Edward Yakobe Sawerengera presented his credentials as Malawi’s ambassador to the United States on September 16, 2016. He is concurrently credentialed to the Bahamas, Canada and Mexico. It’s Sawerengera’s second such appointment.

Sawerengera is from Chiradzulu, in the southern part of Malawi. He attended the University of Malawi, earning a degree in agriculture in 1975. He later earned an MBA, in 1997, from the Strathclyde Graduate Business School in Scotland.

Sawerengera spent 20 years at the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation, a government agency, where he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming deputy CEO and head of operations. Other positions include that of executive director of the Malawi Social Action Fund, which provided money for community projects; CEO of the National Food Reserve Agency, a strategic grain reserve for the country; and deputy CEO for textile firm David Whitehead and Sons. Sawerengera also ran for a seat in Malawi’s parliament in 2002, but the election was postponed.

More recently, Sawerengera served as Director General for State Residences, or chief of staff, for then-President Bingu wu Mutharika.

Sawerengera was appointed as ambassador to Brazil in 2014 but served there only a short time before he and the ambassadors to the United Nations and to the United States were rotated. The move provoked some controversy in Malawi, with speculation that the UN ambassador had fallen out of favor and other reports that Sawerengera may have been involved in a questionable deal for Brazilian maize.

Sawerengera is married to Maggie Mbilizi.

-Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

Official Biography