Gangata’s ally fires back over ‘outshine the master’ donation row — insists K40million church gift was NOT a dig at President Mutharika

An explosive war of words has broken out online after an aide to Malawi’s Sports Minister Alfred Gangata launched a furious counterattack against claims his boss deliberately upstaged President Arthur Peter Mutharika with a blockbuster church donation.

Leonard Chimbanga’s took to Facebook with a blistering statement accusing critics of peddling “bodza” — lies — and twisting the facts surrounding Gangata’s contribution to the CCAP Livingstonia Synod, after a widely shared article suggested the minister’s gift was a calculated political stunt.

Chimbalang’a branded the claims “misleading, unfair and malicious,” insisting the story had created a “completely false impression” of his boss’s motives.

According to the aide, the real story is far less dramatic than the online speculation suggests.

The Synod, he revealed, approached Gangata a full six months ago, inviting him to serve as Guest of Honour at a fundraising dinner for a church within his own constituency. After studying the budget, Gangata made a personal pledge — and paid it in full two months ago, long before the Synod even reached out to other high-profile donors.

Crucially, Chimbalang’a said, Gangata had no idea at the time who else would be asked to contribute, or how much they might give.

“His contribution was not made to compete with, match or outshine anyone,” he insisted. “It was simply an act of support to a church in his constituency.”

In a detail that appears to undercut claims of political showmanship, the aide revealed that Gangata did not even turn up to the fundraising dinner himself — despite being invited — which he says proves the donation was made quietly, with no appetite for publicity or headlines.

Chimbalang’a also moved to shut down any suggestion of a rift between Gangata and his boss, stressing the minister’s continued loyalty to President Mutharika.

“To suggest that the Minister deliberately sought to ‘outshine the master’ is not only misleading — it imputes motives that simply did not exist,” he wrote.

He ended his statement with a pointed rebuke aimed squarely at critics: “Facts matter. The intention behind this donation was never to outshine anyone. It was simply to help.”

The row has reignited debate over the increasingly blurred lines between church and state in Malawi, with political heavyweights routinely using religious gatherings as platforms to make grand gestures — and, in this case, to defend themselves when those gestures are read as political theatre.

Whether the explanation will be enough to silence critics remains to be seen, but the episode has thrust Gangata’s political positioning, and his relationship with Mutharika, back into the spotlight ahead of what is expected to be a tightly contested political period.

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