Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has resolved not to field any parliamentary candidate in Mzimba Central Constituency, setting free the party’s two hopefuls to face off as independents in the September 16 General Election.
The decision follows the controversy over primary elections held on May 11 that Minister of Industry and Trade Vitumbiko Mumba disputed. In the disputed election, presidential adviser on rural development Adamson Kuseri Mkandawire was declared winner before the High Court of Malawi in Mzuzu nullified the results and ordered a fresh election.
In a letter to lawyer Khumbo Soko who represented Mumba, MCP director of legal affairs George Jivason Kadzipatike said efforts to conduct fresh elections in the constituency were foiled by individuals who disrupted the court-sanctioned reconstitution of the electoral college.
Reads the letter: “Following this development, the Party will indeed not field any parliamentary candidate in Mzimba Central Constituency, and as such Hon Vitumbiko Mumba and Hon Adamson Mkandawire are at liberty to contest as independent candidates.
“I further confirm that the two remain members of the party and no disciplinary measures will be taken against them on account of their contesting as independent candidates.”
But Kadzipatike said MCP will take disciplinary action against those who disrupted the initial primary elections in May as well as those who frustrated the reconstitution of the electoral college on July 26 2025.
Soko had earlier yesterday written Kadzipatike proposing that MCP abstains from fielding a candidate and that aspirants be at liberty to contest as independent candidates.
In a brief response yesterday after the communication from MCP, Soko said: “We are happy to leave it here. Life must go on.”
Political pundits have since said failure by MCP to conduct the primaries in the area raises serious questions about intra-party democracy, but it was also a sign that new blood was being purged.
Political Science Association spokesperson Mabvuto Bamusi said in an interview: “The party needs to liberate itself from the fear that new members may take over senior leadership positions even as MCP is planning for the 2030 elections.”
Another pundit Wonderful Mkhutche said MCP needed to learn that the will of the people remains critical in ensuring that democracy takes root in the party.
On his part, governance pundit George Chaima said intra-party democracy was paramount to defining the path of leadership, which can win the trust of the people.
Malawi Electoral Commission set the period between July 24 and 30 2025 for receiving nomination papers for parliamentary, local government and presidential elections.
