Esther Mcheka Chilenje is a Malawian politician from the Democratic Progressive Party. She was MP for Nsanje North from 2014 to 2021. [1]
Mcheka Chilenje served as Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations. [2]
She was elected to Parliament in the 2014 general election and served as deputy speaker. On 19 June 2019, Catherine Gotani Hara was elected the first female Speaker of the National Assembly, [3] with 97 votes to 93, over Mcheka Chilenje. [4] [5] She was defeated in a by-election in 2021. [6]
The National Assembly of Malawi is the supreme legislative body of the nation. It is situated on Capital Hill, Lilongwe along Presidential Way. The National Assembly alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in Malawi. At its head is the Speaker of the House who is elected by his or her peers. Since June 19, 2019, the Speaker is Catherine Gotani Hara.
Joyce Hilda Banda is a Malawian politician, who served as President of Malawi, from 7 April 2012 to 31 May 2014. Banda took office as President following the sudden death of President Bingu wa Mutharika. She is the founder and leader of the People's Party, created in 2011. An educator and grassroots women's rights activist, she was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and the Vice-President of Malawi from May 2009 to April 2012. She has served in various roles as a member of Parliament and as Minister of Gender and Child Welfare before she became the President of the Republic of Malawi.
Catherine Esther Doust is an Australian politician who has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia since 2001, representing South Metropolitan Region. She was President of the Legislative Council from 2017 to 2021, the first woman to hold the position.
The representation of women in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom has been an issue in the politics of the United Kingdom at numerous points in the 20th and 21st centuries. Originally debate centred on whether women should be allowed to vote and stand for election as Members of Parliament. The Parliament Act 1918 gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as a Member of Parliament. The United Kingdom has had three female Prime Ministers: Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990), Theresa May (2016–2019), and Liz Truss (2022). The publication of the book Women in the House by Elizabeth Vallance in 1979 highlighted the under-representation of women in Parliament. In more modern times concerns about the under-representation of women led the Labour Party to introduce and, decades later, abandon all-women short lists, something which was later held to breach discrimination laws.
Patricia Annie Kaliati is a Malawian politician and former educator who has held various ministerial positions in the Cabinet of Malawi.
Catherine Gotani Hara is a Malawian politician who has been the Speaker of the National Assembly since June 2019, the first woman to hold the position.
The 2012 Malawian constitutional crisis occurred from April 5, 2012 - April 7, 2012 after senior members of the Democratic Progressive Party-led cabinet failed to notify the public of the death of the sitting president, Bingu wa Mutharika on April 5. Instead, cabinet ministers held a series of meetings in Lilongwe, Malawi without vice-president Joyce Banda with the aim of undermining the constitution and Banda's succession to Presidency. News confirming his death had, however, quickly spread across the country through word of mouth, cellphone text messages, Malawian bloggers, Twitter, Facebook, and on listservs by the end of the day on April 5, 2012. Therefore, the failure to announce his death resulted in speculation over the real health of the president and over whether the succession procedures would be followed as outlined in the constitution. According to the constitution, the vice-president takes over but there had been no official word on a successor or communication with the vice-president. Amidst growing speculation, the Cabinet announced that the president's brother, Peter Mutharika, the foreign minister, was the new President of the party on April 6. The Cabinet only announced his death two days after his death, after which Banda became Malawi's first female President.
Dalitso Kabambe is an economist, banker and politician from Malawi. He served as the 13th Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi from 2017 until 2020 . On 17th November 2024, he was elected President of the United Transformation Movement
Vera Kamtukule is a Malawian author, writer, publisher, activist and politician, who holds a ministerial position in the Cabinet of Malawi. Vera Kamtukule was appointed Minister of Tourism on 31 January 2023. Until her current appointment Vera served as the Minister of Labour since 26 January 2022 and as deputy Minister of Labour following the 2020 Malawian presidential election. In 2021 Vera Kamtukule assumed her role as Chair of the SADC Employment and Labour Sector.
Clement Terence Chiwaya was a Malawian politician who served as an MP for Mangochi Central from 2004 to 2019. He was also Minister of Social Development and Persons with Disabilities from 2004 through 2005.
Juliana Kaduya is a Malawian politician and teacher who was the first female mayor of Lilongwe City Council, Malawi. Kaduya served in this position between 2019 and 2021.
Joana Ntaja was a Malawian politician and the first female mayor of Zomba, Malawi's oldest city, between July 2014 and March 2015. She was affiliated to the Democratic Progress Party.
Abida Sidik Mia is a Malawian politician. She is the Member of Parliament for Chikwawa Nkombezi in Chikwawa District and she is a minister of water and sanitation.
Esther Jolobala is a Malawian politician who has served in the Parliament of Malawi since 2014, representing the Machinga East constituency as a member of the United Democratic Front. In 2024 she was the UDF's spokesperson.
Mzimba North East Constituency is a constituency for the National Assembly of Malawi, located in the Mzimba District of Malawi's Northern Region. It is one of 12 constituencies in Mzimba District. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system. The constituency has 19 wards, all electing councilors for the Mzimba District. The constituency is currently represented by MP, Catherine Gotani Hara.
Victoria Kingstone is a Malawian MP for central Mangochi in southern Malawi. In 2021 she also became a member of the Pan-African Parliament.
Aisha Mambo Adams is a Malawian politician who in 2014 was elected to represent the Mangothi Nkungulu constituency. She is the only elected Muslim and she is a member of the United Democratic Front party.
Abigail Shariff Bongwe is a Malawian parliamentarian who was elected in 2019. She became the President of the Malawi national netball team in 2021. She and the rest of the netball executive committee resigned in May 2024.
Gladys Ganda is a Malawian politician who was appointed as a Presidential advisor. She is a member of parliamentarian for Nsanje Lalanje in Malawi and the Democratic Progressive Party. She was elected to chair parliament's Budget and Finance Committee in 2020.
Mary Thom Navicha is a Malawian politician who became the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party and the leader of the opposition.