Power outage disrupted President Peter Mutharika’s speech at the University of Malawi Graduation ceremony in Zomba on Friday.
Mutharika was delivering his speech at Chancellor College when the hall was hit by power failure, forcing the Malawi leader to stop.
After a few minutes, power was restored and Mutharika was able to resume.
In his speech, Mutharika congratulated the graduates and urged them to serve their country by doing to others the good things that were done to you.
“In the spirit of patriotism, we all have a greater responsibility to serve our country. It is not the time to ask what my country shall do for me. It is the time to ask what I shall do for my country.
“In the spirit of hard work and self-sacrifice, let us dedicate ourselves to serve our country more than serve our personal interests,” said Mutharika.
He then noted that the graduation shall be the last graduation for the University of Malawi as its colleges have been delinked to form separate universities.
The Malawi leader said the goal is to create more university space for Malawians, to cultivate a culture of competitiveness in public universities and to see growth and variety in university education.
“Therefore, every University must find its identity and competitive edge. Every University must find its spirit. The spirit of the University lies in its ideas and character. Every University must define its character. And every University must define its place in the world,” said Mutharika.
People ask what can I do for my country when the leaders are Patriotic & being exemplary. Not when the so called leaders are living like royalties looting, stealing living big out of public money. Then people start think that once I get an opportunity me too will make myself rich by shortcuts.