Eta Elizabeth Banda (born 1949) is a former

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

an politician who was the country's

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from 2009 to 2011. Prior to entering politics, she worked as a health professional and university administrator. Hon

Early life

Banda studied at Malawi's college of nursing and then worked in that profession for some time. She subsequently pursued further study, initially in South Africa and then in the United States, where she graduated with a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

(M.Sc.) degree in community health nursing from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. She later went on to complete a doctorate at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, in the fields of nursing administration, education, and policy. On her return to Malawi, Banda became a member of the faculty of the Kamuzu College of Nursing in

Lilongwe Lilongwe (, ,) is the capital and largest city of Malawi. It has a population of 989,318 as of the 2018 Census, up from a population of 674,448 in 2008. In 2020, that figure was 1,122,000. The city is located in the central region of Malawi, i ...

, which is part of the

University of Malawi The University of Malawi (UNIMA) is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whethe ...

. Her research focused on health policy planning in Malawi and the wider

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

region, and she served on the editorial board of the ''African Journal of Midwifery''. She was eventually appointed

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

of the college, and later served as vice-principal and principal.

Politics

Banda was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

of Malawi at the 2009 general election, standing for the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...

(DPP) in the Nkhata Bay South constituency. When President

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 ...

formed his new

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

in June 2009, she was made Minister of Foreign Affairs. She became the third woman to hold the position, after Lilian Patel and

Joyce Banda Joyce Hilda Banda (née Ntila; born 12 April 1950) is a Malawi, Malawian politician, who served as List of heads of state of Malawi, President of Malawi, from 7 April 2012 to 31 May 2014. Banda took office as President following the sudden deat ...

. In April 2011, Banda had Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Malawi, expelled from the country, after a diplomatic telegram was leaked in which he criticised President wa Mutharika. Her decision to do so was made with the president's knowledge, but he gave her his retrospective approval when she made remarks to the effect that she would rather resign as foreign minister than see her president insulted with impunity. In August 2011, however, President wa Mutharika decided to sack his entire cabinet. When it was reconstituted the following month on 7 September 2011, Banda was omitted. Since December 2012 Banda has lived overseas in the UK where she holds a senior role with an educational charity."Mutharika fires nine senior ministers in Malawi cabinet reshuffle"
PanaPress, 7 September 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banda, Eta 1949 births Living people Boston University School of Nursing alumni Democratic Progressive Party (Malawi) politicians Female foreign ministers Ministers of foreign affairs of Malawi Malawian expatriates in the United States Malawian nurses Women government ministers of Malawi Members of the National Assembly (Malawi) Nursing researchers Nursing school deans Academic staff of the University of Malawi University System of Maryland alumni 21st-century Malawian women politicians Malawian women diplomats Malawian expatriates in South Africa

Early life

Politics

See also

References