Keypoints:
- Oath expected within 30 days
- Pledges to stabilise economy and currency
- Legacy clouded by past controversies
PRESIDENT-ELECT Peter Mutharika, the 85-year-old former law professor who ruled Malawi from 2014 to 2020, is preparing to retake office after his decisive victory in last week’s election. The Malawi Electoral Commission confirmed that Mutharika secured nearly 57 percent of the vote, leaving outgoing President Lazarus Chakwera trailing on 33 percent.
Mutharika, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), must be sworn in within 30 days of the official declaration. His comeback follows a dramatic political journey: his narrow 2019 win was annulled for vote tampering, leading to Chakwera’s 2020 triumph.
Promise of ‘proven leadership’
The DPP’s campaign theme of a ‘return to proven leadership’ resonated strongly in the nation of 21 million people, many of whom face rising prices and frequent fuel shortages. Though Mutharika made limited appearances on the trail, his reputation for steadier economic management in his earlier term drew widespread support.
‘His strength relies very much in his legacy,’ analyst Mavuto Bamusi of the Malawi Political Science Association told AFP, noting that fertiliser prices and inflation were more stable under Mutharika. Inflation, once in single digits, has now soared above 33 percent.
Economic record and challenges
During his first presidency, Mutharika assembled a strong team of economists and kept inflation low. Yet that period was far from flawless: Malawi wrestled with rising national debt, food shortages and recurring corruption allegations. Critics caution that reversing today’s economic malaise will require more than nostalgia.
‘The economic problems we are in require quite a lot to turn this economy around, and I don’t think that’s going to happen,’ said political scientist Boniface Dulani.
Legal scholar turned politician
Mutharika’s career bridges academia and politics. Armed with law degrees from Yale and the University of London, he left Malawi in the 1960s for the United States, later returning in 1993 to help draft the first democratic constitution after the fall of Hastings Banda.
He returned again in 2004 when his brother Bingu wa Mutharika became president, quickly rising to parliament in 2009 and heading key ministries.
Controversies and scandals
After Bingu’s death in 2012, Peter Mutharika was accused of trying to conceal the death to delay the constitutional handover of power, facing treason charges that were dropped when he won the 2014 election.
In 2018 he was criticised for allegedly receiving $200,000 from a businessman involved in a police food-supply deal. His 2019 re-election, dubbed the ‘Tippex election’ because of altered ballots, was later annulled, clearing the way for Chakwera’s victory in the 2020 rerun.
Reserved but determined
Despite his sweeping win, Mutharika is known for a quiet, understated style. ‘He’s not someone who really inspires a lot of leadership characteristics. He doesn’t have any clear positions,’ Dulani said.
Still, at his final rally he pledged to fix foreign exchange shortages, boost industrialisation and strengthen agriculture. ‘I want to rescue this country,’ he declared.
Whether Malawians will see a return to what many recall as steadier economic days—or a repeat of the debt and graft that marked his first term—will be tested soon as Mutharika prepares to take the oath of office.
