Mumba breaks ranks-“Chakwera must go if MCP is to bounce back”

In politics, the most dangerous critique is not from the opponent across the aisle. It is from the man who sat next to you on the ticket.

Vitumbiko Mumba, Lazarus Chakwera’s running mate in the September 2025 election and current Member of Parliament for Mzimba Central, has done what no other senior Malawi Congress Party (MCP) figure has dared to do since the party’s crushing defeat – he has looked the camera in the eye and demanded change at the very top.

Mumba is not just any MCP member. He was Chakwera’s confidant, his closest ally in the final lap.

They bonded as a presidential ticket, shared secrets, strategy and stage. He understands Chakwera more than the praise singers at party headquarters.

And therefore, when he speaks, he must mean it.

Speaking to the public this week, Mumba said what many in MCP whisper in corridors but fear to say openly, that the MCP’s humiliating defeat is due to poor leadership in the party.

Mumba added that the leadership must be overhauled if the party is to do well in the 2030 elections.

This is not a casual outburst. Like any serious politician, Mumba could have revealed a lot more if there was no camera.

The restraint in his public statement suggests there is more he knows – about why MCP failed, about the inner circle that misled Chakwera, about the arrogance that alienated Malawians.

Mumba’s call is significant for three reasons:

1. He has moral authority. He stayed. Even after MCP turned on him for continuing as an Independent MP, Mumba did not hide. He stayed and chose to fight for the party from within.
2. He knows the truth about the campaign. As running mate, he saw firsthand the disorganization, the waste, the detachment from reality that defined MCP’s 2025 campaign. The maheu politics, the handouts, the zikwanje – he was there.
3. He represents the future MCP claims to want.

MCP now faces a choice.

It can pretend Mumba is a rebel to be disciplined, as it has done with other voices of reason. Or it can listen.

One thing that is clear is that Mumba is not alone. His sentiments resonate with Silvester Ayuba James and Alex Major who are also, separately pushing for the removal of Lazarus Chakwera.

If MCP wants to bounce back, it must do what Mumba has courageously said out loud: change the leadership, including the presidency. Let new blood, with new ideas and clean hands, take over.

Mumba has lit the torch. Will MCP follow the light, or will it choose to remain in the darkness it created for itself?