The new Malawi President, Peter Mutharika, has appointed veteran economist, Goodall Gondwe, as the new Finance, Economic Planning and Development Minister.
Goodall Gondwe
Gondwe, 78, becomes the first cabinet minister to be unveiled by the new administration.
He is returning to cabinet after resigning from his last portfolio as Economic Planning and Development Minister after being arrested and charged with treason.
He was implicated in what became to be known as the “Mid Night Six’, a group of the then ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Government officials who attempted to circumvent former president Joyce Banda’s ascendancy to power following the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika on April 5, 2012.
The group wanted to prevent Banda from succeeding Mutharika as per constitutional requirement.
She was expelled from the DPP after she refused to endorse Mutharika’s younger brother, Peter, as the anointed successor when the senior Mutharika was scheduled to retire on 20 May, 2014.
The six, who included the younger Mutharika, were charged with treason.
In a brief interview on the on his way to office, Gondwe said: “I am happy about it, I’m ready to serve my president and my country.”
A former International Monetary Fund (IMF) head of the Africa Division, Gondwe returned to Malawi as the Chief Economic Advisor to former president Bakili Muluzi.
Gondwe joined active politics in a by-election in Mzimba North after the 2004 election when the incumbent, Yeremiah Chihana, was expelled for beating up an opponent.
Then the late Mutharika appointed him Minister of Finance.
On his watch, Malawi posted impressive growth rates at one point hitting nine per cent, to become the fastest growing economy only second to the oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar.
He was later moved to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
After Mutharika’s sudden death, President Banda appointed him Economic Planning and Development Minister before the treason charges forced him to abdicate.
Gondwe, who takes over from another international civil servant Maxwell Mkwezalamba a former AU Economic Commissioner inherits an economy on a tailspin.
This followed the debilitating effects of the plunder of millions of dollars in government money, dubbed ‘cashgate’, and the subsequent withholding of 150 million dollars in Western donor aid.
Gondwe, who has just lost his Mzimba North parliamentary seat to Agnes Makonda Nyalonje, is not oblivious of the challenges ahead of him.
“I’m yet to think of my reaction, I’m just humbled by the President’s confidence in me over the economy which has now become a complex matter,” he said.