Peter Mutharika, the newly elected president of the African nation of Malawi, has long ties to the United States. In fact, he had lived in the United States for such a long time that his citizenship status became an issue in the Malawi election. Malawi law does not permit someone with dual citizenship to hold the presidency. But Mutharika demonstrated that he had merely obtained permanent resident status in the United States and had not become a U.S. citizen.
President Mutharika was born in Malawi in 1940. He earned a law degree at the University of London and then earned a LL.M degree and a JSD degree from Yale Law School. He taught at several African universities and Rutgers University in New Jersey. But he spent most of his career teaching at Washington University in St. Louis. In fact, he spent nearly 40 years on the faculty of the Washington University School of Law, retiring just three years ago. His brother Bingu wa Mutharika also was president of Malawi. He died in office in 2012 after suffering a heart attack.
