text: Malawi 's ex-president Banda says he 's feeling well . BLANTYRE 1996-08-24 Malawi 's frail former president , Kamuzu Banda , said on Saturday in a rare public interview that he was feeling well despite his advanced years . " I feel all right and I eat everything that is put on the table . And that means I am all right , " he told reporters invited to his home . Banda , a vegetarian teetotaller believed to be 97 , walked unaided but supporting himself on a walking stick . He clutched a fly whisk which for a long time symbolised his obsession with power . His health was the subject of much recent speculation . Malawi 's undisputed ruler for three decades , he lost power in the first all-party elections in 1994 . He spent a year under house arrest and was tried but acquitted last year on charges of ordering the murder of four opponents in 1983 .