Minister of Trade and Industry Vitumbiko Mumba has asked Malawi Congress Party (MCP) to expedite fresh primary election in Mzimba Central Constituency.
This follows a High Court of Malawi ruling ordering the fresh primary poll guided by the MCP national executive committee (NEC) resolutions of January 10 2025.
High Court Judge Justus Kishindo ruled that the May 11 2025 primary election in which presidential aide Adamson Kuseri Mkandawire was declared winner was contrary to MCP NEC’s resolutions, party procedures and constitutional requirements.
In a letter dated July 18 2025 which Nation on Sunday has seen, Mumba—through his lawyer Khumbo Bonzoe Soko, has also asked the party to give him at least four days’ notice containing date, venue and time of the primary election to allow him prepare accordingly.
“We emphasise the need to act with speed given the fact the window for the submission of nomination papers to the [Malawi] Electoral Commission is fast closing,” reads part of the letter.
“Our client also hopes that during the fresh election, the party will also hold primaries to elect its representatives for local government elections in the two wards in Mzimba Central Constituency.”
Malawi Electoral Commission’s electoral calendar of events shows that presentation of nomination papers for both the parliamentary and local government elections will take place from July 24 2025 to July 30 2025.
Mumba, who recently resigned from MCP NEC, has also asked the party to respect the court ruling by ensuring the electoral college circulated and discredited by the court will not be used in the fresh primary election and that a list of electors endorsed by the constituency committee will be used.
As such, the letter—copied to MCP secretary general Richard Chimwendo Banda, director of legal affairs George Kadzipatike, director of elections Elias Chakwera, including Kainja and Dzonzi Attorneys—Mkandawire’s lawyer in the Civil Case Number 3 of 2025, has asked the party to circulate the accredited list to Mumba as soon as possible so that he has ample time to go through it.
Efforts to get a comment from both Chimwendo Banda and MCP public secretary Jessie Kabwila proved futile as they were not readily available.
Similarly, Kadzipatike and Chakwera were also not available on their known mobile numbers.
But in an interview soon after the High Court’s Judgement was pronounced, Mkandawire said he would abide by the ruling and await the party’s next move.
In his submissions before the court, Mumba argued that the electoral college used in the May 11 2025 primary election was manipulated and excluded legitimate delegates.
He said over 70 percent of the electoral college from 2018 had been omitted and that some people appearing on the list were not MCP members.
And in his ruling, Kishindo faulted MCP for using an electoral college that was not properly constituted and in breach of its own NEC resolutions.
He said Mumba was denied procedural fairness, adequate notice and that internal remedies to the primaries’ dispute were unavailable or ineffective, violating his right to participate in political activities as enshrined in Section 40 (1) of the Constitution.
