Bingu wa Mutharika

Bingu wa Mutharika (born February 24, 1934 in Thyolo as Ryson Webster Thom , † April 5, 2012 in Lilongwe ) was a Malawian politician and from 2004 until his death president of his country.

Career

Ascent

Mutharika was born the son of a Catholic elementary school teacher near Blantyre , the capital of the southern region . He studied at Delhi University in India , where he also graduated in economics.

After serving in the Malawian public service and a period in the Zambian government , he joined the United Nations in 1978 , where he eventually became Director of Trade and Development Finance for Africa.

One reason for Mutharika's decision to join the United Nations was his opposition to the Malawian regime of the self-proclaimed "life president" Hastings Kamuzu Banda . After Banda was forced to liberalize his regime, Mutharika co-founded the United Democratic Front , the party that won Malawi's first multi-party election in 1994.

At the time, Mutharika was a supporter of UDF leader President Bakili Muluzi . But he soon became a critic of its economic policy and left the UDF to found his own party in 1997, the United Party (UP). In the 1999 presidential election, however, he could not beat Muluzi.

Mutharika dissolved the UP and rejoined the UDF after he had been offered the position of deputy head of the Central Bank of Malawi. In 2002 he was appointed Minister for Economic Planning and Development and was nominated by Muluzi as his successor.

president

On May 24, 2004, he won the presidential election, but the opposition under John Tembo spoke of massive electoral fraud. The EU election observers and the Commonwealth also criticized gross abuses. Despite all the protests, Mutharika was sworn in immediately.

Mutharika also emerged victorious from the presidential elections on May 19, 2009. However, his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) missed an absolute majority in the simultaneous parliamentary elections and received 91 out of 193 seats. Election observers particularly criticized the state media's bias in favor of the president.

In January 2010 he was elected President of the African Union for one year .

death

On April 5, 2012, he suffered a heart attack and died before arriving at the hospital.

Web links

Commons : Bingu wa Mutharika - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Malawi president wins re-election. In: BBC . May 22, 2009, accessed May 22, 2009 .
^ Crises, wars and the end of the king , the Standard.at on January 31, 2010
↑ Malawi President Mutharika dead: government sources , Reuters, April 6, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012.

personal data
SURNAME	Mutharika, Bingu wa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Thom, Ryson Webster
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Malawian politician, President of Malawi
DATE OF BIRTH	February 24, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH	Thyolo
DATE OF DEATH	April 5, 2012
Place of death	Lilongwe

[BBC-1] Malawi president wins re-election. In: BBC . May 22, 2009, accessed May 22, 2009 .

[standard01-2] Crises, wars and the end of the king , the Standard.at on January 31, 2010

[3] Malawi President Mutharika dead: government sources , Reuters, April 6, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012.