A recurring pattern of arrests that follows changes in government is undermining public confidence in State institutions and weakening the rule of law, analysts warn.
Observers say a familiar sequence has emerged in Malawi politics with senior officials from outgoing administrations being detained on allegations ranging from corruption and abuse of office to fraud and money‑laundering soon after a transfer of power.
Many suspects are later granted bail, prosecutions stall or drag on for years, and some cases are effectively abandoned when political fortunes shift again — a cycle that critics say turns law enforcement into an instrument of political contestation rather than impartial justice.
In 2013, several former Cabinet ministers were arrested and charged with treason for allegedly attempting to block Joyce Banda’s succession after the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika in April 2012. The list included Patricia Kaliati, Kondwani Nankhumwa, Nicholas Dausi, Symon Vuwa Kaunda, Henry Mussa, Jean Kalilani, Goodall Gondwe and President Peter Mutharika, then leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Allan Ntata, a former presidential legal adviser, was charged in absentia. The case was dropped after Peter Mutharika won the 2014 Tripartite Elections.
When the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) won the court‑sanctioned fresh presidential election on June 23, 2020, it arrested several senior DPP officials and other State actors alleged to be linked to the party. Those arrested included Norman Chisale, Joseph Mwanamveka, Peter Mukhito, Jappie Mhango, Jean Mathanga, Shadric Namalomba and Roza Mbilizi. Their cases remain unresolved, raising questions about continuity now that some are serving in government.
Almost five months into the current DPP administration, authorities have again arrested former senior officials from the MCP era, including former Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba and former ministers Vitumbiko Mumba, Jessie Kabwila, Moses Kunkuyu, Richard Chimwendo Banda, Sosten Gwengwe, Sam Kawale and Ezekiel Ching’oma. MCP leaders have decried the arrests as political and appealed to local and international bodies for intervention.
But political analyst and former University of Malawi lecturer Ernest Thindwa described the practice as an abuse of State resources for private ends.
“The undesirable state of Malawi’s institutions is largely an outcome of a political class that alternates roles while abusing state institutions to advance narrow private interests,” he said.
Thindwa argued that an unwritten rule protects politicians from meaningful, conclusive accountability when they are on the wrong side of the law, leaving citizens with little incentive to demand justice.
“If social justice were to be a virtue, we as citizens collectively espouse, members of the political class would be in the forefront in facing the full force of the law. However, there is evidently an unwritten rule for the political class not to meaningfully and conclusively subject each other to the demands of justice when on the wrong side of the law.
“Until citizens collectively demonstrate there will be consequences for undermining public interest, politicians will continue to subordinate collective welfare to private gain,” he added.
Political analyst Wonderful Mkhutche pointed to the judiciary’s limited capacity as a major factor.
“Our Judiciary is overwhelmed with cases, and it is a challenge to see a case to a conclusion, particularly one that needs enormous evidence,” he said.
Mkhutche also criticised arrests made without sufficient evidence, which he said further delays prosecutions.
