Bingu wa Mutharika ( moot-ə-REE-kə; born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom; 24 February 1934 – 5 April 2012) was a Malawian politician and economist who served as the third president of Malawi from 2004 until his death in 2012. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), he served as the party's president from 2005 to 2012, and was also the eighth chairperson of the African Union from 2010 to 2011.
Born in Thyolo District, Mutharika was educated in India and the United States in the 1960s, graduating from the University of Delhi with a master of Arts degree in economics. Mutherika later joined the civil service where he served as an administrative officer in the Governments of Malawi and Zambia, and 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). In 2004, President Bakili Muluzi nominated Mutherika for the presidency as the candidate for the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the 2004 presidential election, where Mutherika subsequently won and was elected president, defeating John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
During Mutharika's first term, Malawi's economy experienced steady growth, inflation fell, and the poverty rate declined. In 2005, Mutharika left the UDF following a dispute and founded the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). A fertiliser subsidy program was also introduced that significantly boosted maize production and improved food security. Democratic governance also increased during this time. All of this won Mutharika public support, especially in the rural areas, and by 2009, he became one of Africa's most popular presidents. In 2009, Mutharika was re-elected president, defeating John Tembo again.
Mutharika's second term was marked by democratic backsliding, declining popularity, economic mismanagement, and increased political infighting. While the economic growth of Mutharika's first term continued early on, the economy started to stagnate and eventually decline. The cost of living in the country started rising, as well as shortages of fuel, electricity, water, and foreign exchange, along with increasing tension with international donors. Mutharika also faced criticism for increasingly authoritarian governance and behaviour. Tensions in the DPP also grew between Mutharika and some party members, most notably his vice president, Joyce Banda, whom Mutharika tried firing many times from 2010, which eventually grew after she refused to endorse Mutharika's brother, Peter, to succeed him. Banda was eventually kicked out of the party and she founded the People's Party. In 2011, public discontent with the government grew and protests occurred due to the cost of living crisis, which Mutharika used security forces to crack down, allegedly killing 19 and injuring 58.
In April 2012, Mutharika died after a short illness, thus becoming the first Malawian head of state to die in office. After his death, Banda was sworn in as president with the support of the military according to the law. While Mutharika is praised for strengthening democratic governance and growing the economy earlier in his presidency, he is also criticised for his increasing authoritarian style of governance, suppressing of dissents and for the economic crisis later on.
Bingu wa Mutharika was born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom on 24 February 1934 in the village of Kamoto in Thyolo District, and is a member of the Lomwe ethnic group. Mutharika's parents were teachers. Ryson Thom Mutharika and Eleni Thom Mutharika were both members of the Church of Scotland Mission which later became Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian. His father was a teacher for 37 years and his mother taught the women of the Mvano group.
Upon completing his primary education at Ulongwe Mission and Chingoli, Mulanje, Ntambanyama, Malamulo, in Thyolo and Henri Henderson Institute in Blantyre, Mutharika obtained a Grade A Cambridge Overseas School Leaving Certificate at Dedza Secondary School in 1956. After that, he joined the Nyasaland civil service. In 1964, he was one of the 32 Malawians selected by Hastings Kamuzu Banda (President of Malawi 1961–1994) to travel to India on an Indira Gandhi scholarship for 'fast track' diplomas. The BBC reports that he went to India to "escape then President Hastings Banda's crackdown on political opponents". At some point during the 1960s, he also changed his name, to Bingu wa Mutharika. In India, Mutharika earned B.Com (hons) degree from the Shri Ram College of Commerce and graduated with an M.A. degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics of Delhi University. He later obtained a PhD degree in development economics from Pacific Western University. Mutharika also completed short courses on business management, financial analysis, trade promotion, political leadership, regional economic co-operation and human relations. In the early 1990s, he was one of the first to be employed at the Preferential Trade Area of East and Central Africa (PTA) and became its secretary-general in 1991.
Mutharika served in the Malawi civil service. He served as an administrative officer in the Government of Malawi, and also in Zambia. He was offered the deputy governorship of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and appointed Minister of Economic Planning and Development in 2002.
He 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), covering 22 member states.
Presidential campaigns (1999–2009)
Mutharika was nominated by President Muluzi as his successor. Mutharika won the presidential election on 20 May 2004, ahead of John Tembo and Gwanda Chakuamba, and took office a few days later.
On 7 October 2006, Mutharika stated his intention to seek re-election in the 2009 presidential election as the DPP candidate. Two years later, in October 2008, the DPP's national governing council unanimously chose Mutharika as the party's candidate for the 2009 election, which he won with 66.7% of the vote.
During President Mutharika's first term in office (2004–2008), the country achieved a high rate of agricultural production and food security. The President's initiatives, centred on a programme of agricultural subsidy, benefited approximately 1,700,000 resource poor smallholder farmers. In the 2005/2006 crop season, Malawi achieved a food surplus of more than 500,000 metric tons. During the 2008/2009 planting season, food surpluses topped 1.3 million metric tons. This agricultural policy was widely regarded as successful but expensive, and was curtailed in 2011.
Under his tenure, the constitutionally enshrined human rights and separation of powers were enhanced, including legal reform. His first term was seen as a broad political success. He has also been credited with committing to and presiding over economic reform, fiscal restraint and anti-corruption measures. During his tenure, the election was recognised by monitors as fair. Mutharika's Malawi Growth and Development Strategy for 2006–2011 prioritised the enhancement of: agriculture and food security, education, transport, energy generation, rural development, irrigation and water development, youth development and anti-corruption initiatives.
In 2009, Malawi's Ministry of Finance estimated that during the previous four years the share of Malawians living below the poverty line fell from 52 per cent to 40 per cent. This has been attributed to the country's agricultural policies, which have been seen as pioneering in the context of African economic development.
In addition to championing food security in Malawi, Mutharika promoted a similar approach for Africa. While Chairman of the African Union in 2010, the President laid down a plan for Africa to achieve sustainability and food security. He proposed a new partnership with other African nations, which he called the "African Food Basket", outlining a strategy incorporating subsidies to small farmers, especially women, improvements in irrigation, and improving agriculture and food security over 5 years through innovative interventions that comprise subsidies, increased budgetary allocations, private sector investment and affordable information and communications technology. Approximately half of the country's subsistence farmers received vouchers which provided discounts on maize seed and fertiliser. To sustain the program, the Malawi Government allocated 11 per cent of its budget for 2010/2011 to agriculture, continuing a rare record of commitment on this scale in Africa. The level of investment in the programme was reduced in 2011.