Her Excellency Joyce Hilda Banda

Personal Life Her Excellency Joyce Hilda Banda, the first female President of the nation of Malawi was born on April 12, 1950 to Grey and Edith Mtila. Grey was a Malawi Police officer as well as distinguished musician and Edith had a career outside the home. Both parents are now deceased. Joyce is the eldest of her four siblings, one brother and three sisters. Being the eldest child, with both parents working outside the home, Joyce assumed responsibilities at a very young age. Joyce bore the brunt of the care for the siblings as well as managing the household chores. Joyce would say that this family situation was the genesis of her leadership and fighting spirit. Joyce did her primary education in Zomba where her parents lived, but was later selected to go to one the best national secondary schools, Providence Girls School. After completion of four years of education, she was selected to go to Polytechnic, a college under the University of Malawi where she took secretarial courses. She later continued her education with a Diploma in NGO management and a Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Development. In keeping with tradition in Malawi, Joyce was married at the young age of 21. The couple spent time in Nigeria where her husband was assigned a post as a Malawian Diplomat. Unfortunately, the marriage would not last. In 1981 the marriage finally collapsed after Joyce endured 10 years of abuse. Joyce walked out of the marriage at age 31 with three young children. At this time and in Malawian culture it was unheard of for a Malawian woman to walk out on a marriage, but she did so knowing that her life and lives of her children were in danger if she stayed. With a meager salary as her only income, Joyce found herself as a single mother with three children to support. Supporting her family on her own made Joyce realize how difficult it was for Malawian women to get away from abusive marriages because of economic dependence on their husbands. Joyce had stayed ten years too long in an abusive relationship because she was economically dependent on her husband and divorcing him seemed out of the question. Determined, Joyce made the decision to empower herself and her children. This began the long road of fighting for womens rights as well as championing for social justice and the rights of the underprivileged in Malawi. Joyce is now happily married to Justice Richard Banda, retired Chief Justice of Malawi and Swaziland. Collectively, they have 9 children. Activism It was clear to Joyce that Malawian womens subordinate position in society was perpetuated by their low economic status and Joyce committed to free herself and the rest of her gender from inequality. Her personal mission in life became to provide opportunities and entrepreneurial education to help free women that were at a social, cultural or economic disadvantage. 1

With support through USAID Joyce and two other women from Malawi went on a study tour to the United States to learn about entrepreneurship. Joyce left the United States impressed with the need for mobilization in the business sector and upon her return she met with Malawian officials to introduce the concept of the a womens business association. Inspired to start her own businesses she opened ventures in the garment manufacturing, baking, construction and agriculture. The garment business that Joyce started was once the largest industrial garment manufacturing business ever undertaken by a Malawian woman. Encouraged by her own experience, she pursued reaching out to more women through businesses. To that end, in 1989 she established the National Association of Business Women, a local non-government organization that has reach out to at least 50,000 women through economic empowerment activities. In 1997 she chaired the Gender Initiative Network (GIN) which convened the bring Beijing to Malawi conference which aimed at sensitizing women of their rights as discusses at the 4th United Nations International Conference of Women in Beijing in 1995. In the same year, Joyce achieved global recognition, by receiving the Hunger Project Africa Price for Leadership for the Sustainable End to Hunger, which she shared with the then President of Mozambique, Joaquimo Chissano. In 1998, she invited the Hunger Project to establish a chapter in Malawi. The Hunger Project has grown to a reputable NGO serving thousands Malawians in rural communities. In 1998 she used the prize money to establish the Joyce Banda Foundation, this Foundation has been instrumental in realizing her vision of empowering women and children through education, leadership and economic empowerment. The Foundation has 16,500 beneficiaries. In May 2000, she founded the Young Womens Leadership Network, and launched the first Malawian Womens Leader Directory, a tool for networking senior and emerging leaders as well as a platform for making Malawian women leaders visible. The Young Women Leaders Network has current membership of about 100 young executives and the Network has a flagship program of mentoring younger women in secondary schools and colleges. A total of 3,000 younger women have been mentored to date. From 1997 to date she has received eleven international awards in recognition of her work towards empowerment of women and the underprivileged. Back home in both 1997 and 1998 she was voted Woman of the Year for Malawi. She has served in various international and local boards and councils, both private sector and civil society sector. Politics Since the advent of the multiparty politics, Joyce had been under pressure from grassroots communities and colleagues to join politics. She resisted however since her husband was still serving as Chief Justice of Malawi and she was afraid that entry into public office would bring a conflict of interest for husband and her. Therefore she delayed her contest for an elected public office until her husband retired. Her entry into active politics was through United Democratic Front (UDF), the biggest party that fought for multiparty democracy in Malawi. Joyce had been established as a woman of influence in the country and her entry into the UDF was seen as a threat by some of the 2

high-ranking members of the party. As a result, she was ostracized and kept from the center of the partys power. Joyce was forced to start her career on the local level. In retrospect, this lower level participation of the party politics gave her the priceless exposure to all levels of government and as well as understanding of the constituency of Malawi. Joyce served in her home district, Zomba. In May 2003, during the UDF Party Convention, she was elected as the National Director of Women. Through her long involvement with women, Joyce recognized that there were some persistent barriers limiting womens empowerment, and one such barrier was the absence of conducive laws to protect women. Therefore, in 2004 Joyce decided to seek an additional platform for advancing womens empowerment and decide to get involved in Parliament. She contested in the general elections and was elected a member of the Parliament for Zomba Malosa constituency. During that same election President Bingu wa Mutharika was elected the countrys President and he would serve his first term with Dr Cassim Chilumpha as his Vice President. In February of 2005, during the Anti Corruption Day celebrations, President Mutharika announced that he had resigned from the UDF due to the serious misunderstandings with former President Bakili Muluzi. Joyce Banda, then serving as Minister of Gender and Child Welfare, was among the first senior cabinet ministers to side with Dr Bingu wa Mutharika. Joyce Banda became one of the founding members of the Presidents new party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Joyce Banda was the only woman politician in the core group advising the President on the formation of the new party. She also served as the DPPs Secretary General in its formative years. Towards the 2009 elections Joyce Banda chaired the DPPs first ever convention and was a key member of the partys core campaign team toward 2009 elections. In 2009, Bingu wa Mutharika, running for this second term and he was losing, so he picked Joyce Banda as his running mate, and won with about 70% of the vote. Her election as Vice President made Joyce Banda the first female Vice President of Malawi. President Bingu wa Mutharika and Vice President Joyce Banda led the DPP to a landslide victory winning a total of 145 seats in a parliament of 193. Soon thereafter he turned on her because of her popularity and because she opposed his plan to have his brother Peter Mutharika succeed him as President. Subsequently, Banda was kicked out of the party and she formed her own party called the Peoples Party, which now has over 2 million members. She has remained popular and poses a real threat in 2014 elections. Presidency The President Bingu wa Mutharika died on April 5 2012, leaving Joyce Banda with the clear title to Presidential succession under the constitution. A number of Cabinet Ministers under the late President promptly attempted a coup d'etat planning to install the late Presidents brother Peter Mutharika as the new President. The attempt only failed by a small margin. There was much controversy over the death of the late President. Authorities failed to make it known that the President had passed until April 7th. Instead, South Africa was called to airlift the President to a hospital. When the pilot arrived to airlift the President, he was already dead. President Bingu wa Mutharika was still taken to South Africa to buy time for 3

the Cabinet Ministers in the power struggle over the Presidency. Her Excellency Joyce Banda is now the first female President of Malawi and the 2nd female Head of State on the continent of Africa. Leading the way as the first female Head of State in Africa was President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia. As leader of Malawi she is now facing the daunting task of stabilizing an economy plagued with a rigged exchanged rate and budget a deficit incurred when foreign aid was cut to Malawi due to fractured relationships with the late President Bingu wa Mutharikas.