MCP fills vacant NEC positions, expands regions in restructuring Drive

Malawi’s main opposition party has redrawn its internal political geography, in a restructuring exercise that signals its determination to rebuild from the ground up after last year’s bruising electoral defeat.

The Malawi Congress Party’s national executive committee, meeting in Lilongwe, pressed ahead with plans to split both the Southern and Central Regions into three zones apiece, while reorganising the Lakeshore Region — expanding the party’s political regions from six to nine.

Secretary general Richard Chimwendo Banda framed the move as an attempt to close the distance between the party’s leadership and its rank-and-file, arguing that a more granular structure would help strengthen MCP’s grassroots base ahead of the next electoral cycle.

The reshuffle extended well beyond the map, however. The committee used the occasion to fill a clutch of senior vacancies left by a wave of recent departures.

Mzimba South legislator Emmanuel Chambulanyina Jere was elevated to first deputy secretary general, taking over from Mangochi Monkey Bay MP Gerald Kazembe, who stepped down only recently.

Former cabinet minister Dr  Owen Chomanika, meanwhile, was elected second deputy secretary general — filling the vacancy left by Uchizi Mkandawire, one of several senior figures to have exited their posts in the aftermath of MCP’s defeat in 2025.

Elsewhere in the reshuffle, Francis Phiri was appointed first deputy director of economic affairs, while Mchinji North-East MP Anthony Masamba takes on the role of first deputy director of public relations, supported by his deputy, Alumwira Mwenesongole. Former minister Madalitso Wirima becomes director of recruitment, and Sheikh Mtenje steps into the role of first deputy director of social welfare.

The restructuring comes against the backdrop of a dramatic reversal in MCP’s political fortunes. Under Lazarus Chakwera, the party swept to power in the court-ordered Fresh Presidential Election of June 2020, unseating then-incumbent Peter Mutharika at the head of the Tonse Alliance.

That triumph, though, proved short-lived. Five years on, the tables turned decisively: Mutharika reclaimed the presidency, defeating Chakwera in the election held on 16 September 2025 — a defeat that now appears to be the impetus behind the party’s latest bid to reorganise and rebuild.