Joyce Banda

Joyce Hilda Banda is a Malawian politician, educator, and activist who served as the fourth president of Malawi from 2012 to 2014. She became president after the death of Bingu wa Mutharika, under whom she served as the fourth vice president from 2009 to 2012. A member of the People's Party, Banda has led the party since its creation in 2011. She was the first female president of Malawi and the second head of state, after Elizabeth II, and the second in Africa, after Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.