Catherine Gotani Hara

Catherine Gotani Hara is a Malawian politician who served as Speaker of the National Assembly of Malawi between June 2019 and August 2025, the first woman to hold the position. She was one of the first MPs announced as re-elected in the 2025 election.

Early life and education Gotani Hara attended Kamuzu Academy, and has a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Chancellor College at the University of Malawi. in 2009, representing the Democratic Progressive Party.

Gotani Hara was the Deputy Minister of Transport and Public Infrastructure, Deputy Minister for Gender, and the Minister for Health in the Joyce Banda government. She represented the Malawi Head of State at a number of international events, and was the Chair of the Malawi delegation to the Climate Change Summit in Brazil. She took a break from politics from 2014 to 2019. at 97 votes to 93 against, defeating former deputy speaker Esther Mcheka Chilenje.

At the 2025 Malawian General Election she was the MCP's Deputy President. She took nearly 15,000 votes to win the Mzimba North-East Constituency. She spoke in November in Parliament of her support for the President's proposal to increase the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from K220 million to K5 billion.