Peter Mutharika inaguration today

Newly elected President Peter Mutharika is set to be inaugurated this Monday at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre during a ceremony set to be spiced with military displays.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) director of elections Kondwani Nankhumwa said in an interview yesterday that Mutharika, who was sworn in as Malawi’s fifth President at the Judiciary Complex in Blantyre alongside Vice-President Saulos Chilima on Saturday, is also expected to deliver his inauguration speech.

This was the first time that the country’s President in the post-single-party rule was sworn in in a courtroom. Mutharika’s predecessor Joyce Banda was sworn in in Parliament in Lilongwe on April 7 2012.

However, traditionally, the country’s presidents, notably Bakili Muluzi and the late Bingu wa Mutharika, were each twice sworn in at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.

Mutharika’s predecessors have used the inauguration speech to provide policy direction, especially on the economy, in the coming five years in a country that is clocking 50 years of independence on July 6, but has remained one of the poorest in the world, relying on donors for 40 percent of its recurrent budget and 80 percent of the development budget.

Mutharika and DPP are making a comeback to management of the affairs and an economy whose inflation rate is now in double digits, lending rates are high and donors under the Common Approach to Budget Support (Cabs) are withholding $150 million in budget support due to mismanagement of public funds by the predecessor administration in what was termed Capital Hill Cashgate.

Under the watch of Bingu, Peter’s elder brother who died on April 5 2012, Malawi experienced critical shortages of foreign exchange, a development that saw the economy failing to import essential items such as fuel, drugs and raw materials.

Mutharika, who pledged during the campaign to hire a 20-member Cabinet, is expected to provide insights into these and several other issues.

Nankhumwa said President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is expected to attend the ceremony today. Tanzania will be represented by its Vice-President Mohammed Bilal while Mozambique and South Africa will send Cabinet ministers.

On the other hand, Botswana President Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama and Namibian Prime Minister Hage Geingob were yet to confirm their attendance as we went to press.

Nankhumwa said Banda, who finished third in the presidential race, has also been invited as has the first multiparty Malawi president Bakili Muluzi and former vice-presidents Justin Malewezi, Cassim Chilumpha and recent past VP Khumbo Kachali.

He said all other political parties and their presidents have also been invited.

Nankhumwa said indications on Saturday pointed to Banda attending Mutharika’s inauguration ceremony. However, yesterday, sources close to Banda could neither confirm nor deny.

Given that Mutharika and Chilima already took their oaths of office, today’s ceremony will primarily be dominated by performances and guard of honour by the Malawi Defence Force (MDF).

In an interview yesterday, MDF public information officer Lieutenant Colonel Francis Kakhuta Banda said during the inauguration ceremony, MDF Commander General Henry Odillo will hand over to Mutharika the sword of honour as the new Commander-in-Chief of the Malawi armed forces.

Said Kakhuta Banda: “There will also be a guard of honour, a [military planes] fly past and a 21-gun salute.”

Meanwhile, Britain and Spain have congratulated Mutharika on his election as President.

In a statement made available to The Nation, the United Kingdom’s (UK) Foreign & Commonwealth Office Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds said on 31 May: “I commend the Malawian people for their resilience and patience during this period and I congratulate Malawi’s politicians for allowing a peaceful transition of power.”

In its statement, the Government of Spain also commended Malawi for the peaceful tripartite elections.

Read the statement: “Spain congratulates Prof. Peter Mutharika on winning the 2014 presidential election and the people of Malawi for their turnout of the elections.”