Content provided by APO Group. CNBC Africa provides content from APO Group as a service to its readers and does not edit the articles it publishes. CNBC Africa is not responsible for the content provided by APO Group.
African Union Member States (55) reporting COVID-19 cases (4,812,313), deaths (130,025) and recoveries (4,351,816) by region: Central (172,873 cases; 2,781 deaths; 159,001 recoveries): Burundi (4,650; 6; 4,198), Cameroon (77,982; 1,270; 72,926), CAR (7,085; 97; 6,665), Chad (4,927; 173; 4,742), Congo (11,658; 153; 10,591), DRC (31,386; 782; 27,654), Equatorial Guinea (8,476; 113; 8,146), Gabon (24,365; 150; 21,791), Sao Tome and Principe (2,344; 37; 2,288) Eastern (647,406; 12,678; 536,199): Comoros (3,949; 146; 3,719), Djibouti (11,523; 153; 11,354), Eritrea (4,022; 14; 3,812), Ethiopia (270,944; 4,139; 235,850), Kenya (170,041; 3,124; 116,018), Madagascar (41,184; 828; 40,028), Mauritius (1,356; 17; 1,181), Rwanda (26,878; 352; 25,542), Seychelles (11,145; 40; 9,936), Somalia (14,647; 768; 6,717), South Sudan (10,688; 115; 10,514), Sudan (35,289; 2,600; 27,949), Tanzania** (509; 21; 178), Uganda (45,231; 361; 43,401) Northern (1,453,109; 43,808; 1,276,107): Algeria (128,198; 3,586; 89,292), Egypt (259,540; 14,950; 190,254), Libya (184,815; 3,116; 171,279), Mauritania (19,407; 462; 18,377), Morocco (518,458; 9,135; 506,443), Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (739; 46; 691), Tunisia (341,952; 12,513; 299,771) Southern (2,066,519; 64,531; 1,933,721): Angola (33,607; 745; 27,529), Botswana (56,313; 831; 50,494), Eswatini (18,587; 672; 17,855), Lesotho (10,825; 326; 6,434), Malawi (34,323; 1,154; 32,598), Mozambique (70,697; 835; 69,232), Namibia (54,268; 807; 50,053), South Africa (1,654,551; 56,293; 1,551,520), Zambia (94,430; 1,275; 91,443), Zimbabwe (38,918; 1,593; 36,563) Western (472,406; 6,227; 446,788): Benin (8,058; 101; 7,893), Burkina Faso (13,424; 166; 13,248), Cabo Verde (30,122; 261; 28,163), Côte d&#39;Ivoire (47,195; 301; 46,591), Gambia (5,990; 178; 5,767), Ghana (93,775; 784; 91,853), Guinea (23,110; 161; 20,840), Guinea Bissau (3,760; 68; 3,511), Liberia (2,179; 86; 2,033), Mali (14,262; 516; 9,559), Niger (5,409; 192; 5,080), Nigeria (166,254; 2,071; 156,546), Senegal (41,296; 1,138; 39,932), Sierra Leone (4,140; 79; 3,128), Togo (13,432; 125; 12,644)Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
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Coronavirus: African Union Member States reporting COVID-19 cases as of 29 May 2021, 9 am EAT

Content provided by APO Group. CNBC Africa provides content from APO Group as a service to its readers and does not edit the articles it publishes. CNBC Africa is not responsible for the content provided by APO Group.

New Cases: 2 Cumulative Confirmed Cases: 34,295 Active Cases: 366 Total Recovered: 32,543 (26 New) Currently Admitted in Treatment Units: 10 (2 New) New Discharges from Treatment Units: 1 Total Tests Conducted: 243,795 (257 New) Total Deaths: 1,154 (0 New) Total Vaccinated To Date: 345,806 (1,159 New)
 Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Health and Population, Republic of Malawi.
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Coronavirus – Malawi: COVID-19 Daily Info Update (25 May 2021)

BLANTYRE, Malawi (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Malawi’s newly-elected President Lazarus Chakwera has appointed women to a record 12 of 31 cabinet positions, with the new female leaders vowing to use their roles to help other women.



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Women now hold 39% of the ministerial and deputy minister roles in the cabinet appointed by Chakwera, 65, who unseated Peter Mutharika in a re-run presidential election last month, which compared to about 20% in the previous government.



Vera Kamtukule, chief executive for the Malawi Scotland Partnership who was appointed deputy labour minister, said she would not disappoint women in the southeast African nation.



“There is a lot that happens to women in their workplaces because of their gender,” Kamtukule told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



“As a woman, I also have a female domestic worker myself and I treat her well since charity begins at home.”



Malawi is ranked 116 out of 153 nations in the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap index.



Since the last general election in 2019, women have held 22.9% of seats in parliament, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, although Malawi has a target of between 30 and 50% women’s representation like many Commonwealth countries.



Chakwera, head of the Malawi Congress Party, told a news conference that the appointment of more women into ministerial positions will ensure “enough representation of women in our administration”.



The move came amid a rise in feminist activism in Malawi and protests this year against sexual violence after a series of alleged police assaults on women.



Four women are now ministers, up from two, including for community development and social welfare, education, and health.



Minister for Forestry and Natural Resources, Nancy Tembo, said her appointment was important as women in Malawi have such a critical relationship with the natural environment.



“If you look at the life of a woman it is synonymous with the environment,” Tembo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



“It is a woman who fetches firewood, draws water and provides shade for the family. I will therefore ensure that there is sustainability for natural resources.”



Women’s rights campaigners welcomed more women in cabinet, which is the highest since Malawi’s first female head of state, Joyce Banda, appointed eight women in her cabinet in 2012.



But they criticised removing gender as a portfolio from the ministry for children and community development and the fact most women were appointed deputies rather than as ministers.



“I don’t think we’ve had a cabinet where 30% was reached so that’s the reason why we’re applauding the new government,” Maggie Kathewera Banda, executive director for the Women Legal Resource Centre told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



“But we no longer have a line ministry to look into gender equality &#8230; we wonder why the new government has decided to strip it off.”



Reporting by Charles Pensulo, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith @BeeGoldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly.

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Malawi’s new female cabinet ministers vow to push for jobs for women

BLANTYRE (Reuters) &#8211; Malawi’s new President Lazarus Chakwera has appointed Wilson Banda, a former central bank official, as its new governor, a government statement said on Wednesday.



Chakwera, sworn in in June, also appointed a number of other individuals to his 31-member cabinet though key positions like the finance minister had already been announced.

48085890627_abd787a065_b

Malawi appoints Wilson Banda as new central bank governor

ILONGWE (Reuters) &#8211; Malawi’s new President Lazarus Chakwera pledged to clamp down on corruption on Monday, as he delivered his inauguration speech in a scaled-down ceremony dampened by a surge in COVID-19 cases.Lazarus Chakwera addresses supporters after a court annulled the May 2019 presidential vote that declared Peter Mutharika a winner, in Lilongwe, Malawi, February 4, 2020. 



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Chakwera unseated former leader Peter Mutharika in a June 23 re-run election after the 2019 polls were overturned by a court, citing irregularities.



The ruling echoed one by a Kenyan court in 2017, which cancelled President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election win. Both were surprising on a continent in which courts rarely flex their muscles against powerful presidents.



The repeat vote was regarded as a test of the ability of African courts to tackle ballot fraud and restrain presidential authority, and the power transition was cheered by pro-democracy activists and many of Malawi’s 18 million citizens.



The increase in COVID-19 infections, however, dampened the inauguration, which would have coincided with Independence Day celebrations that were also called off.



The inauguration was initially planned for a 40,000-capacity national stadium in the capital Lilongwe, but Chakwera called for a much smaller event.



Many watched it on television and others in rural Malawi listened to his speech on radio, without much fanfare across the country.



“It is no secret that we have had one administration after another shifting its post to the next election, promising prosperity but delivering poverty &#8230;promising good governance but delivering corruption,” Chakwera told a small crowd of about 100 dignitaries at the headquarters of the Malawi Defences Forces on the outskirts of Lilongwe.



“Before we can begin to rebuild, we must clear the rubble of corruption, for it has left our taxes in ruins; we must clear the rubble of donor dependency, for it has left our dignity in ruins,” he added.



Critics had accused former president Mutharika of doing little to tackle corruption.



COVID-19 cases in Malawi have more than doubled in the past two weeks to reach 1,406, with 19 deaths, and Chakwera is promising to take action in one of the few countries yet to impose a national lockdown.

Opposition Malawi Congress Party leader Lazarus Chakwera addresses supporters after a court annulled the May 2019 presidential vote in Lilongwe

Malawi’s Chakwera pledges graft clampdown in subdued inauguration amid virus

LILONGWE (Reuters) &#8211; Malawi’s new President Lazarus Chakwera on Saturday ordered his inauguration ceremony be scaled down amid a surge of coronavirus cases, dampening excitement around his election win.FILE PHOTO: Opposition Malawi Congress Party leader Lazarus Chakwera addresses supporters after a court annulled the May 2019 presidential vote that declared Peter Mutharika a winner, in Lilongwe, Malawi, February 4, 2020. 



Chakwera was sworn in last Sunday for a five-year term, hours after unseating Peter Mutharika in a re-run election, and this Monday the country is holding a formal celebration.



Chakwera said capacity at the national stadium would be halved to 20,000 and at least 100,000 face masks would be distributed in the capital Lilongwe.



“We’re in a worse situation today than we were three months ago. Coronavirus is spreading everywhere in Malawi and it’s spreading to kill,” he said in a televised address.



COVID-19 cases have more than doubled in the past two weeks to reach nearly 1,500, with 16 deaths.



Opposition politicians and activists had criticized Mutharika’s response to the pandemic, calling it inadequate and aimed keeping him in power.



In April the High Court struck down Mutharika’s order of 21-day lockdown after a petition from a human rights organization.



However Chakwera indicated restrictions on movement were imminent, saying new measures would be announced on Tuesday when he appointed a new health minister.

Malawi’s election cheer dampened by coronavirus surge

Malawi – the land of Hastings Banda the former president-for-life – may have seen a minor miracle in a clean, just, peaceful, transfer of power in defiance of the ballot box cheats. Now it is up to the new president Lazarus Chakwera to perform a bigger miracle by turning around a struggling economy in one of the poorest nations in Africa where three quarters of the people live on little more than a dollar a day.



Chakwera held his nerve as he stormed to victory over incumbent Peter Mutharika with 58% of the vote after losing the first, crooked, ballet in May 2019. They called it the “tippex election” because that was what was used to cover up people’s crosses before a false cross was put next to the ageing Mutharika’s name. The courts overturned last year’s result, on February 3, ordering the rerun that has given Chakwera a golden opportunity to shake up his country’s small and sleeping economy that barely feeds all of its 17 million people. &nbsp;



In this task, Chakwera is an outsider in more ways than one. Even though he leads the monolithic Malawi Congress Party – the party of Banda – he is a former preacher and not a career politician unlike most who have walked the country’s corridoors of power. At the very least he promises a different approach to the job that is likely to prove tough. &nbsp;



“He comes from a very different environment. He believes in the values of a Christian. He is new in politics and he comes from a Christian community and is going to bring a lot of fresh air. He is certainly likely to be a man of his word,” says Mercus Chigoga patron of the Malawi chapter of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  



Chakwera will need to be in cleaning up one of the biggest messes Malawi faces- corruption. For years Malawians have complained bitterly about the looting of their country’s tiny coffers by its large political elite. Chakwera has put down his marker saying he will crack down on corruption and work towards the return of ill-gotten gains to the public purse. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Malawi needs the money. For a start, fewer than one-in-five Malawians can switch on a light bulb, as the country has less electricity than almost any other on the continent. Roads leave a lot to be desired and struggle to move the agricultural products that bring in 80% of the country’s earnings and jobs.



Overall, Chakwera has his work cut out to revive an economy that has been in virtual paralysis since the disputed election last year. People close to politics in Malawi say indeed Chakwera is a man with a vision and could repay the faith of the people by changing his country’s economy for the better.

Does a man of God have a prayer when to comes to saving Malawi?

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This morning the new president of Malawi will arrive at his desk in the hope of delivering the change in business he promised during his election campaign that delivered a rare victory. Opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won 58 per cent of the vote over the incumbent Peter Mutharika in a re-run to make up for a disputed election in May last year. That ballot was called the tippex election because so many changes were made to voting papers to ensure a dubious Muthuarika victory that was overturned by the courts. Business Consultant and Patron of the Malawi Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Mercus Chigoga joins CNBC Africa for more.

Malawi presidential election: What Lazarus Chakwera’s victory means for business

Malawi presidential election: What Lazarus Chakwera’s victory means for business, economy

In the wake of the global COVID-19 crisis, the <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/04/07/how-the-imf-is-responding-to-africa-amid-the-covid-19-crisis/">International Monetary Fund (IMF)</a> Executive Board has approved immediate debt service relief to 25 poor and vulnerable countries.



Nineteen African countries will receive immediate debt service relief, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone and Togo.



The following statement provides more details:



April 13, 2020



Washington, DC – Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued the following statement:



“Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.



“This provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts.



“The CCRT can currently provide about US$500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent US$185 million pledge by the U.K. and US$100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions. I urge other donors to help us replenish the Trust’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to our poorest member countries.”



The countries that will receive debt service relief today are: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen.



For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a>

IMF approves immediate debt relief for 25 countries amid COVID-19 crisis

IMF approves immediate debt relief for 25 countries amid COVID-19 crisis. shutterstock_94083223

By François Conradie &#8211; Senior Political Economist



President Peter Mutharika is using his office to thwart the
decision by the Constitutional Court to annul the results of the May 2019
election in which he was re-elected, and to direct government to hold a fresh
election. 



After Parliament approved some changes to electoral legislation in
line with the Court’s directive that presidential elections should henceforth
be won by absolute majority rather than relative majority, Mr Mutharika used
his veto power on Tuesday, March 17, and refused to ratify Parliament’s
changes. 



A spokesperson for the presidency said that, in the president’s
opinion, the proposed changes are unconstitutional. 



Mr Mutharika’s appeal against the original Constitutional Court
ruling is still pending; the ruling in the appeal case is expected in April.



This is the most dramatic move to block the implementation of the
Constitutional Court ruling, and it comes in conjunction with a few other moves
by the head of state that are of a nature to cause concern. 



Also on Tuesday, Mr Mutharika fired the chief commander of the
Malawi Defence Force, General Vincent Nundwe, and replaced him with former air
force commander Major General Andrew Lapken Namathanga. 



General Nundwe had been appointed in June and was widely popular
for his men’s handling of protests over last year’s election: on several
occasions, soldiers came between protesters and police officers whose
repression of marches was turning violent, so the army was praised for being on
the side of the people. 



General Nundwe will be “assigned to other duties in the public
service”, in the words of the statement from the presidency. 



The deputy commander of the defence force was also replaced and a
number of senior officers received promotions. 



An unnamed senior officer who spoke to AFP said that Mr
Mutharika’s intention with the move is to “put people who work for his interests
and from his home area” in positions to advance his personal and political
interests. 



Mr Mutharika has already given the army the order to use force
against protesters participating in a planned march to State House on
Wednesday, March 25.



On Friday, March 13, Mr Mutharika dissolved his Cabinet. 



The move came a few weeks after his Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) formed an alliance with the United Democratic Front (UDF), in order to
bolster the challenge from the two most important opposition parties, the
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the United Transformation Movement (UTM). 



He has made explicit his intention to make the Cabinet bigger:
since 2014, the year of his first election, he has stuck to a promise he made
in the campaign ahead of that poll to limit the size of Cabinet to 20
ministers. 



Sympathetic commentators say that the relatively more robust
health of the economy means he can now name a team of up to 30. His intention
is probably to give more portfolios to the UDF to bolster his alliance. 



On Tuesday, his spokesperson said he had decided on a new team and
would announce it “soon”. In the interim, all ministerial powers vest in the
president.



A rough few weeks lie ahead. It seems as though Mr Mutharika’s
plan is to delay the new election for as long as possible, but he does seem to
have accepted that it will go ahead, hence his focus on the new Cabinet and the
alliance with the UDF. 



As the new campaign starts, we will expect protests and for the
overhauled army to be as forceful as the police in dealing with them. The
voting itself will not be less suspect than that of last May, and if he wins,
his legitimacy will be in question. 



We had been hopeful about the outcome of the Constitutional Court ruling, but the president’s intransigence is reason to fear an increase in risk.

Op-Ed: Malawi – Intransigent Mutharika raises the temperature

LILONGWE (Reuters) &#8211; Malawi’s Constitutional Court on Monday annulled the May 2019 presidential vote that declared Peter Mutharika a winner and ordered a re-run after an application from opposition parties citing irregularities.



Mutharika, Malawi president since 2014, won the election with a 38.57% share of the vote, with opposition party leader Lazarus Chakwera getting 35.41% and Deputy President Saulos Chilima, who formed his own party, had 20.24% in the final tally.



The electoral commission declared Mutharika the winner despite complaints of irregularities including results sheets with sections blotted out or altered with correction fluid.



Mutharika had pledged to crack down on corruption and revive the economy in his second five-year term.



But Chakwera, the president’s main rival, and Chilima rejected the results and filed a petition to the High Court asking it to nullify the results.



In a unanimous decision, a panel of five judges ordered that a new presidential vote be held within 150 days.



“It is almost impossible to have an election free of irregularities,” said Justice Healey Potani, who headed the panel. “However, in the present matter our finding is that the anomalies and irregularities have been so widespread, systematic and grave such that the integrity of the result was seriously compromised, and can’t be trusted as the will of voters of the May 21, 2019 election.”



In a landmark ruling for the country, the court describe the conduct of the electoral commission as “very lacking and demonstrated incompetence”.



The status in the presidency would revert to before the elections, Potani said, which meant Chilima would be reinstated as vice president.



The court also directed Parliament to consider recalling the current electoral body, which is headed by Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Jane Ansah, to “ensure smooth conduct of fresh elections.”



The streets in Lilongwe and the commercial capital Blantyre were unusually quiet ahead of the ruling, and many businesses were shut, fearing violence and looting from supporters of the losing side.



Security forces were out on the streets in large numbers, and the judges delivering the verdict were flown in on a military plane and arrived at the venue in armoured vehicles.



Malawi, a lakeside nation on the southern tip of the Great Rift Valley, is dependent on foreign aid and is frequently beset by drought which threatens the lives of thousands of people.



Former law professor Mutharika, 79, oversaw infrastructure improvements and a slowdown in inflation in his first five-year term, but critics accuse him of cronyism and failing to tackle graft.



Reporting by Frank Phiri; Editing by Grant McCool and Lisa Shumaker

Malawi court annuls President Mutharika’s 2019 election victory, here’s why

By Gary van Staden, Senior Political Analyst at NKC African Economics 



Malawi is bracing for trouble ahead of the Constitutional Court ruling on the presidential election challenge due to be handed down on Monday, February 3. 



Political leaders, foreign missions, and the security
establishment have pleaded for calm and for all citizens to accept the ruling.



The Court will deliver its ruling at the Lilongwe District
Registry of the High Court on the unprecedented challenge to the outcome of the
presidential poll held last May, which was lodged by the opposition Malawi
Congress Party (MCP) and United Transformation Movement (UTM). 



In the election, President Peter Mutharika, flagbearer of the
governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was re-elected and defeated
Lazarus Chakwera of the MCP by some 159,000 votes. Mr Chakwera alleged in court
papers that he was the rightful winner and called the result &#8220;daylight
robbery&#8221;. The applicants asked the Court to declare the election outcome
null and void. 



Several clashes between opposition supporters, security forces,
and DPP supporters followed the disputed elections. Last August, the
Constitutional Court agreed to hear the case and the hearing was concluded in
December, with the decision due within 45 working days. The five judges hearing
the case were allegedly subjected to offers of bribery, an issue reported to
the Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).



Ahead of the highly anticipated outcome, with emotions running high,
foreign heads of mission in Malawi have urged all political leaders and
citizens to respect the court decision. Ambassadors and high commissioners from
the US, UK, Japan, Norway, Germany, Ireland, and the European Union appealed in
a joint statement for calm and respect. 



On Tuesday, January 28, Malawi Defence Force (MDF) Commander
Vincent Nundwe promised tight security ahead of the decision. The MDF and the
Malawi Police Service have implemented a number of security measures to ensure
stability and calm in the wake of the announcement. 



Given the highly charged atmosphere ahead of the Court ruling, it
is inevitable that some clashes between rival supporters will occur, whatever
the outcome. We believe, however, that if such clashes do take place, they will
not pose any long-term threat to security or to overall political stability. 



Mountains of evidence from officials, the electoral commission,
political parties, IT experts, and individuals were heard over several months
from those supporting and opposing the application, and the danger is that both
sides have reason to feel optimistic over the outcome. 



In addition, the truth often seems not to matter in Malawi’s
political environment, so anticipating the outcome becomes little more than
guesswork. We will wait for Monday and then assess Malawi’s political
direction.

Malawi on the brink

LILONGWE (Reuters) &#8211; Malawi’s economy is likely to expand by 4.5% this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said late on Tuesday, boosted by improved agricultural production and the rebuilding of infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Idai.



The growth projection is down slightly from the fund’s March forecast of a 5% expansion to gross domestic product. Earlier in September the finance ministry said growth would advance 5%, up from 4% growth in 2018.



The small southern African nation’s economy is largely reliant on sales of tobacco, tea and sugarcane, with growth having slowed in recent years because of an El Nino-induced drought, electricity shortages and political uncertainty.



Cyclone Idai, the worst cyclone in Africa for decades, lashed Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in March, killing thousands and wrecking infrastructure.



“Over the medium term, growth could rise further to 6-7%, backed by greater access to finance, crop diversification, an improved business climate and more resilient infrastructure, including improved electricity generation,” the IMF said in a statement.



In April last year the IMF granted Malawi a $112 million credit facility to help the country to stabilise debt and fight poverty.



Writing by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by David Goodman

IMF sees Malawi’s economy expanding by 4.5% in 2019

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Since April the Malawi Stock Exchange&#8217;s MASI and DSI have seen and uptick to discuss the drivers, CNBC Africa is joined by Noel Kadzakumanja, Chief Executive Officer at Stockbrokers Malawi.

How has Malawi’s disputed elections impacted the economy?

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Sky Energy is the leading solar power installer in Malawi, supplying residential and commercial solar power solutions to thousands of households. The CEO, Schizzo Thompson, spoke to CNBC Africa reporter Kopano Gumbi on the back of the Forbes 30 under 30 event in Johannesburg.

Sky Energy CEO Schizzo Thompson on powering Africa

BLANTYRE (Reuters) &#8211; Malawian President Peter Mutharika has appointed minister of agriculture Joseph Mwanamvekha, an economist and former banker, as finance minister in his new cabinet, the chief secretary to the government said on Wednesday.



Mwanamvekha moves from Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development where he was credited with boosting food security through surplus harvests of maize, Malawi’s staple grain.



Mwanamvekha replaces Goodall Gondwe, who has been the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development for a decade.



Also on Wednesday, lawmakers elected member of parliament Catherine Gotani Hara as the first female Speaker in the history of the southeast African country.



Mutharika won Malawi’s presidential election in May with 38.57% of votes, narrowly securing a second five-year term. [nL8N2333RZ]



He has pledged to fight corruption and revive the economy following accusations of corruption and mismanagement.



The president is expected to deliver his State of the Nation Address on Friday in Parliament in the capital Lilongwe.



Reporting by Frank Phiri; additional reporting by Mabvuto Banda in Lilongwe; writing by Nqobile Dludla; editing by Alison Williams and Grant McCool

Malawi’s Mutharika appoints economist Mwanamvekha as finance minister in new cabinet

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Malawians headed to polling stations today for presidential and legislative elections. Former law professor and current president Peter Mutharika, is trying to secure a second five-year term with contestations being with his deputy president and a former pastor who heads the opposition .CNBC Africa reporter Yolanda Mabanga filed this report.

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