Analyst Matenje questions why MCP didn’t apologise while in power

A political analyst has issued a stark warning to Malawi’s political class, urging every party — including the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — to take a hard look at the Malawi Congress Party’s spectacular fall from grace, which has now left the party grovelling for forgiveness from ordinary Malawians.

Latimu Matenje’s blunt intervention comes hot on the heels of a fresh round of contrition from MCP, after party leader Dr Lazarus Chakwera issued an apology and appealed for forgiveness during a stop in Dedza on Sunday — closely followed by remarks from party spokesperson Jessie Kabwira, who publicly apologised to former coalition partners over MCP’s conduct during its time in government.

Matenje didn’t hold back, arguing that while MCP’s latest mea culpa shows the party has finally owned up to its mistakes, one glaring question remains: why didn’t it apologise while it was still in power, rather than waiting until it had lost it?

He warned that rebuilding shattered public trust won’t come easily, and urged MCP to go further still — delivering a proper, sincere apology to the very parties it partnered with during the 2020 election, rather than the piecemeal contrition offered so far.

But Matenje’s sharpest words were reserved for the DPP and the rest of Malawi’s political establishment, warning them to steer well clear of the kind of failures that could one day leave them, too, on their knees begging Malawians for forgiveness.

MCP’s apology tour has been building momentum in recent days.

Spokesperson Jessie Kabwira recently admitted the party had failed to honour agreements struck with allies during its 2020 to 2025 stint in power, when MCP contested and won the presidency alongside UTM and several smaller parties, telling reporters: “There are somethings we were supposed to do well but we didn’t. We have learnt our mistakes.”

The apology, however, has already drawn fire from within MCP’s own ranks, with Nkhotakota Central MP Silvester Ayuba James publicly savaging it as empty theatre, insisting no party in its right mind would trust MCP again while Chakwera remains at the helm.

It’s far from Chakwera’s first public act of contrition. As far back as 2016, he apologised on MCP’s behalf for atrocities committed during the country’s one-party era, repeating the gesture again in 2021 as president.

More recently, in September 2025, at the height of a bruising election campaign, Chakwera apologised directly to Malawians over the fuel crisis and the long queues that came to define much of his presidency — before MCP was ultimately swept from power in the 16 September 2025 election that brought the DPP back into government.