Chimwendo pins MCP defeat on voters fed “Chitedze” stories

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Secretary General Richard Chimwendo Banda has blamed Malawians’ alleged susceptibility to misinformation for the party’s defeat in the September 2025 elections, arguing that voters ignored the achievements of former president Lazarus Chakwera and instead focused on hardships during his administration.

Speaking to Zodiak Broadcasting Station on Tuesday, Chimwendo Banda claimed that Malawians were misled into believing that people had resorted to eating chitedze (wild fruits) because of hunger, suggesting that such narratives contributed to the party’s electoral downfall.

He argued that voters forgot what he described as Chakwera’s development achievements, including the construction of police houses, upgraded roads and improvements in electricity supply, and concentrated instead on fuel shortages.

“On voting day, Malawians forgot everything Dr Lazarus Chakwera had done, including building police houses, upgrading roads and addressing electricity blackouts, and focused only on the fuel shortage that existed,” Chimwendo Banda said.

His remarks effectively shift attention from the electorate’s experience under MCP’s five-year administration to what he portrays as the influence of negative narratives in determining the party’s electoral fate.

Chimwendo Banda also defended the possibility of Chakwera returning as MCP’s presidential candidate in 2030, saying the party could amend its constitution if members wanted the former president to contest again.

He maintained that such an amendment would not violate any law, opening the door to another Chakwera candidacy despite his defeat in the 2025 presidential election.

On his own political responsibility for the electoral loss, Chimwendo Banda rejected suggestions that he should personally be blamed for the party’s defeat.

“People should stop pointing fingers at me as the person who made the party lose the 2025 elections. Losing an election is not the responsibility of one person,” he said.