1. Joyce Hilda Banda is a Malawian politician, who served as President of Malawi, from 7 April 2012 to 31 May 2014.
51 Facts About Joyce Banda
1. 2.
Joyce Banda is the founder and leader of the People's Party, created in 2011.
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Joyce Banda 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.
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Joyce Banda was Malawi's fourth president its first female president and second female head of state, after Elizabeth II.
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Joyce Banda was the second woman to become the president in the African continent, after Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
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Joyce Banda Hilda Ntila was born on 12 April 1950 in Malemia, a village in the Zomba District of Nyasaland.
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Joyce Banda began her career as a secretary and became a well-known figure during the rule of dictator Hastings Banda.
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Joyce Banda earned a Cambridge School Certificate, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Early Childhood Education from Columbus University, a Bachelor of Social Studies in Gender Studies from Atlantic International University and a Diploma in Management of NGOs from the International Labour Organization Centre in Turin, Italy.
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Joyce Banda married Roy Kachale, with whom she had three children.
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In 1975, a growing women's movement in Kenya motivated Joyce Banda to take her three children and leave what she has described as an abusive marriage.
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Joyce Banda later married Richard Banda, retired Chief Justice of Malawi, with whom she has two children.
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Between 1985 and 1997 Joyce Banda managed and established various businesses and organisations including Ndekani Garments, Akajuwe Enterprises, and Kalingidza Bakery.
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Joyce Banda's success inspired her to help other women achieve financial independence and break the cycles of abuse and poverty.
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Joyce Banda is sister to Anjimile Oponyo, former CEO of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, financed by Madonna.
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Joyce Banda won a parliamentary seat in Malawi's third democratic election as a member of President Bakili Muluzi's party, the United Democratic Front.
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Joyce Banda designed the National Platform for Action on Orphans and Vulnerable Children and the Zero Tolerance Campaign Against Child Abuse.
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Joyce Banda moved to change Malawi's recognition of the legitimate government of China from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China on the mainland; she claimed the switch would bring economic benefits to Malawi.
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Joyce Banda ran as the vice-presidential candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party in the 2009 presidential election, running alongside Mutharika, the DPP presidential candidate.
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Joyce Banda was urged by DPP spokesman Hetherwick Ntaba to resign as Vice-President.
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Joyce Banda is the founder and leader of the People's Party, formed in 2011 after Banda was expelled from the ruling DPP when she refused to endorse President Mutharika's younger brother Peter Mutharika as the successor to the presidency for the 2014 general election.
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Joyce Banda was sworn in on 7 April 2012 as President of Malawi, the first woman to hold the office.
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On 26 April 2012, President Joyce Banda chose her cabinet, composed of 23 ministers and nine deputy ministers.
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Joyce Banda gave herself several key portfolios to strengthen her own power as the country's leader.
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On 10 October 2013, a few days after returning from a trip to the UN, President Joyce Banda sacked her cabinet following the Capital Hill Cashgate scandal.
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In May 2014 Joyce Banda was heavily defeated in the presidential election.
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Joyce Banda failed in an attempt to nullify the election.
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Joyce Banda did not attend the swearing in of the winner, Peter Mutharika, but offered him her congratulations.
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Joyce Banda denied the charges and said that she would return to face them.
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Joyce Banda had the challenge of restoring diplomatic ties with Malawi's neighbours like Mozambique, and regional countries such as Botswana.
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Joyce Banda spoke to Henry Bellingham of the United Kingdom's Foreign Office.
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Joyce Banda announced plans to speak to Baroness Ashton of the European Union's Foreign Affairs office and the Malawi's IMF Resident Representative, Ruby Randall.
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At least partly to further please donors, Joyce Banda's administration refused in June 2012 to host that July's African Union summit on the grounds that the AU had insisted that Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir be given assurances that Malawi would refuse to serve the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him; the Cabinet decided that such conditions were unacceptable.
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President Joyce Banda is named by Forbes as the 40th most powerful woman in the world, the highest African name on the list.
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On 18 May 2012, Joyce Banda announced her intention to overturn Malawi's ban on homosexuality.
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An explanation given by Joyce Banda was that the jet had been sold to an arms company in South Africa with whom the Government of Malawi had an outstanding debt and so the jet was used to offset this debt.
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On 17 January 2013, thousands of Malawians protested in Blantyre against rising inflation after Joyce Banda, joined by IMF chief Christine Lagarde, defended the devaluation of the kwacha and said she would not reverse the decision.
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President Joyce Banda has shown consistent commitment to maternal health and reproductive rights, specifically through her support of safe motherhood in Malawi.
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Joyce Banda showed her support through establishing the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood.
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On 28 May 2012, Joyce Banda led the nation's MPs to vote to revert the flag back to its independence flag, which was originally adopted in 1964.
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Joyce Banda stayed in self-imposed exile in the United States as a distinguished fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and Center for Global Development for three years, prior to returning to Malawi in 2018.
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Joyce Banda entered the 2019 presidential election as a candidate for the People's Party, but withdrew her candidacy two months before the election; she later endorsed opposition candidate Lazarus Chakwera.
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Joyce Banda is the founder of the National Association of Business Women in Malawi that was established in 1990.
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Joyce Banda has been involved with many grassroots projects with women since the age of 25 to bring about policy change, particularly in education.
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Joyce Banda founded the Joyce Banda Foundation for Better Education.
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Joyce Banda founded the Young Women Leaders Network, National Association of Business Women and the Hunger Project in Malawi.
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Joyce Banda was awarded the 1997 Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger by the Hunger Project, a New York-based non-governmental organisation.
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Joyce Banda used the prize money to fund the building of the Joyce Banda foundation for children.
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Joyce Banda served as commissioner for "Bridging a World Divided" alongside personalities such as Bishop Desmond Tutu, and United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson.
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Joyce Banda was member of the Advisory Board for Education in Washington DC, and on the advisory board for the Federation of World Peace and Love in Taiwan.
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Joyce Banda announced that the presidential jet would be sold.
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In 2010, Joyce Banda became a member of the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health, a group of sixteen sitting and former heads of state, high-level policymakers and other leaders committed to advancing reproductive health for lasting development and prosperity.