Politics

Peter Mutharika endorsed as flag bearer of Malawi’s largest opposition party

Published

3 months ago

August 20, 2024

Former President Peter Mutharika, 84, has been backed by Malawi’s largest opposition, the Democratic Progress Party, as a 2025 presidential candidate.

Leading the nation from 2014 to 2020, Mutharika promised to mend the economy which has suffered from poor development and monetary difficulties.

He will be facing second-term seeking incumbent President Lazarus Chakwera. Though the party has not yet officialised the alliance, Mutharika also intends to ally with the United Transformation Movement.

Mutharika lost his re-election campaign in 2020 to fight against corruption Lazarus Chakwera. Following the top court of the nation invalidating the results of the May 2019 exercise, which handed Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) victory, the election was a repeat vote.

Mutharika accused the current government of political prosecution in 2021. In August 2020, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Malawi blocked the personal bank accounts of Mutharika and his wife, Gertrude, under a probe looking at his involvement in a 5-billion kwacha ($6.6 million) cement scandal.

Malawi is expected to have general elections in 2025. Following the annulment of the 2019 elections and the Supreme Court’s ruling on May 8, 2020.

The President of Malawi is chosen using the two-round system with a candidate needing an absolute majority of the vote to win in the first round; should no candidate pass the 50% threshold, a second round will be conducted.

Meanwhile, the 193 National Assembly members are elected through first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies.

Related Topics:Featured Malawi Peter Mutharika

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Politics

Mauritius’ Prime Minister to double as Finance Minister

Published

18 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In an effort to maintain a tight eye on the economy, Mauritius’ Prime Minister, Navin Ramgoolam, who took office this month following a resounding election victory, said on Friday that he would retain the position of finance minister for himself.

“We are doing an audit of the economy to see to what extent the outgoing government has destroyed it,” Ramgoolam told reporters in the capital Port Louis after he presided over the swearing-in of other ministers.

Ten years after he stepped down as prime minister, the seasoned politician returned to the position when his Alliance du Changement (ADC) alliance won 60 of the 62 seats in the national legislature.

The 77-year-old Ramgoolam said earlier this week that he would be auditing governmental finances. Before this, he was prime minister from 1995 to 2000 and again from 2005 to 2014.

Ramgoolam started a campaign in 2006 to streamline taxes and reduce bureaucracy to diversify the $10 billion economy beyond exports of sugar, textiles, and tourism.

Since then, the 1.3 million-person nation, which positions itself as a bridge between Africa and Asia, has developed into a major offshore financial hub and has been rated by the World Bank as the easiest location to do business in Africa regularly.

Politics

Mali’s junta names spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga new Prime Minister

Published

2 days ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A day after dismissing Choguel Maiga for criticising the government, Mali’s governing junta named its spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, as Prime Minister on Thursday, according to state broadcaster, ORTM.

A source close to Choguel Maiga told Reuters that the ruling generals were incensed by Maiga’s remarks over the weekend denouncing the junta’s inability to hold elections within the 24-month timeframe given for the return to democracy.

After promising to hold elections in February, the military authorities, who took control in two separate coups in 2020 and 2021, have put off the poll indefinitely, citing technological difficulties.

Choguel Maiga’s firing coincides with indications of growing discontent and disarray among Mali politicians, even those who first supported the coup and collaborated with the junta.

As the wait for elections continues, Choguel Maiga, a civilian prime minister who was installed by the military junta in 2021, is the most recent to lose support.

He was cited on Saturday as claiming he learnt of the junta’s decision via the media and that there had been no discussion regarding the delay of the elections inside the cabinet.

“It’s all happening in total secrecy, without the prime minister’s knowledge,” Choguel Maiga told reporters.

Before then, he had frequently stood up for Mali’s junta against criticism from foreign friends and neighbours in West Africa who denounced its repeated election delays and military collaboration with Russian mercenaries.

As government spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, the new prime minister, has also made strong public remarks against France, the previous colonial master. One such speech was demanding French President Emmanuel Macron to stop his “neocolonial” and “condescending” behaviour.

Abdoulaye Maiga and Assimi Goita, the leaders of the junta, announced they had kept all of the important cabinet ministers in their portfolios in the new administration in a statement that was broadcast on state television ORTM.

The announcement said that Abdoulaye Maiga will remain minister of territory administration.