Bingu wa Mutharika was Malawi’s third president from 2004 until his death on April 5, 2012.
He was born in Thyolo district and pursued his higher education at various Universities.
Mutharika studied in India and the United States of America in the 1960s, and he graduated from the University of Delhi with a Master of Arts degree in economics.
He served as an administrative officer when he joined the civil service in the Governments of Zambia and Malawi.
Mutharika also worked at the World Bank as a Loans Officer and at the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa, as Director of Trade and Development Finance and as Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
He became famous in politics after former President Bakili Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF) endorsed him for the presidency in the 2004 elections, and he won on the UDF ticket.
He later formed his own party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
During his reign, various quarters criticised Mutharika’s leadership, saying it was taking the country to ruin, as he was accused of failing to uphold democratic freedoms and engaging in economic mismanagement.
Mutharika may be regarded as the most powerful president the country has ever had, as in 2011, he exiled the United Kingdom’s representative in Malawi after a diplomatic cable was leaked, in which the envoy accused him of being autocratic and intolerant of criticism, leading Britain to cease all direct aid to his government.
Mutharika even told foreign donors to go to hell, accusing them of conspiring with people in the country to bring down his government.In 2011, there were rising prices and fuel shortages, which led to massive demonstrations, and 19 people lost their lives during the protests.
However, during Mutharika’s early years of leadership, his government began subsidizing fertilizer and seeds for smallholder farmers, and after years of chronic food shortages, the country turned itself into a food basket and started producing enough maize.
The country was also hailed for dealing with hunger to become a self-reliant nation, and Malawi became a role model for other countries.
Malawi’s economy also experienced tremendous improvement as there was steady growth, inflation fell, and the poverty rate declined.
Tragically, on 5 April 2012, Bingu wa Mutharika died while in office due to a cardiac arrest. After his death, his vice Joyce Banda was sworn in as president of Malawi.
