Бингу ва Мутарика: Малави президентінің өмірі мен қызметі

President of Malawi from 2004 to 2012

Bingu wa Mutharika (/m//u/'/t//æ//r//ɪ//k//ə/; born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom; 24 February 1934 – 5 April 2012) was a Malawian politician and economist who was President of Malawi from May 2004 until his death in April 2012. He was also President of the Democratic Progressive Party, which he founded in February 2005; it obtained a majority in Malawi's parliament in the 2009 general election. During his two terms in office, he was noted for being the Chairperson of the African Union in 2010–2011, as well as for several domestic controversies. In 2009, he purchased a private presidential jet for $13.26 million. This was followed almost immediately by a nationwide fuel shortage, which was officially blamed on logistical problems but was more likely due to the hard currency shortage caused by the freezing of aid by the international community. He died in office from a cardiac arrest on 5 April 2012, at age 78.

Bingu wa Mutharika was born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom on 24 February 1934 in the village of Kamoto in Thyolo District, and is a member of the Lomwe ethnic group. Mutharika's parents, Ryson Thom Mutharika and Eleni Thom Mutharika, were both members of the Church of Scotland Mission which later became Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian. His father was a teacher for 37 years and his mother taught the women of the Mvano group. Upon completing his primary education at Ulongwe Mission and Chingoli, Mulanje, Ntambanyama, Malamulo, in Thyolo and Henri Henderson Institute in Blantyre, Mutharika obtained a Grade A Cambridge Overseas School Leaving Certificate at Dedza Secondary School in 1956. After that, he joined the Nyasaland civil service. In 1964, he was one of the 32 Malawians selected by Hastings Kamuzu Banda (President of Malawi 1961–1994) to travel to India on an Indira Gandhi scholarship for 'fast track' diplomas. The BBC reports that he went to India to "escape then President Hastings Banda's crackdown on political opponents". At some point during the 1960s, he also changed his name, to Bingu wa Mutharika. In the early 1990s, he was one of the first to be employed at the Preferential Trade Area of East and Central Africa (PTA) and became its secretary general in 1991. Mutharika served in the Malawi civil service. He served as an administrative officer in the Government of Malawi and also in Zambia. He was offered the Deputy Governorship of the reserve Bank of Malawi and appointed Minister of Economic Planning and Development in 2002. He also worked at the World Bank as a Loans Officer and at the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa, as Director of Trade and Development Finance and as Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa COMESA, covering 22 member states.

Mutharika was nominated by President Muluzi as his successor. Mutharika won the presidential election on 20 May 2004, ahead of John Tembo and Gwanda Chakuamba, and took office a few days later. On 7 October 2006, Mutharika stated his intention to seek re election in the 2009 presidential election as the DPP candidate. Two years later, in October 2008, the DPP's national governing council unanimously chose Mutharika as the party's candidate for the 2009 election, which he won with 66.7% of the vote.

During President Mutharika's first term in office (2004–2008), the country achieved a high rate of agricultural production and food security. The President's initiatives, centred on a programme of agricultural subsidy, benefited approximately 1,700,000 resource poor smallholder farmers. In the 2005/2006 crop season, Malawi achieved a food surplus of more than 500,000 metric tons. During the 2008/2009 planting season, food surpluses topped 1.3 million metric tons. This agricultural policy was widely regarded as successful but expensive, and was curtailed in 2011.

Under his tenure, the constitutionally enshrined human rights and separation of powers were enhanced, including legal reform. His first term was seen as a broad political success. He has also been credited with committing to and presiding over economic reform, fiscal restraint and anti corruption measures. During his tenure, the election was recognised by monitors as fair. Mutharika's Malawi Growth and Development Strategy for 2006–2011 prioritised the enhancement of: agriculture and food security, education, transport, energy generation, rural development, irrigation and water development, youth development and anti corruption initiatives. In 2009, Malawi's Ministry of Finance estimated that during the previous four years the share of Malawians living below the poverty line fell from 52 per cent to 40 per cent. This has been attributed to the country's agricultural policies, which have been seen as pioneering in the context of African economic development. In addition to championing food security in Malawi, Mutharika promoted a similar approach for Africa. While Chairman of the African Union in 2010, the President laid down a plan for Africa to achieve sustainability and food security. He proposed a new partnership with other African nations, which he called the "African Food Basket", outlining a strategy incorporating subsidies to small farmers, especially women, improvements in irrigation, and improving agriculture and food security over 5 years through innovative interventions that comprise subsidies, increased budgetary allocations, private sector investment and affordable information and communications technology. Approximately half of the country's subsistence farmers received vouchers which provided discounts on maize seed and fertiliser. To sustain the program, the Malawi Government allocated 11 per cent of its budget for 2010/2011 to agriculture, continuing a rare record of commitment on this scale in Africa. The level of investment in the programme was reduced in 2011. She remained vice president of the country because there had been no formal impeachment process. As a result of the Cochrane Dyet 2011 cable controversy that accused Mutharika of being increasingly 'arrogant' and 'autocratic', he expelled the British High Commissioner. In international relationships, his close relationships with Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Omar al Bashir of Sudan were controversial. In 2011, days of nationwide protests occurred, sparked by worsening fuel shortages, rising prices and high unemployment. Malawi's health ministry confirmed 18 deaths in the northern cities of Karonga and Mzuzu as a result of police using live ammunition to quell protests. Mutharika was unapologetic and said that he would "smoke out" all his enemies. This was accompanied by a crack down on Malawian journalists, human rights activists, and lawyers, including Ralph Kasambara. Other events that marred his presidency were the activities surrounding the 2011 academic freedom stand off between the President and University, and the death of student activist Robert Chasowa.

On 31 January 2010, Mutharika replaced Muammar al Gaddafi as chairman of the African Union after Gaddafi's attempt to run as the African Union chairman for an additional year failed. Mutharika was Malawi's first head of state to assume the position of chairman. In his acceptance speech he said that "Africa is not a poor continent, but the African population are poor" and called for "Africa to develop Africa". He shared his vision for the African Food Basket Initiative by making food security a priority in his agenda. On 4 April he attended the 50th anniversary in celebration of Senegalese independence as the African Union chairman. He also attended the G8 summit in Canada and the G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea. On 26 July, he attended the African Union summit in Kampala, Uganda, He married Zimbabwean Ethel Zvauya Mutharika, with whom he had four children. Ethel Mutharika died on 28 May 2007. In 2010, Mutharika announced he planned to marry Callista Chimombo, a former Minister of Tourism. The two were married on 1 May 2010. He suffered a heart attack and was reportedly flown to a South African hospital due to power outages in Lilongwe. His death was officially confirmed on 7 April, the day Joyce Banda was sworn in as Malawi's first female president despite controversy following Information and Civic Education Minister Patricia Kaliati's statement that "the conduct of the honourable Joyce Banda in forming her own opposition party precludes her from being eligible to succeed the presidency," while the country's security forces also wanted the constitutional order to prevail. The former U. S. ambassador to Tanzania Charles Stith said of Mutharika that he was "unwavering in his commitment to improve the plight of Malawi's poor" and that he was "one of Africa's most courageous and conscientious leaders."