Malawi's Joyce Banda submits presidential bid

Hardly a week after four opposition parties in Malawi formed an alliance to defeat the ruling party, ex-president Joyce Banda on Tuesday broke faith and formally submitted papers to run as a candidate in upcoming elections.

Last week current vice president Saulos Chilima and Banda announced they had formed a four-party coalition in a bid to unseat President Peter Mutharika in the May 21 vote, but the group soon broke up.

Banda first came to power when she was vice president and succeeded the then president, Bingu wa Mutharika, who died suddenly in April 2012.

She lost the 2014 election to Mutharika and left the country until 2018 after being embroiled in a multi-million-dollar corruption scandal dubbed “Cashgate”.

On Tuesday, surrounded by her People’s Party (PP) supporters, she touted her past record and underlined her support of Malawian women.

“My mission in life has been, and still is, to assist women and youth… though business and education,” she said.

Joyce Banda & her running mate Jerry Jana arrive at the Comesa Hall to present presidential nomination papers to MEC #Polls2019 pic.twitter.com/bJbWjK4BLB

— NationOnline (@NationOnlineMw) February 5, 2019

“We have sat down with experts in coming up with an economic model like no other and we believe that, in implementing that economic plan, we shall change Malawi.”

Banda founded the PP in 2011 after splitting from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is led by Mutharika.