Non-Governmental Organisations Regulatory Authority (Ngora) executive director Edward Chileka Banda and Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) spokesperson Robert Kalindiza have resigned from their positions to join active politics.
The two were some of the public officers who came under the spotlight for engaging in partisan politics while dressed in public service jackets through their participation in governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP) primary elections ahead of the September 16 General Election.
Briefing stakeholders during a breakfast meeting Ngora hosted in Mzuzu to give updates on the 2025 NGO Day as well as to interact with NGOs on matters governing the sector, Chileka Banda said he resigned on May 31 2025 to vie for a parliamentary seat.
“I took this opportunity to bid farewell to the NGOs. I am serving notice. I have a few days remaining in office. I will be contesting for a parliamentary seat in Lilongwe. But I will continue to interact in the civic space, elections are elections,” he said.
Kalindiza did not respond to our calls and questionnaire, but OPC chief communications officer Geoffrey Kawanga confirmed in a written response yesterday that he resigned.
“Yes it is true. I can confirm that Robert Kalindiza resigned on personal grounds and he followed all the processes as required by law,” he said.
Ministry of Education director of quality assurance Golden Msilimba and Ministry of Health director of health sector and intergovernmental coordination Amon Nkhata also came under the spotlight for taking part in partisan politics.
Msilimba yesterday refused to respond to our questionnaire on the status of his employment.
In a July 9 2025 memo addressed to board members of State-owned enterprises and statutory corporations, comptroller of statutory corporations Peter Simbani advised those intending to contest in the parliamentary and local government elections to resign from their board positions.
Responding to calls that her office should act on civil servants who are directly engaging in active politics, Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba earlier said the civil service is a properly constituted organisation and not every officer reports directly to her office.
However, Catholic University of Malawi dean of law James Kaphale argued that public servants who want to indulge in active politics are supposed to resign to avoid compromising their duties.
Section 193 of the Constitution says the National Assembly may prescribe a category of civil servants who, by reason of their seniority, shall not be able to directly participate in political activities provided that the civil servants so restricted shall have the right to resign to participate directly in political activities.
