Peter Mutharika
Arthur Peter Mutharika is a Malawian politician and lawyer who has been the seventh president of Malawi since 2025. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party and the younger brother of the third president, Bingu wa Mutharika, he served as the fifth president from 2014 to 2020 and has also been leading the DPP since 2012.
Born in Thyolo District, Mutharika graduated from the University of London in 1965 with a bachelor's degree in law, and the Yale University with a master's degree in law in 1966 and a doctorate in Juridical Science in 1968. In 1971, he was admitted to the bar in Tanzania and became a professional lawyer. As professor, Mutharika taught several universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda. He has also worked in the field of international justice, specialising in international economic law, international law and comparative constitutional law.
In 2009, Mutharika joined politics during the presidency of his elder brother and was elected to the National Assembly for the Thyolo East District. Mutharika was later appointed as an Advisor to The President on Foreign and Domestic Policy and Minister of Justice by Bingu and served in these positions until the following year when he was appointed Minister of Education, Science and Technology and served in the role until the following year when Mutharika was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2012, Bingu died and Mutharika was wrongfully accused of attempting to succeed his brother instead of vice president Joyce Banda. Banda became president as stated by the Constitution with the support of the military. Two years later, Mutharika was elected president in the 2014 presidential election, defeating Banda and the opposition Malawi Congress Party 's Lazarus Chakwera.
During Mutharika's first, Malawi experienced steady economic growth with inflation falling from 24% in 2014 to single digits by 2019, and many infrastructure projects advanced further during this time as well. Mutharika also established community colleges. Mutharika won the 2019 presidential election, which was disputed by the opposition. In February 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeal annulled the election citing irregularities that did not affect the vote and in the rerun election in June of the following year, Mutharika lost to Chakwera, after nine political parties banded together to form the Tonse Allianceand backed Chakwera.
In August 2020, two months after leaving the presidency, Mutharika's bank account was suspended by the Malawi Anti-Corruption Commission. In January 2021, the High Court dismissed Mutharika's request to lift the suspension of his bank account. In July 2022, Mutharika said that his party was ready to win the 2025 general elections and was still considering whether to run again. Mutharika eventually announced his candidacy in August 2024 and overwhelmingly defeated Chakwera in the 2025 presidential election in September.
Mutharika is the oldest Malawian president ever, and could have been the second president to turn 80 while in office had he remained in office past his 80th birthday on 18 July 2020, following Hastings Banda, the first Malawian president. Having assumed office at the age of nearly 74, Mutharika became the oldest ever president to assume office in Malawian history, surpassing Banda, who assumed office at the age of 68 in 1966. When Mutharika was sworn in for a second term in 2025, he broke his own record in 2014 and once again became the oldest Malawian president to take office, having taken office at the age of 85. Mutharika is also currently the eighth oldest serving state leader in the world.
Early life and education
Arthur Peter Mutharika was born on 18 July 1940 in Thyolo. His parents were teachers. He attended primary school at various institutions, including Mulanje Mission Primary School, before moving on to Dedza Secondary School.Legal career
Early career
Mutharika received his LL.B. law degree from the University of London in 1965. He then received his LL.M. and J.S.D. degrees from Yale University in 1966 and 1969 respectively. Mutharika has been admitted to the bar in Tanzania as a professional lawyer since 1971. As a professor, he has taught at University of Dar es Salaam, Haile Selassie University, Rutgers University, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Program for Foreign Service Officers from Africa and Asia at Makerere University, and for 37 years at Washington University in St. Louis, and has served as an Academic Visitor at the London School of Economics. He also served as advisor to the American Bar Association's Rule of Law initiative for Africa.Late career
He assisted as an advisor in the campaign for his brother, Bingu wa Mutharika, for re-election as president in 2009. In 1995 he argued for limiting presidential powers in Malawi. He then entered Malawian politics where he became a Minister in a cabinet he helped to create. He also continued to serve as an adviser to the President until the President's death in 2012 in issues of foreign and domestic policy.ICSID Arbitration Tribunal
Mutharika was part of a three-man tribunal that was arbitrating international cases. In August 2011, Mutharika decided to resign from two international court cases with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes that he was arbitrating on Zimbabwe where foreign investors sued the Zimbabwean government for breaches of bilateral investment treaties. This was due to concerns about his impartiality because of Bingu Mutharika's close associations with the Mugabe government.Early political career
He is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party. In May 2009, he was elected to the Malawian Parliament, and he was subsequently appointed by his brother President Bingu wa Mutharika to the Malawi Cabinet as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. He then became Minister of Education, Science and Technology and as of 8 September 2011 he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new "war cabinet".DPP factions
In 2010, tensions rose over claims that Bingu planned to name Peter to succeed him as party leader over his vice-president, Joyce Banda. Banda was later expelled from the DPP and launched her own party, the People's Party, which led to members of the DPP resigning in protest. In line with Malawi's laws, Joyce Banda continued to remain Vice-President.DPP presidential endorsement
In August 2011, the DPP National Governing Council endorsed Peter Mutharika as presidential candidate for the 2014 elections. This announcement came a few days after the 20 July 2011 protests where nationwide strikes were held against Bingu Mutharika's regime. His appointment was endorsed by the DPP NGC since the party did not hold a convention to elect new leaders. The Secretary General, Wakuda Kamanga stated that the decision was made in spite of the protests because the party believed that the "anger would fade". This endorsement also led to the firing of those that were against the nomination process within the party including first vice-president Joyce Banda and second vice-president Khumbo Kachali.US citizenship controversy
Peter Mutharika's candidacy for position as a government minister and his eligibility for presidency had been controversial because of speculation and doubt over his Malawian citizenship. A senior Political and Administrative lecturer at the University of Malawi, Mustapha Hussein has stated that his "eligibility should be viewed in the context of his being Malawian, he would be above 35 years of age by 2014, and he has not been convicted of any criminal activities for the past seven years." Malawi's laws however, do not allow dual citizenship and it was wrongly speculated that he obtained US citizenship whilst living in the US and hence, had renounced his Malawian citizenship as is required by law. Nonetheless, the US embassy in Lilongwe confirmed that he is not a citizen but a Green card holder. The ruling DPP has stated that Mutharika is a Malawian citizen and would run for president as a Malawian citizen and not an American one. There was controversy that, as the holder of a US Greencard, he owes an allegiance to the United States. Therefore, people on the street are of the view that a nation cannot be run by someone who will be spending the minimum of three months in the US annually required to retain permanent resident status. In February 2014, he relinquished his green card and permanent resident status.First presidency (2014–2020)
First term
Mutharika was elected as president in the 2014 election. He was sworn in as the fifth president of Malawi on 31 May 2014. At nearly 74, he was then the oldest person to assume the office. Naming his cabinet in June 2014, Mutharika took charge of the defense portfolio himself. He appointed the veteran economist Goodall Gondwe as Minister of Finance and appointed one of the defeated presidential candidates, Atupele Muluzi, as Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining. In June 2014, Mutharika supported diversification of Malawi's agriculture into other crops besides tobacco.His first term was marked by strong popular discontent, due to corruption, food shortages and power cuts. In 2018, thousands of people took to the streets in several cities across the country to denounce corruption scandals. Mutharika was accused of the involvement in a bribery case, suspected of having received more than $200,000 from a businessman who had obtained a multi-million dollar contract with the police. Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau cleared Muthatika on the Malawi Police Service food rations contract allegations. The ACB stated that investigations into the Malawi Police Service food rations contract have revealed that President Peter Mutharika did not personally benefit from $200,000 deposited in the Democratic Progressive Party's bank account.