Ken Lipenga

Dr. Ken Lipenga was born on February 14, 1952 at Chiringa, Phalombe District.[1] He is a Malawian politician, journalist, and writer.[1] He is the current Member of Parliament for Phalombe East.[2][3] He was the Minister of Finance under the presidency of Joyce Banda, until 10 October 2013, when he was dropped in a cabinet reshuffle and replaced with Maxwell Mkwezalamba following the Capital Hill Cashgate Scandal.[4][5]

Ken Lipenga
Assumed office
1997
ConstituencyFormerly Member of Parliament for Phalombe East
Personal details
Born (1952-02-14) February 14, 1952
Chiringa, Malawi
OccupationPolitician, journalist, writer

Personal life

Lipenga attended Nazombe Primary School and then went to Mulanje Day Secondary School. Lipenga entered the University of Malawi, enrolling at Soche Hill College in 1972 and graduated with a B.Ed (Distinction) in 1976.[1] He majored in English and History as well as Education. Lipenga won a Graduate Assistantship to study for Ph.D in English Literature at the University of New Brunswick in Canada and graduated in 1984. He returned home to continue with his teaching work at Chancellor College.[1] Lipenga is a very keen angler, photographer and mountain climber.[1] He spends spare time doing research on the Lomwe language.[1]

Lipenga is married to Stella.

Career

Early career

After working as a management trainee at the Blantyre Printing and Publishing Company, Lipenga joined the faculty of the University of Malawi at Chancellor College as an Assistant Lecturer in English.[1] He left to complete his PhD in Canada and returned home to teach at Chancellor College. In 1986 he returned to Blantyre Printing and Publishing Company as General Manager and Editor-in-Chief of Blantyre Newspapers Ltd.[1] In 1992 Lipenga was dismissed from his job following a series of provocative articles under his column, Off the Cuff.[1] The article, "Of Gallileo as Dissident," metaphorically criticized one-party rule under the Kamuzu Banda regime and sided with those calling for multi-party rule. Lipenga moved to Nkolokosa and worked as a Reuters and Radio Netherlands correspondent.[1]

After meeting Aleke Banda, who had just been released from political detention, he joined a group that sympathized with the UDF.[1] When Banda and family decided to establish a newspaper in 1993, "the Nation", Lipenga became the founding Editor-In-Chief. He resigned from the Nation in 1995 upon being appointed Special Assistant to the then President, Bakili Muluzi.[1]

Political career

Lipenga became MP for Phalombe East in 1997.[1] From 2005–2006 Minister of Labour & Vocational Training.[6] Then From 2006–2008 he was the Deputy Minister of Finance.[6] Since 2008 he has been serving the current Minister of Economic Planning and Development in the DPP ruled cabinet.[2] He was then Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture until 2011, when he was appointed as Minister of Finance. This was a controversial and challenging position since Malawi was undergoing political discontent that led to the July 20th, 2011 Malawian protests due to economic policies under the Bingu wa Mutharika Administration.

Works Published
  • Lipenga, Ken (1981). Waiting for a Turn: Short Stories. Popular Publications.
  • Lipenga, Ken (1986). Of "been-tos" and Messiahs: Millenialism in Armah's Fiction. University of Malawi.
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References
  1. http://www.malawi.gov.mw/information1/CabinetProfiles/lipenga.htm Archived August 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. http://www.malawi.gov.mw/cabinet/Profiles/KenLipenga.htm Archived August 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Ken Lipenga Hates Me – Alhomwe Paramount Chief Nkhumba | Malawi Voice". Archived from the original on 2010-09-13. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  4. "#MALAWI: Why Pres. Banda dropped Lipenga, Kasambara from cabinet". Mabvuto Jobani, mabvutojobani.com. 2013-10-16. Archived from the original on 2013-12-30. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  5. "Malawi names new finance minister after graft scandal". Reuters. 2013-10-15. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  6. "Afdevinfo.com". www.afdevinfo.com. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
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