the first woman to hold the office. Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo presided over the ceremony which was held at the National Assembly in Lilongwe. After she was sworn in, Banda appealed for national unity. "I want all of us to move into the future with hope and with the spirit of oneness and unity... I hope we shall stand united and I hope that as a God-fearing nation we allow God to come before us, because if we don't do that then we have failed." The Malawian and international media reported on Joyce Banda's smooth inauguration. They called it a triumph for democracy. A Malawi Sunday Times editorial said that the new president's inauguration had "helped to entrench and cement a democratic culture in the country." Cabinet appointments and loss of 2014 presidential election On 26 April 2012, President Banda chose her cabinet, composed of 23 ministers and nine deputy ministers. She gave herself several key portfolios to strengthen her own power as the country's leader. On 10 October 2013, a few days after returning from a trip to the UN, President Joyce Banda sacked her cabinet following the Capital Hill Cashgate scandal. On 15 October, a new cabinet was appointed, and notably Finance Minister Ken Lipenga and Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara were dropped from the cabinet. In May 2014 Joyce Banda was heavily defeated in the presidential election. She failed in an attempt to nullify the election. She did not attend the swearing in of the winner, Peter Mutharika, but offered him her congratulations. She lived outside Malawi beginning in 2014. A warrant for her arrest in connection with alleged corruption during her stint as President was announced on 31 July 2017, although she remained outside the country. She denied the charges and said that she would return to face them. International relations During Mutharika's presidency, Malawi was left in a poor economic situation due to foreign relations under the Mutharika administration. Within the last year of Mutharika's presidency, Britain, the United States, Germany, Norway, the European Union, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank had all suspended financial aid. They had expressed concern about Mutharika's attacks on democracy domestically and his increasingly erratic policies. In March 2012, Mutharika told these foreign donors to "go to hell." He accused them of plotting to bring down his government. Part of Banda's challenge as president was to restore diplomatic ties