Do we like them?Do we like Lazarus Chakwera?
Our score: 4 out of 10. Nothing nasty found on women, climate or migrants and he left office peacefully, but the LGBTQ+ record is thin and Amnesty says promises were broken.
Chakwera was born in 1955 to subsistence farmers in a rural village, and lost two siblings to poverty early on. He went on to run the Malawi Assemblies of God for 24 years, lecturing in theology before he ever touched politics. He took over the Malawi Congress Party in 2013 with no political experience, and after a court threw out the 2019 result over what it called massive irregularities, he won the 2020 rerun with about 58.57 per cent.
Then came the hard part: governing. His five-pillar SUPER HI-5 plan promised servant leadership, prosperity for all and an end to corruption, but his term was dominated by high inflation, fuel and forex shortages and rising unemployment. In his last stretch he went on TV and said “I take full responsibility for the hardships you are enduring”. In 2025 Peter Mutharika beat him by a mile, with Mutharika on more than 56 per cent to his 33.
The corruption story is the one that dogged him. In January 2022 he dissolved his whole cabinet after one minister was arrested in a bribery case and two others were accused of diverting Covid funds and meddling with fuel deals; all three denied it. Years later he attended a virtual UK summit in person with ten delegates, including family, and analysts quoted by Religion Unplugged said it showed his political side. Amnesty said in September 2025 that his first term had fallen short on impunity and transparency.
On the harm check, the record is thin rather than damning. The Human Dignity Trust, cited by PinkNews, says that in 2014 he called homosexuality a form of “child exploitation”, though no full quote surfaced. As president, his spokesperson said he had no clear stance and was leaving it to citizens. Amnesty was still urging the repeal of laws criminalising same-sex conduct in 2025. We found nothing from him on women, migrants, vaccines or climate, no slide into conspiracy theories, and no run of work with people who push harm; the evangelist Franklin Graham praised his win, which is his admirer's view, not his company.
Since losing, he has been a noisy opposition leader. In January 2026 he accused the state of political persecution and abuse of police power, listing arrests of party aides; no government response was reported. He also ended up in a row with Mutharika over four presidential guard dogs, which Mutharika argues are “civil servants” he can't keep. In April he told a funeral crowd “Do not provoke me”, and the Citizens for Credible Elections group reportedly demanded an apology over remarks about liberation fighters.
The good stuff is mostly about how he left. After the 2025 vote he went on national TV and said “I concede defeat”, promised a peaceful transfer and called Mutharika to congratulate him. That is no small thing in the region, and an apology for the hardship only counts for what follows it. Charity and kind acts didn't turn up in what we read, so that's honestly the whole list.