Lilongwe - Malawi former president Bakili Muluzi will stay longer in hospital after his health deteriorated last week end, his aides and family members have confirmed.
"Muluzi has beeen taken back to hospital after he relapsed late last week," said Robert Jamieson, spokesman for the former ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) which Muluzi founded and has been its leader until he retired from active politics late last year.
Jamieson said after undergoing a lengthy and complicated surgery in Cape Town he was convalesceing at home when he relapsed again last Thursday.
"He was in bad shape, they might operate on him again," he said.
The 62-year old was flown to a clinic in Cape Town, South African, after his spine condition deteriorated following several operations in London clinics where he has been in and out since 2004.
When he retired from politics he had just cut short his medical trip in London and returned home to answer several fraud and corruption charges in court.
According to his personal physician and political aide, neurologist George Nga Mtafu, Muluzi suffered from slipped veterbral discs which cause intense pain.
Malawi's graft-busting body, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested Muluzi in February 2009 for allegedly diverting 1.7 billion Malawi kwacha (about US$ 11 million) of donor money meant for development projects into his personal bank account.
He denies any wrong-doing.
The ACB has since seized some of his property - including some 111 vehicles and his retirement home at BCA in Blantyre - to recover the money should he be convicted.
Muluzi's lawyers say they will apply to the courts to allow him more time to recuperate.
