Facts are stubborn things.
For months, Malawians have debated whether Vice President Justice Dr. Jane Ansah, SC, is genuinely being sidelined or whether critics are reading too much into ordinary government decisions.
That debate should now be over.
The evidence is overwhelming.
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At least eight major presidential assignments have been delegated to ministers and unelected officials while the sitting Vice President has remained conspicuously overlooked. Standing alone, each incident may appear insignificant. Taken together, they reveal a disturbing pattern of exclusion that can no longer be dismissed as coincidence.
This is not about personalities.
This is not even about Jane Ansah as an individual.
This is about the deliberate diminishing of the second-highest constitutional office in the Republic of Malawi.
The list is striking.
Agriculture Minister Roza Mbilizi represented President Arthur Peter Mutharika at the opening of the tobacco marketing season.
Joseph Mwanamvekha represented him during Chilembwe Day commemorations.
George Chaponda was delegated to international engagements.
Jappie Mhango represented the President during Martyrs Day commemorations.
Charles Mhango represented him at the funeral of a senior Livingstonia Synod reverend.
Alfred Gangata was delegated to Kamuzu Day celebrations.
Bright Msaka represented the President at the Chilima memorial in Nsipe.
Even the Chief Secretary to the Government has represented the President at official state functions.
Through all these assignments, Vice President Jane Ansah remained on the sidelines.
The issue is not that ministers were delegated.
Presidents across the world delegate ministers every day.
The issue is that the Vice President appears to have been bypassed every time.
That is where the real scandal lies.
A Vice President exists precisely to assist the President in carrying out national duties. The office is not ceremonial. It is not decorative. It is not a constitutional ornament to be displayed during election campaigns and ignored thereafter.
The Vice President is the President's principal deputy, elected by the people and entrusted with a national mandate.
When ministers repeatedly take precedence over the Vice President, questions naturally arise.
Why is the country's second-highest elected official being treated as though she ranks below Cabinet ministers?
Why is an office established by the Constitution seemingly being subordinated to political convenience?
Why is the Vice President absent whenever opportunities arise to represent the Head of State?
These are not partisan questions.
They are constitutional questions.
What makes the situation even more troubling is the explanation reportedly circulating among some DPP supporters--that Vice President Ansah and Second Vice President Enock Chihana are not trusted with certain assignments because they do not occupy influential positions within the party hierarchy.
If that argument reflects the thinking within sections of the ruling party, then it exposes a deeply dangerous mindset.
It means party status has become more important than constitutional status.
It means loyalty to internal party structures is valued more highly than the mandate conferred by the people of Malawi.
It means ministers derive their influence not from government office but from their standing within the party.
Most alarmingly, it means the Vice President of the Republic can be treated as politically irrelevant because she is not sufficiently embedded in partisan structures.
Such thinking undermines the very foundation of constitutional governance.
The Constitution does not recognise a minister as senior to a Vice President.
The Constitution does not place party officials above elected national leaders.
The Constitution does not subordinate the Vice Presidency to the interests of any political party.
Yet that is precisely the impression being created.
For Dr. Ansah, the humiliation is particularly painful.
She entered politics not as a career politician, but as one of the most accomplished legal minds in Malawi's history.
She served as Chief Justice.
She earned the rank of Senior Counsel.
She built a distinguished reputation through decades of service to the law.
President Mutharika personally selected her to be his running mate. He presented her to Malawians as a leader worthy of standing one heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Yet today she finds herself repeatedly overshadowed by ministers who occupy offices far below hers in the constitutional hierarchy.
The contradiction is impossible to ignore.
If she is qualified to become President should circumstances require it, how can she be considered unqualified to represent the President at national events?
If she can be trusted with the highest office in the land, why can she not be trusted with ordinary presidential assignments?
Those questions deserve answers.
Every time a minister is chosen ahead of the Vice President, the office is weakened.
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Every time an unelected official is preferred over the Vice President, the institution loses credibility.
Every time the Vice President is publicly overlooked, respect for constitutional order is eroded.
This is bigger than Jane Ansah.
It is about the message being sent to public institutions, to women in leadership, and to future holders of the office.
The late Saulos Chilima frequently complained of being sidelined during his tenure as Vice President.
Many dismissed those complaints at the time.
Today, Malawians are witnessing a remarkably similar pattern unfold before their eyes. Different Vice President. Different personalities. The same marginalisation. The same exclusion. The same silence. Eight public snubs may seem insignificant to those making the decisions. But to millions of Malawians, they tell a powerful story.
They tell the story of a Vice President who appears increasingly isolated within her own administration.
They tell the story of an office being stripped of relevance through neglect. And they tell the story of a government that risks diminishing the very constitutional institutions it is sworn to uphold. That should concern every Malawian, regardless of political affiliation. Because when a Vice President can be treated as an outsider in her own government, it is not merely an individual who is being diminished.
It is the Constitution itself.
