Inside APM, Jane Ansah rift

A leak. A private trip. Public outrage. A press conference. A stripping of power.

And on Monday, a Cabinet meeting the First Vice-President (FVP) says she knew nothing about.

The rift between President Peter Mutharika and FVP Jane Ansah has reached a critical point, exposing deep mistrust at the top of the Executive.

According to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials, senior Cabinet ministers and aides from both sides, the breakdown began not with policy differences, but a collapse of trust triggered by Ansah’s trip to the United Kingdom (UK) last December.

The latest flashpoint came on Monday when Second Vice-President Enoch Chihana chaired a Cabinet meeting in Lilongwe on July 27.

Ansah’s office told The Nation she was “not aware” of the meeting. Hours later her team released a video of her arriving at Capital Hill.

It was the clearest signal yet of a cold war between the first and second highest offices in the land.

The rift began with a series of incidents that multiple government and DPP sources say were interpreted as defiance, poor communication and an attempt by Ansah to assume authority beyond assignments sanctioned by the President.

 Genesis: The leak

In late December 2025, government travel documents were leaked. The files allegedly showed plans for a K1.9 billion, 23-person State-funded trip to Nottingham, UK, for what Ansah’s office said was a private visit.

Back then, Ansah’s husband, Bishop Addo Ansah, was in the UK. At a time of austerity, the documents sparked fury.

On December 11 2025, Foreign Affairs Secretary Chauncy Simwaka wrote to the Malawi High Commission confirming a “private visit” from December 26 to 10 January.

Social media claimed the trip was for Bishop Ansah’s 80th birthday on January 3 and would “blow K1.9 billion”.

On December 23, the FVP’s office disputed the figure, but gave no cost. The next day, Information Minister Shadric Namalomba said it would be five officials at K168 million.

As pressure mounted, Mutharika intervened. On December 31 he stated: “The Vice-President assured me that she would use her private resources on her trip.

But State House officials say the damage was done by how it was handled.

“She informed His Excellency she was to pack her belongings in the UK following her new role. HE advised no more than five people,” said a senior DPP Central Executive Committee (CEC) member and Cabinet minister.

“Later, HE learnt she was going for her spouse’s birthday. Her bloated delegation went viral and she extended her stay by six days without the HE’s knowledge. HE only learnt through social media after her office announced the extension,” said the official.

This angered the President, who needed her back for disasters back home, he said.

In a June interview with Luntha TV, Ansah called her trip a “holiday.” She had been in office for less than three months and, during the trip, she was reportedly accompanied by officials from her office.

The breach: Floods, cancelled presser

Trust collapsed further during floods. While Ansah was away, 18 councils including Nkhotakota and Kasungu were hit in late December 2025. Over 9 300 households—more than 42 000 people—were affected. Four died, 101 were injured.

At the time, Dodma was under the FVP. On the morning of December 31, spokesperson Richard Mveriwa announced Ansah would address the nation virtually from the UK at 10am on “disaster response”. The presser did not happen.

“The President was not aware of this presser, yet the Veep’s office had started inviting media on the same day the President was scheduled for a national address,” said a source.

That evening Ansah issued a written statement on preparedness. A senior official said Mutharika was “not impressed” that she planned to handle a national disaster virtually from abroad.

Another minister we talked to called it “abandonment of duty”.

The reckoning

Mutharika’s response was swift.

On January 10, the day Ansah extended her UK stay, Chief Secretary Justin Saidi announced Dodma was moved to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) “to enhance coordination”.

Ansah returned on January 15 and led a Cabinet orientation on January 16.

On January 23, Public Sector Reforms was also moved to OPC. With both mandates gone, the FVP was left with no operational role.

The CEC member alleged that after returning from UK, “she remained arrogant, unaccountable and unremorseful.”

A parallel centre?

Sources close to Mutharika say the trip exposed deeper structural tension.

“Naturally, the office of the Vice-President creates discomfort, especially if the Veep is picked for an election and not succession,” said a source close to the President.

“The Constitution makes the Veep next President if the President is incapacitated. That creates automatic suspicion,” he noted.

The source also alleged, citing intelligence reports which The Nation could not independently verify, of “a camp forming around Ansah’s office”, of online publications “created to promote her personality” and a “visibility drive” through the Dr Jane Ansah Foundation and church engagements as acts that are worsening the situation.

Two sources claimed Ansah’s camp leaked the story that she was excluded from Cabinet “to buy public sympathy”.

The CEC member added: “She now goes around with a victim card… without sharing what really angered her boss, who single-handedly appointed her despite her unpopularity in DPP.”

University of Malawi expert in party politics, elections and governance Gift Sambo said Ansah, viewed within DPP as an outsider, has the “right to maneuver, to make strategies, to create room for herself” and to communicate to the public about her interest in leadership.

But he said Ansah’s exclusive interview with Luntha TV and her video at Capital Hill after she missed the Cabinet meeting is a way of buying sympathy from the public for political mileage.

 Chihana rises

In the vacuum, Second VP Chihana has taken centre stage. He has chaired Cabinet and will represent Malawi at the 46th Southern African Development Community Summit in Durban.

Government says this is within Mutharika’s constitutional powers to delegate. But lawyer Seodi White argues Cabinet decisions under Chihana could face legal challenge.

Sources say Chihana’s advantage is communication and that he is not the constitutional successor.

“There is an agreement signed by the President himself and Chihana,” said a source, referring to a post-election pact Weekend Nation has seen. It guarantees Chihana as Second VP “for the duration of the five-year term”.

Sambo agreed that Chihana is safer as he poses no succession threat and lacks a strong constituency.

VP’s office responds

In a written response on Thursday to questions sent by Weekend Nation, the FVP’s office side-stepped our direct questions on circumstances around the UK trip and her relationship with the President.

But in the response, spokesperson Richard Mveriwa said Ansah “continues to discharge [the office’] constitutional mandate through stakeholder engagement, policy support and initiatives aimed at improving the welfare of Malawians.”

On the Cabinet meeting, Mveriwa stated: “What we are aware of is that the notification from the Office of the President and Cabinet regarding the Cabinet meeting did not come to her office.”

Behind the scenes, however, sources close to her office describe frustration over her exclusion. A senior aide said on Wednesday that “several memos have been sent requesting a meeting with the President. Phone calls have also been made, but to no avail.”

But a senior State House official countered that Ansah had not shown remorse.

“The President reserves the right to discipline anyone working for him, including the Vice-President. Should trust be rebuilt, sanctions can be lifted. Right now, that trust is broken,” the official said.

State House did not respond to a questionnaire Weekend Nation sent on Wednesday.

PAC weighs-in

Quasi-religious governance body Public Affairs Committee spokesperson Bishop Gilford Matonga called for dialogue to resolve the rift.

Matonga said Ansah needs to meet Mutharika “and explain her position, clearing up any misunderstandings.”

“The President chose his running mate at a time when many senior DPP members did not agree with his decision. So the FVP should address whatever has caused the rift between the two, particularly regarding the UK trip,” Matonga said.

He listed the issues that need clearing: “The disaster response when she was in the UK, the extended stay, the size of the delegation and concerns that what was described as a private visit ultimately resulted in government spending more public resources.”

Matonga said PAC was willing to mediate: “If the Vice-President feels that our involvement would help in engaging the President on these issues, we would be willing to meet with her, meet separately with the President and facilitate dialogue to ensure that the matter is resolved.”

From ally to liability

The current hostility stands in sharp contrast to the political alliance Mutharika and Ansah once shared.

Their political paths were tied together during the 2019 presidential election, when Ansah served as chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).

When MEC declared Mutharika the winner amid widespread evidence of correction fluid being used to alter tally sheets in what became known as the “Tippex election”, nationwide protests erupted demanding Ansah’s resignation.

Mutharika fiercely defended her, publicly dismissing the protests and shielding her until the courts nullified the vote and declared her commission incompetent.

Five years after her forced resignation from MEC, Mutharika stunned the political landscape by selecting Ansah as his running mate for the September 16 2025 elections.

Familiar pattern

The Mutharika-Ansah fallout is the latest chapter in a long history of strained relations between Malawian Presidents and their deputies.

Bakili Muluzi and Justin Malewezi clashed publicly in the early 2000s over succession, leading to Malewezi’s marginalisation.

Bingu wa Mutharika fell out with Cassim Chilumpha, who was later arrested on treason charges, and then with Joyce Banda, whom he expelled from the DPP in 2010.

Joyce Banda had a fairly cordial partnership with her deputy Khumbo Kachale during her 2012-2014 tenure, but left him out of the presidential election ticket in favour of Sosten Gwengwe.

Peter Mutharika’s first term was defined by an open war with Saulos Chilima, who left the DPP to form UTM in 2018.

And in the most recent administration, Saulos Chilima and President Lazarus Chakwera were also seen to be drifting apart before Chilima’s death in 2024.

But unlike past VP rifts that took years to surface, the Mutharika-Ansah fallout erupted in under three months, with both Dodma and reforms stripped immediately.