Mutharika Appoints Molande as Secretary for Foreign Affairs

President Professor Peter Mutharika has appointed Dr Bright Molande to be Secretary for Foreign Affairs where he will serve under Dr George Chaponda as Minister and political head of the Ministry. This appointment is with immediate effect and Molande will serve in that capacity for three years before he may decide to move on.

As Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Dr Molande will be the leading professional in managing Malawi’s diplomatic and international relations. He will be the technical anchor in supporting Dr Chaponda who is now Malawi’s Chief Diplomat and Ambassador at-large for the country.

Dr Molande will be leading the team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in managing Malawi’s ambassadors across the world, promoting Malawi’s interests and global visibility, championing economic diplomacy, and being the coordinating point of the diplomatic community in Malawi.

Bright Molande is a respected literary scholar, a published poet with two books to his name and a successful professional speech writer. Molande is speculated to be behind some of President Mutharika’s best speeches, including Malawi’s speeches once rated the best at the United Nations. This is the man Mutharika has entrusted to be the leading technocrat in marketing the country to the world and asserting Malawi’s place in global in the world.

Dr Molande has previously served in government as Executive Assistant for the President, Director of Communication for the President and Director of Information at the Ministry of Information. But Molande returned to the University of Malawi when Mutharika’s government went into opposition in 2020.

Before joining government in 2015, Dr Molande served in the University of Malawi as Head of English Department, Dean of Humanities and Vice Principal for Chancellor College, a position which is now renamed as Deputy Vice Chancellor for the University. He was a lecturer in literature until his appointment.

Dr Bright Molande is known to be a seriously engaging intellectual but a quiet man with poetic humour.

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