On 15th June, 2021, I bid farewell to fellow scribes and sources as we call them, the people I worked with for a cool 15 years and counting on.
I left the journalism family and graciously accepted an offer to serve the fourth President of the Republic of Malawi Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Hilda Banda as her Executive Assistant.
3 years and counting on, I feel privileged and consider myself as a reliable source of accurate information about the former president who served the country for two years from 2012 to 2014.
It may take 7 years, 4 months, 3 weeks, 13 days, 47 hours, 11mins and 59 seconds for me to write a chapter about her achievements in the 2 years she stayed in office.
For now, I can only attempt a few paragraphs talking about only 2 things she was able to accomplish in 100 days in office.
Just within 100 days of her two-year tenure of office, she ended fuel ques which was the biggest problem in Malawi by the time she took over office, her predecessor President Bingu wa Mutharika completely FAILED to deal with it.
When JB took over office, there were long ques across the country with people sleeping on the ques in search of fuel while women slept at maize mills waiting for electricity. The economy was on a death bed as companies scaled down operations.
However, within days after taking office, she normalised fuel availability in the country and life returned to normal.
Secondly, within the 100 days Dr Joyce Banda also ended persistent black outs that characterised the late Bingu administration. Malawians and businesses could stay days without power, and this greatly affected the economy.
But Dr Banda ended these serious problems that she found in government much to the surprise of Malawians who until today do not know the magic that she used to end these crises within a short period of time.
The improved foreign exchange import cover cannot go without notice. There was acute shortage of forex but all of a sudden, there was forex in abundance.
Less than 2 months after assuming office, Dr Banda succeeded in normalizing broken relationships with neighbouring countries and donor partners, the donor confidence was back. I can state that this gift is what I also noticed in President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, he too can relate well with our neighbours.
Donor confidence was back. The US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which froze assistance in July 2011 following security crackdown on protestors. resumed programs in Malawi in June 2012.
The suspension, which coincided with aid freezes from other governments including Britain, Malawi’s biggest donor, exacerbated an already acute dollar shortage sending the economy into a spiral.
However, the MCC said then that the change of direction on human rights and economics under new President Joyce Banda – Southern Africa’s first female Head of State – meant the programme should resume.
Bringing back media freedom which Bingu muzzled is another big plus for Dr Banda. A journalist could even be arrested for taking pictures of the President’s house. Freedom of the press and democracy the way we fought for it in 1992 was back.
Few days before her 100 days into office, Banda officially launched the Feed the Future Initiative.
The initiative, one of US former President Barack Obama’s flagships, aimed to support the government and people of Malawi to achieve and enhance food security and agricultural diversification, we all saw the results.
Well, this is not what I want to write. Today, I want to write about the Former Malawi leader, the first female President as I know her and how much I can tell you about her in the 3 years I have worked closely with her.
For record purposes, the 15th of June 2021 was the official date I started working with her in a formalised setup but before that, I had worked closely with her from 2009, I can confidently say without fear of contradiction that I have worked with her for well over 14 years.
You can call her Dr. Joyce Banda, others call her JB, a certain section call her Msamalia [a good Samaritan] while others prefer calling her masteni [mother], it depends from which angle you are standing.
The international community calls her Madam President. As for me, I don’t know what to call her, Boss? Mum? Madam President? Msamalia? I really don’t know because she has been more than what I can call her to me.
But who is she? Born on 12th April, 1950, Dr. Joyce Banda is an entrepreneur, activist, politician and philanthropist.
Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda served as the President of the Republic of Malawi from 2012-2014. She was Malawi’s first female president and Africa’s second.
Prior to assuming office, President Banda served as a Member of Parliament, Minister of Gender and Child Welfare, Foreign Minister, and Vice President of the Republic of Malawi.
While serving as Minister of Gender and Child Welfare, she championed the enactment of The Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill (2006), which provided the legal framework to support the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.
She faced resistance at the time of ascending to office from the then ruling party but state machinery made it possible for her to take over because the law was clear.
President Banda is credited for turning round an ailing economy which was on the verge of collapse in April 2012.
She instituted a number of economic reforms which led to significant economic expansion; Malawi’s rate of economic growth rose from 1.8% in 2012 to over 6.2% in 2014. Under President Banda, Malawi’s operational industrial capacity improved from 35% in 2012 to 85% in July 2014, and the foreign exchange import cover was increased from one week to three and half months in July 2014.
In the areas of democracy, good governance, and rule of law, President Banda repealed a number of draconian laws which weakened essential democratic institutions, infringed upon civil liberties, and restricted the freedom of the press.
She has successfully played a role in credible elections observation mission in Botswana.
She is a co-lead in a joint National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI) Election observation mission in 2023 Presidential Elections in Nigeria.
She was appointed as one of the three grain ambassadors to champion Ukraine government’s plan to help African countries facing acute food shortages.
President Banda’s unwavering commitment to the promotion of women’s maternal health and reproductive rights led her to establish the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood, which spearheaded the fight against high maternal mortality rates and the promotion of safe motherhood in Malawi.
During the two years of her presidency, Malawi registered considerable success in the areas of maternal and child health, reducing the maternal mortality ratio from 675 deaths per 100,000 live births to 460, a reduction of 32%.
As one her first actions after taking office, President Dr. Banda donated 30% of her salary to Malawi Council for the Handicapped (MACOHA), an organization serving individuals with disabilities.
President Banda is an international speaker on leadership, democracy, good governance, and women’s and girl’s rights and motivational speaker. She has delivered numerous lectures at universities including Harvard Medical School and the Kennedy School of Politics, the London School of Economics and Political Science, George Washington University, Kansas State University, among others.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
- President Banda was named by Forbes as Africa’s Most Powerful woman 2013 and 2014 respectively.
- Was voted number 43 most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2013
- President Banda was named one of the world’s most powerful black woman by Forbes in 2014.
- One of the most 100 influential people in the world by both TIME.
- In 2014, CNN named her one of the most inspirational woman in politics.
- She has won numerous awards for her work on the global stage, and was recently named one of Apolitico’s most 100 Influential People in Gender Policy.
In 1997, after receiving the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger that she shared with President Chissanu of Mozambique, she used the prize money of $50,000 to establish the Joyce Banda Foundation.
The Foundation seeks to transform villages in Malawi and internationally through its work in supporting women’s economic empowerment, education, maternal health and HIV/AIDS programs, leadership training, and support for human rights.
The Joyce Banda Foundation has reached 1.3 million Malawians with Women’s empowerment, education, maternal health, leadership, and rights.
MEMBERSHIP TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
- Member, Southern Africa Community Development (SADC) Panel of Elders on Conflict Resolution, Peace and Security.
- Board member, Nutrition International in Canada.
Board Member of the Tana High Level Forum for Peace and Security in Africa. - Member of Counsel of Former and Serving Female Heads of State
Steering committee member, African Women Leaders Network, responsible for Social Mobilization (A network convened by AU and UN Women) - Member of the Club de Madrid (A Global Network of Former Presidents)
Honorary chancellor of the Akilah Institute in Rwanda. - Member Former Heads of State Network fighting HIV/AIDS pandemic
Served as distinguished Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center and Center for Global Development. - Books published:
From Day One: Why Supporting Girls Aged 0 to 10 is Critical to Change Africa’s Path - Dr. Joyce Banda, a life of service to humanity
My favorite quote of her is “Leadership is like a love affair; you must fall in love with the people you serve and the people must fall in love with you”
Currently, the former president serves in more than 26 International boards and is the current champion of climate change and adaptation appointed by the Pan African Climate Justice.
She serves in the panel of elders of the Southern Africa Development Commission (SADC) on Peace and Security. This is the woman who is busy raising funds for the construction of houses for cyclone Freddy survivors in her capacity as good will ambassador on cyclone Freddy.
She is the Board Chairperson of Community Development Initiative (CDI) which she established in consultation with President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera in a quest to address social economic challenges which people in rural areas are facing.
Malawi is a landlocked small country situated in the East Central Africa bordering Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
With a population of more than 18 million, 85 percent of the people are rural based and live on less than 2 dollars a day. 73 percent of the people can not read and write. 40 percent of the households are women.
11 percent of our children particularly girls are orphans with most being child or elderly headed households. Most of the people live in dire poverty, fail to access to education and live in dilapidated houses.
CDI implements integrated projects around Rural Community Transformation, under this pillar, CDI will construct modern houses for people in remote areas, upgrade some infrastructure like schools, hospitals, markets and one stop women empowerment centers. Environmental management and Agribusiness are another component of the project focusing on production, processing and value addition. Income generation, (Under this pillar, small and medium scale businesses are being assisted with information through which they can use to promote their businesses and be able to export while contributing to the country’s social-economic development through exports. Education, Health, Water and sanitation are some components under implementation by the CDI currently being in Mpasadzi in the Area of Sub Traditional Authority M’nyanja in Kasungu district.
The mission of the CDI Trust is to eradicate poverty by building empowered, independent, secure, safe, self-reliant and resilient rural communities across Malawi.
As I said, it may take me over 7 years to write about this special woman. This is the woman I work for. Ladies, and Gentlemen, I present to you Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda seen through my lens.
