncle to attend Twin Palms Baptist Church in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. The church's pastor, Rodney Masona, was the one who led Mwanawasa to Christ and baptize him.
Masona is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Southwestern.
"President Mwanawasa was a man of God; a man who feared his God; a man who wanted to worship God in truth," reflected Masona.
Every Tuesday evening, Masona shared, the late Zambian president would attend Bible study – a tradition that continued until his death.
"He wouldn't allow interruptions," the pastor recalled. "He would go through that hour uninterrupted, and then he would go onto other business."
SBTS' Patterson was introduced to Mwanawasa in 2005 by Masona and Michael Howard of the Baptist Mission of Zambia. Since then, Patterson has visited the Zambian president several times to encourage him in his new found faith as well as to discuss the future of Christianity in the poverty-stricken country.
"I will never forget the times we spent together in prayer for God's wisdom for him and in behalf of the people of Zambia," Patterson recalled. "Humility, determination, zeal, strength, humor, faith and courage were all blended together in this magnificent leader. All of us touched by his life are better men as a result."
Outside of the church, Mwanawasa has been lauded for his political leadership and integrity.
He will be remembered for his anti-corruption crusades and his successful economic reforms. His economic policies were widely supported by Western donors who in 2005 canceled nearly all of Zambia's $7.2 billion foreign debt, according to The Associated Press.
Moreover, Mwanawasa helped lower Zambia's inflation from 21.7 percent when he came into office in 2002 to about 6.6 percent.
"President Mwanawasa was a true servant of the people who served this country with dignity and honor," said founding president of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda, according AP. "He observed the rule of law and he gallantly fought graft in all its forms. ... We have lost a great leader who had a real vision for leadership and problems that face the country."
President Bush on Tuesday praised Mwanawasa for his fight against human rights abuses that threaten democracy "when many others were silent," according to AP.
The late president is an outspoken critic of human right violators, including fellow African leader President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
Mwanawasa is also remembered for fighting the AIDS epidemic by supporting abstinence until marriage programs and welcoming church-based aid programs.
Vice President Rupiah Banda is the current acting president of Zambia and is expected to remain in this role until the election within 90 days.
