A ceremony is due to take place in Malawi later on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of the burial of the former President, Hastings Banda.

Workers employed by the Malawi Congress Party -- which Dr Banda founded -- have been preparing the graveside for what the party has described as the mother of all memorials.

Dr Banda ruled Malawi for thirty years until food riots and pressure from Western donors forced him to agree to multi-party elections in 1994 -- which he lost.

A BBC correspondent in the capital, Blantyre, says DrBanda is remembered for threatening to throw his political rivals to the crocodiles, and for building an expensive palace while his people went barefoot -- but also as an educated man with a sense of humour.