Chakwera Set to Make History by Attending APM’s Inauguration

October 2, 2025 Our reporter Be the first to comment

President Lazarus Chakwera is set to attend the inauguration of President-elect Peter Mutharika and Vice-President-elect Jane Ansah at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre this Saturday—an event that is shaping up to be a watershed moment in Malawi’s democratic journey.

According to Ministry of Information and Digitalisation Principal Secretary Baldwin Chiyamwaka, Vice-President Michael Usi will also be in attendance. Invitations have gone out to national dignitaries, civil society, religious and cultural leaders, the diplomatic corps and regional blocs including SADC, COMESA, the African Union and the United Nations.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the swearing-in of the President-elect and Vice-President-elect by Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda, followed by the symbolic handover of the instruments of power, military honours, and the inaugural address.

What makes this occasion historic is Chakwera’s presence itself. Since Malawi embraced multiparty democracy in 1994, no outgoing president has ever attended the swearing-in of a successor from an opposition party to formally hand over the reins of power.

  • In 1994, founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda boycotted the inauguration of Bakili Muluzi, Malawi’s first democratic leader.
  • In 2012, Bingu wa Mutharika’s death triggered an automatic constitutional transition, with Joyce Banda assuming office amid political resistance, not ceremony.
  • In 2014, Joyce Banda controversially refused to attend Peter Mutharika’s swearing-in.
  • In 2020, Peter Mutharika himself shunned Chakwera’s inauguration after the court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election.

The only precedent for a sitting president handing over power after elections was in 2004 when Bakili Muluzi—having completed his two terms—attended the swearing-in of Bingu wa Mutharika, his own handpicked successor from the same ruling party.

This time, however, the political dynamics are markedly different. Chakwera will become the first president in Malawi’s 30 years of multiparty democracy to personally attend the inauguration and formally hand over power to an opponent—an act observers say could set a new benchmark for democratic maturity and peaceful transitions in the country.

 

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