The former ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has given president Peter Mutharika 24 hours to explain allegations that his First Vice-President, Jane Ansah, is being excluded from government duties and major official engagements.
MCP spokesperson Jessie Kabwila told local media on Wednesday that the president should tell Malawians what is happening with his deputy, following Ansah’s recent complaints that she has not been assigned official duties and has been left out of some major government meetings.
Kabwila said failure by Mutharika to provide an explanation will, in the party’s view, amount to a lack of leadership.
Kabwila:He must tell us
In a recent interview on Zodiak Television,Ansah said her relationship with Mutharika remains cordial despite the concerns surrounding her role in government.
She alleged that some people around the president are preventing her from participating fully in presidential engagements, although she did not publicly name all those she believes are responsible.
The first vice-president cited several instances that she said demonstrate her exclusion from government business.
She said these include her absence from Mutharika’s first address to the nation from his home after the election and a private trip by the president to South Africa.
Ansah maintained that the instructions preventing her from attending some engagements do not come directly from Mutharika.
She also raised concerns about her participation in cabinet business, saying she was not invited to some cabinet meetings and did not receive the usual cabinet papers in advance.
Ansah said she wrote to Chief Secretary to the Government Justin Saidi about some of the issues but did not receive responses.
The concerns have emerged less than a year after Mutharika and Ansah were elected on the DPP ticket.
Mutharika won the September 2025 presidential election with 56.8 percent of the vote, while MCP candidate Lazarus Chakwera received 33 percent.
He was sworn in as Malawi’s seventh President on October 4, 2025, with Ansah taking office as first vice-president.
The DPP, which was formed in 2005 after late Bingu wa Mutharika broke away from the United Democratic Front(UDF), first came to power after winning the 2009 presidential election.
Bingu wa Mutharika served as president until his death in 2012, after which Joyce Banda became president.
Peter Mutharika subsequently led the DPP to victory in the 2014 presidential election and served as president until 2020.
The party then went into opposition following the 2020 presidential election, which was won by MCP’s Chakwera.
The DPP returned to government after Mutharika won the 2025 presidential election, marking his second period as president and the party’s return to the presidency after five years in opposition.
