BLANTYRE: Malawi’s Peter Mutharika vowed to root out government corruption and rebuild an ailing economy after he was sworn in on Saturday for a second term as president of the southern African nation.
Mutharika, 85, secured more than 56 percent of the votes last month, defeating outgoing President Lazarus Chakwera, 70, who received 33 percent. Voters rejected Chakwera after five years of worsening economic crisis in one of the world’s poorest countries.
The Sept. 16 vote marked the fourth presidential contest between Mutharika and Chakwera.
Mutharika took the oath of office in a stadium in the commercial city of Blantire packed with supporters dressed in the Democratic Progressive Party’s blue and white colors, as well as government officials and African heads of state.
In his inaugural address, he said his administration was inheriting a country in economic crisis.
