Malawi VP Ansah left out of cabinet meeting
Jane Ansah, Malawi’s vice-president, has not been invited to Monday’s cabinet meeting, the first such exclusion since she took office, fuelling claims that she is being gradually marginalised within government.
The meeting, at State House in Lilongwe, will instead be chaired by Enoch Chihana, the second vice-president, while President Peter Mutharika attends to other duties in Blantyre.
Justin Saidi, Secretary to the President and Cabinet, did not respond to requests for comment.
Ansah was elected alongside Mutharika on a joint ticket in 2025, becoming the country’s second-highest constitutional officer.
Under Malawi’s constitution, the vice-president’s role extends well beyond the ceremonial: the office is intended to assist the president, undertake delegated duties, and act on his behalf when required.
Within four months of taking office, however, two of her department’s principal responsibilities were transferred to the Office of the President and Cabinet: the Department of Disaster Management Affairs on January 10, followed less than a fortnight later by the Department of Public Sector Reforms.
The government said the moves were intended to strengthen coordination under the presidency; critics said they curtailed the vice-president’s authority.
Several subsequent incidents have added to the impression that Ansah is being pushed to the margins. At Kamuzu International Airport she waited in the VIP lounge to see off Mutharika before a trip to South Africa, only for the president to proceed directly to his aircraft — a moment widely interpreted as a breach of protocol.
Reports later emerged, never publicly confirmed by either side, that government chief secretary had privately asked her to resign.
The question resurfaced on June 13, at the unveiling of a memorial to the late vice-president Saulos Chilima at Nsipe in Ntcheu district.
Although Ansah attended, Mutharika delegated Bright Msaka, the education minister, to represent him — again prompting debate over protocol and her constitutional standing.
Constitutional commentators note that, unlike cabinet ministers who are appointed by the president, the vice-president is elected directly by voters on the same ticket as the head of state, giving the office an independent democratic mandate.
Ansah has largely declined to comment directly on the speculation.
Speaking to Luntha Television, she said only that Malawians could see what was happening and were capable of forming their own judgment.
At an event held by the Dr Jane Ansah Foundation in Kasungu, she dismissed suggestions she intended to leave the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, saying: “I am still DPP.”
She also made a pointed reference to what she called “a certain prophet from Zomba,” citing a biblical verse from Genesis that many took as carrying a political undertone.
Her possible exclusion from Monday’s meeting would mark the most significant development yet in what has become a wider question about the diminishing role of Malawi’s vice-presidency — following the removal of key portfolios, repeated protocol controversies, unconfirmed resignation reports, and instances in which cabinet ministers have represented the president even in her presence.
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