Bingu wa Mutharika (born February 24, 1934) is a Malawi economist, politician, and the current President of Malawi. He took office on May 24, 2004, after winning a disputed presidential election.
Born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom in Thyolo, about 30km from Malawi's commercial capital, Blantyre, he reverted to the family name of Mutharika and adopted the first name of Bingu during the 1960s when pan-Africanism was sweeping across the continent.
He later added the prefix 'wa' between his names to disguise his identity from Hastings Banda's state security, who were hunting down his opponents around the world, even though he was not a political oponent of Dr Banda.
Mutharika was the son of a primary school headmaster. He was educated at the University of Delhi, India, where he gained a master's degree in economics. He later obtained a PhD in development economics from unaccredited Pacific Western University, in Los Angeles, California. [More]
Source: wikipedia.org |