On Sunday, June 28 2020, newly elected President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in.
Chakwera was sworn in as the sixth president of Malawi after he defeated the incumbent president, Peter Mutharika with over 58% of the votes in Tuesday’s poll.
Earlier in February, Malawi’s constitutional court had cancelled former President Mutharika’s poll win in May 2019, citing vote tampering.
The annulment of Mutharika’s poll win was historical, as it made Malawi just the second sub-Saharan African country to have presidential poll results cancelled, Kenya was the first.
Prior to Chakwera’s victory and new position as the president, the 65-year-old was the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church in Malawi.
The president had resigned from his position in the Church on May 14, 2013 to concentrate more on Politics.
He however remains God’s minister while serving God’s people in a different context other than the church.
“I do feel like Lazarus, I’ve come back from the dead,” Chakwera said, while speaking with BBC on his victory.
The country had been divided prior to the election but the president says those who did not support him had nothing to fear.
“There’s no cause for fear because I will be your president and my policy for inclusivity means we are building a new Malawi for all of us, he said.
I’m not a president of a faction, I’m a president of everyone in the country,” he added.
Mr Chakwera, who is also a preacher and former theology lecturer, said his aim is to unite and serve Malawians.
“I want to provide leadership that makes everybody prosper, that deals decisively with corruption and theft of public funds and a leadership that will follow the rule of law, he said.
While Malawi became just the second country after Kenya in 2017, to have elections annulled, Chakwera’s victory as an opposition candidate was unprecedented.
