37 Facts About Levy Mwanawasa

Levy Patrick Mwanawasa was the third president of Zambia.

Levy Mwanawasa served as president from January 2002 until his death in August 2008.

Mr Levy Mwanawasa was born in Mufulira, Northern Rhodesia, as the second of 10 children.

Levy Mwanawasa held a law degree from the University of Zambia.

In 1985, Levy Mwanawasa served as Solicitor General in the Zambian government but he went back to private practice in 1986.

Levy Mwanawasa opted instead to stand as a member of parliament for Chifubu and won with an overwhelming majority of the popular vote.

On 8 December 1991 Levy Mwanawasa was involved in a serious traffic accident in which his aide died on the spot.

Levy Mwanawasa suffered multiple body injuries and was flown to Johannesburg, South Africa for medical treatment.

Levy Mwanawasa served as vice-president until he resigned in July 1994.

In February 2002, Levy Mwanawasa's government filed defamation charges against The Post editor Fred M'membe and opposition lawmaker Dipak Patel for an article in which M'membe quoted Patel as calling Levy Mwanawasa a "cabbage", an apparent reference to his injuries.

However, in a move Levy Mwanawasa described as an attempt to promote "national reconciliation", Levy Mwanawasa appointed a number of opposition lawmakers to his cabinet in February 2003, including Patel of the FDD as Minister of Trade, Commerce, and Industry, and Sylvia Masebo of the ZRP as Local Government Minister.

In January 2005, Levy Mwanawasa apologised to the nation for failing to tackle Zambian poverty.

Levy Mwanawasa was elected as president of the MMD for a five-year term in 2005.

Levy Mwanawasa ran for a second term in the presidential election held on 28 September 2006.

Foreign investors liked Levy Mwanawasa, owing partly to his anti-corruption drive.

Levy Mwanawasa's policies helped to lower inflation and spread some benefits to the poor.

Levy Mwanawasa turned the Zambian town of Livingstone, near Victoria Falls, into a tourist hub.

Levy Mwanawasa was one of the first African leaders to publicly do so.

When Levy Mwanawasa died, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was among the first to publicly express grief.

Levy Mwanawasa sold off Konkola Copper Mines to Vedanta for $25m despite an initial asking price of $400m.

Levy Mwanawasa was open to accepting climate immigrants from Kiribati into Zambia, telling Anote Tong that the country had "plenty of room," but a deal was not finalized.

On 29 June 2008, while in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for an African Union summit, Levy Mwanawasa was hospitalised due to a second stroke.

The head of the Egyptian hospital to which Levy Mwanawasa was taken said that the doctors there had stopped the brain haemorrhage and that he was in a semi-comatose state.

On 3 July 2008 news outlets began reporting that Levy Mwanawasa had died in a Paris hospital due to his stroke.

Mulongoti, speaking for the government, said the news of Levy Mwanawasa's death was "false," and he urged the South African media to show more restraint in its reporting.

Levy Mwanawasa was hospitalised at the Percy Military Hospital in Clamart, near Paris.

Levy Mwanawasa said that Mwanawasa's condition was improving and that he was "responding to treatment", while asserting that the government was functioning smoothly and criticising the opposition call for a team of doctors to report on Mwanawasa's health.

The intervention was successful, according to Banda, but Levy Mwanawasa remained in serious condition.

The news of Levy Mwanawasa's death was confirmed by Banda through a television broadcast on the government-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.

Levy Mwanawasa informed the nation that Mwanawasa had died that morning at 10:30 at the Percy Military Hospital in Paris.

Levy Mwanawasa is the first President of Zambia to die in office.

The Patriotic Front's Michael Sata expressed sadness and said that Levy Mwanawasa's death was a "national disaster", urging Zambians to remain calm.

Levy Mwanawasa married Maureen Levy Mwanawasa on 7 May 1987, and they remained married until his death.

Levy Mwanawasa had seven children: Miriam, Patrick, Lorna, Chipokota Mwanawasa, Matolo, Lubona and Ntembe.

Levy Mwanawasa's wife was a baptised member of the Jehovah's Witnesses but has since been disfellowshiped because of her active role in politics.

Levy Mwanawasa became Baptist in 2005 and was baptized at Twin Palm Baptist Church in Lusaka.

In September 2007, Levy Mwanawasa travelled to Arkansas in the United States to give a speech at Harding University in Searcy and received an honorary doctorate from the college.