The country's first female president, who inherited a crumbling economy from her late predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika, has increasingly drawn ire at home for implementing austerity budgets and other painful economic reforms in part to please the international community, whose aid accounts for about 40 percent of Malawi's budget. 
Akiwa ni mwanamke wa kwanza kuwa Rais nchini humu, aliyerithi uchumi uliokuwa taabani kutoka kwa mtangulizi wake, hayatiBingu wa Mutharika, amekuwa akisababisha hasira kwa wananchi wake kwa kutekeleza bajeti zinazosabisha ugumu wa maisha pamoja na hatua zake za mabadiliko ya kiuchumi yenye maumivu makali kwa wananchi zinazoonekana kutafuta kuiridhisha jamii za kimataifa, ambazo misaada yake ni takribani kiasi cha asilimia 40 ya bajeti ya Malawi.