John Tembo

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John Zenus Ungapake Tembo (born September 14, 1932)^[1] is the president of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the strongest opposition party in Malawi. He was an interpreter for Dr. Kamuzu, who only spoke English. Tembo comes from the central region of Malawi in the Dedza District, and he is a teacher by profession.^[1] He has been variously described as "physically slight, ascetic, fastidious" and "cunning".

John Tembo was elected to the legislative assembly of Nyasaland in 1961, three years before the country gained its independence and became the Republic of Malawi. He was the second Minister of Finance in Malawi after independence, succeeding Henry Phillips (later Sir Henry) in a post for which the intended candidate had been Dunduzu K. Chisiza. (Chisiza died in 1962 in a "car crash" which, according to rumors, may or may not have been an accident; Tembo is among the many rumored to have been responsible). He was the only cabinet member not to resign in the notorious "Cabinet Crisis" of 1964, after which most of the President's closest lieutenants, their opposition to his policies thwarted, fled the country. Tembo's closeness to the President of Malawi, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, was reportedly strengthened by the fact that Banda took his niece, Cecilia Tamanda Kadzamira, as his mistress and the official First Lady of Malawi (also known as "Mama"). As a trusted advisor, Tembo was a force to be reckoned with in Malawi politics for most of Banda's 30-year tyranny, his power apparently growing as his mentor grew older and more frail. Surprisingly, Banda anointed Tembo's rival, Gwanda Chikuamba, to be his running mate in Malawi's first multiparty elections, held on 17 May 1994. In January 1995, some months after Banda lost the election, he, Tembo and "Mama" were put on trial accused in the murder of four prominent Malawi politicians in 1983 (the so-called Mwanza trial). While there was little doubt that the four politicians had met their violent end (also allegedly in a "car crash") at the hands of state security forces, there was no direct evidence linking the accused to the murders and they were acquitted. After Banda's death in 1997, Tembo attempted to take over the presidency of the Malawi Congress Party from Chikuamba and defied a high court injunction preventing him from holding a convention to do so. Because the high court ruled him in contempt, he was expelled from the legislative assembly and, with this crime on his record, blocked from running in the 2004 elections.

As the candidate of the MCP, Tembo officially came in second, with 27% of the vote, in the presidential election held on May 20, 2004, behind the winner, Bingu wa Mutharika of the United Democratic Front, and ahead of Gwanda Chakuamba of the Mgwirizano Coalition.^[2] A number of political analysts in Malawi say that Tembo has a strong chance of winning the 2009 presidential election.^{[citation needed]}