CAMA urges Mutharika to restore Vice-President Ansah’s role

The Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) has urged President Peter Mutharika to end what it describes as the systematic sidelining of Vice-President Dr Jane Ansah SC.

In a letter dated 27 October 2026, signed by executive director John Kapito, CAMA said the treatment of the vice-president had become a national concern and could weaken effective leadership at a time of serious economic challenges.

CAMA said Ansah had been stripped of key responsibilities since January. It said the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) and the public sector reforms portfolio were withdrawn from her on 10 January 2026.

The association also pointed to her absence from major national engagements, particularly the SADC Summit in August 2026, which Second Vice-President Enock Chihana attended in her place.

Kapito reminded the president that the office of vice-president is created by Section 79 of the Malawi Constitution and is not a post filled at the president’s discretion.

He argued that voters elected Mutharika and Ansah jointly on the same ticket in the September 2025 election.

CAMA set the dispute against a long history of strained relations between Malawian presidents and their deputies.

Former president Bakili Muluzi fell out with vice-president Justin Malewezi, who resigned from the UDF in 2004.

President Bingu wa Mutharika clashed with vice-president Cassim Chilumpha, who was arrested for treason in 2006, and later with vice-president Joyce Banda, who was expelled from the DPP in 2010. Banda refused to resign and succeeded Bingu after his death in 2012.

CAMA also cited former president Lazarus Chakwera’s relationship with the late vice-president Saulos Chilima, which was marked by public disagreements over delegated duties and powers before Chilima died in June 2024.

“This cycle of humiliation must end,” Kapito said.

CAMA, among others, has asked the president to:

• assign Ansah substantive and visible portfolios
• allow her to chair Cabinet meetings when he is out of the country, as convention provides
• issue a public statement reaffirming confidence in her and clarifying her role in government

The association said the way Ansah, a former chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission and one of the country’s most senior female leaders, is treated would reflect on Mutharika’s legacy and on Malawi’s commitment to constitutionalism, gender equality and respect for voters.