By Burnett Munthali
This article looks at the current President and former President in their leadership styles and achievements. Malawi held a fresh presidential election in 2020 after which Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika lost the government and Reverend Lazarus Chakwera won government. Three years have elapsed since Chakwera took over and the new leader is in his fourth year in office.
We can now begin to make realistic comparisons and contrasts between the two leaders because four years is three-quarters of the fiber years term.
President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera
Profile
President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera is the current President of Malawi. He was sworn into office on June 28, 2020, at Malawi Square at Bingu International Convention Centre, Lilongwe.
Before joining frontline politics, Chakwera was President of the Malawi Assemblies of God from 1989 until he resigned on May 14, 2013, to contest in the 2014 General Elections as a presidential candidate for the Malawi Congress party. That presidential election was marred by irregularities forcing the Electoral Commission to petition the High Court for permission to conduct a manual audit of the ballots. Though Chakwera was supportive of the audit, his rival, Arthur Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party took an injunction to stop it forcing the Commission to announce the results. Mutharika was declared the winner by an 8.6 percent margin. Following the declaration, Chakwera announced that he would not challenge the results to give Mutharika a chance to prove himself in the highest office. In the meantime, Chakwera won a parliamentary seat and became the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.
He served as Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly until February 2019 when he submitted his nomination papers to the Electoral Commission for the second time to run for the presidential election in the May 21, 2019 elections. The elections were highly contested and marred by irregularities. The Commission used widespread correction fluid on results sheets. Despite complaints and accusations about the irregularities, the Commission declared Mutharika the winner by a margin of 3.1 percent. However, on the day that Mutharika was inaugurated for a second term, Chakwera announced his decision to challenge the election result.
He and State Vice President Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima filed a petition to the Constitutional Court demanding a fresh presidential election. After a six-month hearing, the five-judge panel of the court unanimously nullified the 2019 presidential election on account of “massive, serious, and widespread irregularities” that violated multiple provisions of the Constitution and laws governing elections.
The court ordered that a fresh poll be held within 150 days of the ruling, but President Mutharika appealed the judgment to the Supreme Court, which unanimously upheld the decision of the lower court. At the end of the fresh election which took place on June 23, 2020, under the oversight of a newly constituted Electoral Commission, Chakwera won with 58.57 percent of the vote. Chakwera was born on the rural outskirts of Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi on April 5, 1955, to Earnest Person Chakwera and Mallen Mwale, who were subsistence farmers.
Their home was typical rural, without electricity or running water or privileges of any kind. Their poor surroundings exposed the children to sickness so regularly that two of Chakwera’s brothers born before him died in infancy. His father named him Lazarus to express his faith that he would defy the odds and live long as the Bible character who was raised from the dead. He has a sister and a brother. Chakwera is married to Monica and together they have four children and 12 grandchildren.
In 1977, the year they were married, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy) Degree from the University of Malawi. He got his honors degree from the University of the North, Slovenia, South Africa. In 1991, he got his masters from the University of South Africa. The Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, USA awarded him a doctorate in 2000. The Pan Africa Theological Seminary awarded him Professorship in 2005. He has served in a number of roles of executive leadership both in Malawi and internationally: He was Chairman of the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) 1997-2014; Board Chairman for All Nations Theological Seminary 2008-2013; Board Member of the Global University, Springfield, Missouri, USA, 1999 – 2005.
He was also Board Chairman of the Pan Africa Theological Seminary (PATHS) 2004 – 2014; Chairman of Assoc. of Pentecostal Theological Education in Africa (APTEA) – 2011-2014; President of Africa Assemblies of God Alliance (2004-2013); Secretary of World Assemblies of God Fellowship (2005-2017); co-chair of the Facilitation Team created to resolve the Budget and Section 65 Parliamentary impasse between Cabinet and Opposition in 2008; Chairman of Malawi’s Petroleum Control Commission and the National Council for Sports. President Chakwera has promised to govern by a set of five principles that he calls The Chakwera SUPER HI-5, which highlight the five policy focus areas that will be high on his gubernatorial agenda: Servant Leadership; Uniting Malawi; Prospering Together; Ending Corruption; Rule of Law. These priorities may be summed up as follows:
Servant Leadership: A promise to restructure the Presidency and the Civil Service both practically and constitutionally to be defined by quality service and results, not power and privilege.
Uniting Malawi: A promise to unify Malawians by meeting the Opposition quarterly, facilitating the celebration of all tribes, and depoliticizing traditional chieftaincies.
Prospering Together: A promise to build infrastructure in all regions of Malawi, to create one million jobs for youth within a year, increase the minimum wage, waive income tax for everyone earning less than K100,000, provide capital to one million women to start their own businesses, reduce the cost of fertilizer to K4,495 and to increase food production
Ending Corruption: A promise to create special courts to deal with corruption, establish an anti-corruption office in each government department, toughen anti-corruption laws, and empower the Anti-Corruption Bureau with resources.
Rule of Law: A promise to report to Parliament for questioning as required by law, a promise to resource law-enforcement agencies to enforce the law, and a promise to respect the judgments of the courts. President Chakwera has challenged Malawians that fulfilling these promises will be the best way of “Building A New Malawi Enjoyed by All” (Kumanga Malawi Watsopano Okomela Tonse), a phrase he has used extensively as his rallying campaign slogan, from whose last word was derived the name “Tonse Alliance”, the nine-party coalition he led to victory in the 2020 Fresh Presidential Election to become the sixth President of the Republic of Malawi.
Former President Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika
Profile
Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika is the former President of the Republic of Malawi having won his second term after the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections. His Excellency Prof. Mutharika is an educator and lawyer. Born on 18th July 1940 in the tea-growing district of Thyolo in southern Malawi.
Prof. Mutharika did his primary school in different schools including Mulanje Mission before proceeding to Dedza Secondary School with other notable Malawian Politicians like Late Chakufwa Chihana.
Mutharika received his law degree from the University of London in 1965. He later in 1966 received his LL.M degree and in 1969 received a JSD degree from Yale University. As a professor, he has taught at the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Haile Selassie University (Ethiopia), Rutgers University (USA), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Program for Foreign Service Officers from Africa and Asia at Makerere University (Uganda), and Washington State University (USA).
He has also served as an Academic Visitor at the London School of Economics (UK). He also served as advisor to the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law initiative for Africa as well as being the Chairperson of the Institute for Democracy and Policy Studies.
Former President Mutharika also informally served as an adviser on issues of foreign and domestic policy to his older brother, Late President Bingu wa Mutharika, from 2004 until the President’s death on 5 April 2012. His Excellency Prof Mutharika has also served as Minister of Justice and later as Minister for Education, Science, and Technology.
He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2012. He is also currently President of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). He was a Member of Parliament for Thyolo East from 2009 to March 2014. The Charles Nagel Professor of International Comparative Law and 2008 International Jurist Award winner, His Excellency Prof. Mutharika was also previously appointed to the panel of arbitrators in the land dispute case in Zimbabwe until August 2011. His Excellency Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika is married to Prof. Gertrude Mutharika.