Henry Chimunthu Banda is a Malawian politician who was the Speaker of the National Assembly of Malawi from May 2009 to May 2014. He was elected in 2009 as the Chair of the 19 member Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Africa region. He also served for a time as Minister of Energy and Minister of Mining, Youth Sports and Culture.

Early life and education

Banda is from Chipembere village in Nkhotakota District, Central Malawi. He received a Diploma in Education obtained from the

University of Malawi The University of Malawi (UNIMA) is a public university established in 1965 and until 4 May 2021, when the university underwent a delinking, was composed of four constituent colleges located in Zomba, Blantyre, and Lilongwe. Of the four colleges, ...

in 1984. Subsequently, he earned a Diploma in Education Management which he acquired from

Brandon University Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrollment of 3375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, as Brandon Co ...

. He joined the Ministry of Education as a Diploma teacher in 1985 and was posted to Euthini Secondary School in Northern Malawi until May 1989. He was posted to his home district of Nkhotakota where he rose to become headteacher of the school. In 1993-1995, he became the Regional Publications Officer for the National Teachers Union of Malawi.

Political career

At the 1999 general elections, Hon C Banda was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the Nkhotakota North Constituency, and from August 1999 to September 2001, he was Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment. From January 2000 to September 2001, he was Commissioner in the Parliamentary Service Commission and subsequently Minister of Mines, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs. In June 2004 he was appointed as the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture. He also served as Minister of Energy and Mining and helped to secure the

Paladin Energy Paladin Energy Ltd is a Western Australian based uranium production company. It currently has one operating mine in Africa; the Langer Heinrich mine (LHM) in Namibia. Paladin was listed on the Australian, OTC and Namibian Stock Exchanges, as ...

mining deal with Goodall Gondwe. He also served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Personal life

Chimunthu-Banda is married and has three children with whom he and his wife reside with in Lilongwe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banda, Chimunthu 1962 births Living people People from Nkhotakota District Democratic Progressive Party (Malawi) politicians Government ministers of Malawi Members of the National Assembly (Malawi) Speakers of the National Assembly (Malawi) University of Malawi alumni