Goodall Edward Gondwe (born 1 December 1936) is a

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

an economist who served in the

cabinet of Malawi The Cabinet of Malawi is the executive branch of the government, made up of the President, Vice President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers responsible for the different departments. Cabinet as of January 31, 2023 A new cabinet was appointed on J ...

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 2014 to 2019. Previously he was Minister of Finance from 2004 to 2009, Minister of Local Government from 2009 to 2010, and Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Environment Affairs from 2011 to 2012. Gondwe was director of the Africa Division of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

before returning to Malawi to work as a politician. In the period leading up to his election 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 ...

, he served as the Chief Economic Advisor to President

Bakili Muluzi Elson Bakili Muluzi (born March 17, 1943 in Machinga, Nyasaland) is a Malawian politician who was the first freely elected president of Malawi from 1994 to 2004. He was also chairman of the United Democratic Front (UDF) until 2009. He succeeded ...

Early life and education

Gondwe was born on 1 December 1936 and is from Kayiwonanga village,

Mzimba Mzimba is a town in the Mzimba District of Malawi. The district is inhabited by descendants of Tumbuka and few Ngoni people. The district of Mzimba has a number of Traditional Authorities from the Ngoni people. The head of these Traditional A ...

in the

Northern Region of Malawi The Northern Region is a region of Malawi. It had a population of 2,289,780 in 2018, and covers an area of 26,931 km², making it the smallest region both by population and area. Its capital city is Mzuzu. Starting in the north and going cl ...

. He lived and worked in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

and in Virginia in the United States. He received his undergraduate training from the University of London, graduating with a B.Sc. in economics. Upon graduation, he received a number of appointments to national and international financial institutions, including: General Manager of the

Reserve Bank of Malawi The Reserve Bank of Malawi is the central bank of Malawi established in the year 1964 located in Lilongwe. The current governor is Wilson Banda. The Bank is active in promoting financial inclusion policy and is a leading member of thAlliance for ...

; Senior Vice President and Acting President of the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies i ...

; Senior Advisor, Director for Africa and Special Advisor to the managing director of the

; and Chief Economic Advisor to President

Political career

Gondwe began his political career serving as an economic adviser to

and subsequently

Bingu wa Mutharika Bingu wa Mutharika (; born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom; 24 February 1934 – 5 April 2012) was a Malawian politician and economist who was President of Malawi from May 2004 until his death in April 2012. He was also President of the Democ ...

. He did not want to go deep in politics but was forced to do so after the conviction and sentencing to jail of the incumbent MP of Mzimba North. He rose up in the ranks in both Malawi's cabinet and the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majori ...

Finance Minister of Malawi

Gondwe was appointed to the position of Minister of Finance in June 2004 by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. He has been credited for Malawi's success during Mutharika's first term. His economic development policies, together with

Mutharika Mutharika may refer to: *Bingu wa Mutharika, born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom (1934–2012), Malawian politician and economist, President of Malawi from May 2004 until his death in April 2012 ** Callista Mutharika, also known as Callista Chimombo ...

, helped drastically improve the economic situation in the country. Under his stewardship the rate of inflation fell from 30% in 2005 to 6% by 2008. More importantly Malawi saw its economy grow by approximately 6 percent. Malawi is a relatively small economy due to its low natural resources compared to its neighbours like Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. In 2008 Gondwe was voted as Africa's Finance Minister of the Year at the African Banker Awards, held at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington DC, USA. The ''Nyasa Times'' of Malawi calls him the “Engine room for Malawi economic achievements."”

Paladin Energy

Gondwe played a primary role in negotiating the contract and agreement with the Australian uranium mining company

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 ...

, which was Malawi's first uranium mining company. Gondwe noted that the exploration of uranium would boost the country’s export base. The revenue for the uranium was projected to exceed proceeds from tobacco, Malawi's main foreign exchange earner. During this time, the Minister of Energy and Mining was

Henry Chimunthu Banda 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 ...

. The uranium project also promised to transform the under-developed Kayelekera which is in the underdeveloped northern region by turning it into a prosperous town. It was expected to create jobs for 800 people during the construction and 280 people during the operation. The project and

, however, has received some criticism for labor, health and environmental risks by the public.

Minister of Local Government

Following the May 2009 general election, Mutharika reshuffled his cabinet and Gondwe's

portfolio Portfolio may refer to: Objects * Portfolio (briefcase), a type of briefcase Collections * Portfolio (finance), a collection of assets held by an institution or a private individual * Artist's portfolio, a sample of an artist's work or a ...

, moving him from Minister of Finance to Minister of Local Government. He was replaced as Minister of Finance by

Ken Kandodo Ken Kandodo is a Financial Manager, MP and politician who was appointed Malawi's Minister of Labour in July 2020, following the 2020 Malawian presidential election, 2020 presidential elections. Ken Kandodo was relieved from his ministerial positio ...

, nephew of former President

Hastings Banda Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1898 – 25 November 1997) was the Prime Minister of Malawi, prime minister and later President of Malawi, president of Malawi from 1964 to 1994 (from 1964 to 1966, Malawi was an independent Dominion / Commonwealth realm) ...

, who was later replaced after nationwide strikes against economic mismanagement and the unveiling of his

Zero Deficit Budget The Zero Deficit Budget (ZDB) is a financial strategy laid out by Minister of Finance Ken Kandodo of Malawi under the Bingu wa Mutharika administration that is based on zero-based budgeting.http://www.trademarksa.org/news/zero-deficit-budget-puzzle ...

Events since 2011

On August 1, 2011 he was appointed as Vice-President of the

(DPP) by the party's National Governing Council. Shortly after this he was appointed as Minister of Natural Resources. In October 2012, Gondwe announced he would be resigning from the DPP and retiring from politics altogether at the 2014 general elections. However, Gondwe was again appointed as Minister of Finance by President

Peter Mutharika Arthur Peter Mutharika (born 18 July 1940) is a Malawian politician and lawyer who was President of Malawi from May 2014 to June 2020. Mutharika has worked in the field of international justice, specialising in international economic law, inter ...

in June 2014."Malawi's president completes cabinet"
AFP, 23 June 2014.

Awards

*Africa’s "Finance Minister of the Year", African Banker Awards - 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gondwe, Goodall 1936 births Living people People from Mzimba District Democratic Progressive Party (Malawi) politicians Finance ministers of Malawi Government ministers of Malawi Malawian bankers 20th-century Malawian economists Alumni of the University of London