Malawi under Mutharika

BLANTYRE—Key dates in the tenure of Malawi’s president Bingu wa Mutharika who died early Friday:

May 20, 2004: Former economy minister Mutharika, of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party, is elected president. On May 23, after his victory is announced, rioting breaks out in the economic capital Blantyre. A day later his swearing in is boycotted by the opposition.

May 29, 2005: Mutharika creates his own political party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), three months after resigning from the UDF.

February 14, 2006: An ex-minister is sentenced to five years in prison for corruption, the first top official to go behind bars in Mutharika’s anti-corruption drive.

May 19, 2009: Mutharika wins a second term with 66 percent of the vote against John Tembo and the DPP secures an absolute majority in parliament.

August 9, 2010: He fires four top ministers and boosts his own powers, taking over command of the police as well as that of the army.

January 26, 2011: Mutharika signs a new law that allows his information minister to ban publications deemed “contrary to the public interest”.

April, 2011: Relations with Britain become strained when the WikiLeaks website publishes a diplomatic cable quoting London as accusing Mutharika of “becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism”.

The dispute leads to the expulsion of their respective ambassadors.

July 15, 2011: Britain announces it is suspending budgetary aid to Malawi over its failure “to address UK concerns over economic management and governance”, including suppressing demonstrations, intimidating civil society organisations and legislating the obstruction of political opponents.

July 20-21, 2011: Police kill 19 people in two days of rioting, the deadliest protests since the beginning of democracy in 1994. Protesters took to the streets accusing Mutharika of mismanaging the economy and trampling on democratic rights. Washington suspends its aid on the 26.

April 6, 2012: Mutharika dies after a heart attack.