Joyce Hilda Banda (née Ntila; born 12 April 1950) is a Malawian politician, educator, and activist who served as the 4th President of Malawi from 2012-2014. She previously served as the vice-president under Bingu wa Mutharika from 2009 till his death in 2012 when she succeeded him as President. A member of the People's Party, Banda has led the party since its creation in 2011. She was the first female president and the first female vice-president of Malawi. Banda was the second female African head of state after Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Born in Malemia, Banda graduated from the Columbus University and the Royal Roads University with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in arts, and from the Atlantic International University with a bachelor's degree in social science in the early 1970s. She then founded the Joyce Banda Foundation, the National Association of Business Women (NABW), Young Women Leaders Network, and the Hunger Project. Banda joined politics in 1999 and was elected to the National Assembly as a member of the United Democratic Front (UDF) the party of President Bakili Muluzi.
In 2004, Banda was appointed Minister of Gender, Child Welfare, and Community Service by President Mutharika. During her time in the position, she enforced the 2006 Domestic Violence Bill, and also designed the National Platform for Action on Orphans and Vulnerable Children and the Zero Tolerance Campaign Against Child Abuse. Banda was later appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs where she switched Malawi's recognition from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China in an attempt to bring economic growth to Malawi. In 2009, Mutharika ran for re-election and selected Banda as his running mate in the general election, with their ticket winning and she thus becoming the first vice president. Banda's term as vice president was marked by growing tensions between her and Mutharika as Banda refused to endorse Mutharika's brother, Peter, as his successor to the presidency. Banda was subsequently kicked out of the DPP and she founded the People's Party, but then remained vice president according to the Constitution.
In April 2012, Mutharika died; according to the Constitution, Banda as vice president would become president. However, some members of the DPP who were loyal to Mutharika tried installing his brother as president, triggering a succession crisis. Despite this, Banda, as stated by the law, became president with the support of the military, who backed the Constitution. In 2014, Banda lost the general election to Peter Mutharika, brother of the late Bingu. While Banda at first refused to concede and demand a rerun, citing fraud, she eventually conceded and handed over power to Mutharika on 31 May.
In June 2014, Forbes named Banda as the 40th most powerful woman in the world and the most powerful woman in Africa. In October 2014, she was included in the BBC's 100 Women.
Joyce Hilda Ntila was born on 12 April 1950 in Malemia, a village in the Zomba District of Nyasaland (now Malawi). She went to Providence Secondary School. Her father was a police brass band musician. She began her career as a secretary and became a well-known figure during the rule of dictator Hastings Banda.
She earned a Cambridge School Certificate, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Early Childhood Education from Columbus University (an unaccredited distance education institution), a Bachelor of Social Studies in Gender Studies from Atlantic International University (also an unaccredited distance learning institution) and a Diploma in Management of NGOs from the International Labour Organization (ILO) Centre in Turin, Italy. Atlantic International University has been characterized as a degree mill, and its degrees have been widely dismissed as "fake." She also received a Master of Arts degree in Leadership from Royal Roads University in Canada. and an honorary doctorate in 2013 from Jeonju University.
She married Roy Kachale, with whom she had three children. At age 25, she was living in Nairobi, Kenya.
In 1975, a growing women's movement in Kenya motivated Banda to take her three children and leave what she has described as an abusive marriage. Her marriage to Roy Kachele ended in 1981. She later married Richard Banda, retired chief justice of Malawi, with whom she has two children.
Between 1985 and 1997 Banda managed and established various businesses and organisations including Ndekani Garments (1985), Akajuwe Enterprises (1992), and Kalingidza Bakery (1995). Her success inspired her to help other women achieve financial independence and break the cycles of abuse and poverty.
She is sister to Anjimile Oponyo, former CEO of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, financed by Madonna.
Joyce Banda entered politics in 1999. She won a parliamentary seat in Malawi's third democratic election as a member of President Bakili Muluzi's party, the United Democratic Front. She represented the Zomba Malosa constituency. Muluzi appointed her as Minister for Gender and Community Services. As minister, she fought to enact the 2006 Domestic Violence Bill, which had failed for seven years. She designed the National Platform for Action on Orphans and Vulnerable Children and the Zero Tolerance Campaign Against Child Abuse.
In 2004, she was re-elected as a member of Muluzi's Party. Bingu wa Mutharika became President. Even though Banda was not a member of his party, Mutharika appointed her as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2006. Banda moved to change Malawi's recognition of the legitimate government of China from the Republic of China (on Taiwan) to the People's Republic of China on the mainland; she claimed the switch would bring economic benefits to Malawi. In 2010, China finished the construction of a new parliament building in Lilongwe.
Banda ran as the vice-presidential candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the 2009 presidential election, running alongside Mutharika, the DPP presidential candidate. She served as Malawi's first female vice-president. In a surprise move by the DPP, Joyce Banda and second vice-president Khumbo Kachali were fired as the vice-presidents of the DPP on 12 December 2010 for undefined 'anti-party' activities. In attempts to ostracise her, the president continued to give roles that were previously held by her to Callista Mutharika, who was included in the cabinet in September 2011. The court blocked attempts by Mutharika to fire her as vice-president on constitutional grounds. This included attempts to seize her official government vehicle and to block her from registering her new party. On 8 September 2011, the role of vice-president was left out in a cabinet reshuffle. However, she was still the legal Vice-President because the post was mandated by the constitution. She was urged by DPP spokesman Hetherwick Ntaba to resign as vice-president.
The relationship between Banda and President Bingu wa Mutharika had become increasingly tense because of Mutharika's attempts to position his own brother, Peter Mutharika, as his successor. Although she was fired from the position as vice-president of the DPP together with Second Vice-President Khumbo Kachali, she continued to serve as vice-president of Malawi as stipulated in the constitution. This move led to mass resignations in the DPP and the formation of networks that supported her candidacy to become president of Malawi in the 2014 general election. The DPP denied that mass resignations had occurred and insisted that they were only a few.
Banda is the founder and leader of the People's Party, formed in 2011 after she was expelled from the ruling DPP when she refused to endorse President Mutharika's younger brother Peter Mutharika as the successor to the presidency for the 2014 general election.
On 5 April 2012, President Mutharika died. After his death the government failed to notify the public in a timely manner that the president had died. This led to the fear of a constitutional crisis in Malawi.
Agence France-Presse reported Malawi's ex-President Bakili Muluzi as insisting on "constitutional order", saying the vice-president must automatically take power under the constitution. "I am calling for a constitutional order, for continued peace and order. The laws of Malawi are very clear that the vice president takes over when the sitting president can no longer govern. We have to avoid a situation where there is disorder. Let us follow the constitution. We have no choice but follow the constitution. It's very important that there must be peace and calm." Malawi's security forces also wanted the constitutional order to prevail. The Malawi Law Society confirmed that under section 83(4) of the constitution of Malawi, she was the legitimate successor to the Presidency.