President of Malawi to speak at SMP Annual Conference/AGM
24 September 2020
We are thrilled to announce the keynote speaker at our Annual Conference will be ...drum roll ... Dr Lazarus Chakwera, the inspiring new President of Malawi and SMP Co-Patron. It is a HUGE honour to be welcoming the President to our Annual Conference to meet SMP members.
We are excited and honoured to announce that this year our keynote speaker will be His Excellency Dr Lazarus Chakwera, the President of Malawi.
In his capacity as Hon Co-Patron of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, the President will address the digital event, giving his reflections on the bilateral relationship and sharing his priorities and vision for the Partnership.
He will also answer a number of questions from Members and explore future areas of collaboration. We are extremely grateful to the President for his active support.
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CLICK HERE to book your place
Dr Lazarus Chakwera was elected as the sixth President of the Republic of Malawi in June. He has been leader of the Malawi Congress Party since 2013 and was previously Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly following the elections held on 21 May 2019 which were overturned by the Constitutional Court. He is a respected theologian and was President of the Malawi Assemblies of God from 1989 to 2013.
Since taking office Lazarus Chakwera has spoken passionately about the need for governance strengthening in Malawi, including in his powerful State of the Nation address.
“Madam Speaker, the framers of our Constitution conceived the Republic of Malawi as a sovereign state, with the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Legislature as its three arms of Government. These arms are meant to have unique functions and complement each other with checks and balances, yet they fall far short of this ideal in practice. By way of diagnosis, my Administration believes that the Executive is too powerful, the Judiciary is too underfunded, the Legislature is too subservient, and all three are too corrupt. This is what Malawians elected me to correct.”
Since 2005, all Presidents of Malawi have accepted the ex officio honorary title of Co-Patron of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, alongside HRH the Princess Royal. We are very grateful for this support, and the vision, energy and passionate that Dr Lazarus Chakwera brings to the role.
We look forward to welcoming him to our 2020 Annual Conference/AGM, and hope as many members as possible are able to join us to be inspired by the President’s words.
All members of the SMP are invited to join the meeting but we also really encourage them to invite and support their partners in Malawi to be involved. A digital conference is a unique opportunity to support equal and open participation across Scotland and Malawi.
