First Vice-President Jane Ansah is set to leave the country on a private visit to the UK on December 26 with her office keeping under wraps finer details on grounds that the trip is private.
In a letter dated December 11 2025 to the Malawi High Commission in the UK, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Chauncy Simwaka said the VP will undertake the private visit from December 26 2025 to January 10 2026.
Office of the First VP spokesperson Richard Mveriwa, in an interview yesterday, also confirmed the trip, but said he could not take further questions because the trip is private.
“I can confirm that the Vice-President is travelling to the UK. It’s a private trip so I can’t respond to your other questions since the information is not for public consumption,” he said in a written response.
However, social media platforms were yesterday awash with reports that the VP is set to attend the 80th birthday of her husband, Bishop Joseph Addo Ansah on January 3 next year.
Ansah’s private visit comes after President Peter Mutharika on December 1 2025 left the country for South Africa on his first international trip since he was sworn in on October 4 2025. He returned home on December 15.
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Justin Saidi said the President travelled to the Rainbow Nation on a “private visit”.
Reacting to Ansah’s trip, economist Christopher Mbukwa, who teaches at Mzuzu University, in apparent reference to an earlier private visit by the President, said private visits should have few people, mostly security officers accompanying the leaders.
“The tendency to mask details of external travels by high offices as private visits can also be avoided. The nation deserves to know more about what authorities are doing when they travel outside the country,” he said.
Mbukwa’s comments come against a background of social media reports suggesting that Ansah has a delegation that includes civil servants, including accountants. However, The Nation did not independently verify the names and number of people accompanying the First VP.
National Advocacy Platform chairperson Benedicto Kondowe said the matter was troubling given that the VP’s trip to the UK is private, adding that it sends wrong signals about leadership priorities and fiscal discipline.
“A private visit must be clearly distinguished from an official mission and public resources should not be used to underwrite private travel,” he said.
In October, the Office of the President and Cabinet announced a number of austerity measures that included reduced travel covering both domestic and international as well as a 30 percent cut in fuel entitlements for Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and senior public officers.
